US Stocks: Walmart shares drop after FTC says co agrees to pay $100 million to settle deceptive earnings charges

Walmart has agreed to pay $100 million to settle charges the company caused delivery drivers to lose tens of millions of dollars in earnings, the U.S. Federal ‌Trade ⁠Commission said ⁠in a statement on Thursday. The FTC, along with 11 states, had alleged in a complaint that Walmart deceived customers by falsely claiming all customer tips would go to drivers and also showed inflated ⁠base pay ‌and tip amounts to drivers in its Spark Driver delivery program, according ⁠to the statement.

Walmart shares dropped over 1% to $124.44 in early trade.

The FTC also said that in addition to the judgment, Walmart is barred from further misrepresenting earnings in delivery offers it makes to Spark drivers.


"Labor markets cannot function efficiently without truthful and non-misleading information about earnings ‌and other material terms," Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in ⁠the statement.

The FTC warned that protecting workers was a top priority and called on companies offering gig work to be transparent and accurate and implement robust compliance systems.

Walmart did not immediately respond to a request for comment.