Wal-Mart: The Real Story's Unfolding Overseas

From its detractors' polemics over its destruction of Main Street to its continuing status as a false bellwether for an entire nation's retail health, Wal-Mart(WMT Quote) has undisputedly been one thing: an American story.

That notion, though, is obsolete. As Tom Petty sang: "After all it was a great big world/With lots of places to run to..." And somebody better clue the business media in to the fact that Wal-Mart ain't an American girl anymore.

Wal-Mart reported its fourth quarter Tuesday and much of the business media saw fit to lead with a number of different factors. Some led with the sexy thought that Wal-Mart became the first retailer to report $100 billion in quarterly sales. Others led with chat of performance vs. expectations, the effects of discounting at Wal-Mart or the wider impact of stateside consumer spending.

But it's as if the business media, too often complacent, was literally plugging their ears to the new story at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has run overseas and one takeaway of yesterday's report was that it's working quite well, thank you. ...