You'll soon be able to buy stock at Walmart if you are a Walmart manager.

I'm David Brancaccio in New York. The largest private sector employer in the world is

Walmart. News is Walmart is giving managers a new benefit. in the

employer in the world is Walmart is giving managers a new benefit as it competes for

talent in a tight labor market the retailer will offer managers

Walmart stock. Here's Marketplace's Nancy Marshall Genser.

Walmart says its store managers will get up to $20,000 in company stock every year.

The exact amount will depend on the size of the stores they run.

Managers of super centers get the $20,000 worth of stock.

Those who run smaller neighborhood market stores get $15,000,

and managers of hometown stores get 10,000.

Walmart says it's also simplifying and increasing manager's wages.

So the average salary will go from $117,000 to $128,000 a year, and the retailer says managers who hit their annual targets can

get a bonus of up to 200% of their base pay.

The labor market is still tight, and Walmart is trying to keep its workers from going to competitors like Target.

It's also raised pay for its associates and says its average wage will soon be over $18 an hour. I'm Nancy Marshall Genser for Marketplace.

Microsoft reports profits later today. In recent weeks, Microsoft overtook Apple to become the world's

most valuable company when the metric is

stock price times the number of stocks equals market capitalization. The trick to

that is its big footprint in artificial intelligence given its investment in open AI maker of chat

gbpt marketplace is Stephanie Hughes has that. Artificial intelligence is now a feature

in lots of Microsoft's products.

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