Not saying that TRU was in a "good place", but the LBO years ago saddled them with a huge debt and that's what really did them in. If TRU employees "didn't think it could happen to them" then they weren't paying much attention and shame on them. Frankly that would be like Sears/Kmart shutting down and their employees acting surprised.
As big as Walmart is, and as long as the Walton family continues to control so much of the companies stock, I just don't see this as an apples to apples comparison.
That's not to mention the fact that Walmart is in fact a very profitable retail business; and frankly Amazon; despite what people think, is still struggling with that (though their most recent quarter I believe was their best ever). AWS is what drives Amazon's profits and continues to do so. Nothing wrong with that; but a great many people spouting gloom and doom don't realize/understand it.
I'm not saying that Walmart hasn't made some (large) mis-steps. They have. And yes, they are playing e-commerce catch up with Amazon. Can they catch them? Truthfully I doubt it. But that doesn't mean they can't continue to have a successful retail business. In fact I think that's what they are doing wrong. Yes I know that e-commerce is "where the growth is"; but "brick and mortar retail" is where WM's strength lies. Instead of treating B but don't lose control of your vertical to do it and what's a mistake that WM has and continues to make. And if you want to spread out, then do it right. OGP was/is a quaint thing; but letting companies like Instacart deliver - well lets be real they should've been on that long ago before every other grocery store chain (or so it seems) had deals with them.
WM as a whole needs to focus on protecting their own castle first, then worry about taking down everyone else's. It's not a position they are accustomed to being in and as such apparently one they weren't prepared to be in.