Asda was the British supermarket chain founded in 1949 in the Leeds area and acquired by Walmart in 1999.
The business was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. Its roots combined the Asquith family’s butcher shops with dairy interests led by the Stockdale family. The name Asda was adopted in the 1960s, formed from “Asquith” and “Dairies.”
Asda expanded from northern England into the south during the 1970s and 1980s. Expansion brought financial strain, including heavy debt after acquisitions, but management reorganised the company around value-focused supermarkets. By the mid-1990s, it had returned to profitability.
Walmart completed its acquisition of Asda on 26 July 1999 for about £6.7 billion. The deal gave Walmart a major foothold in Britain. It is sometimes confused with a later ownership change: Walmart sold most of its stake to the Issa brothers and TDR Capital in 2021, although Walmart retained a minority interest.