A New York Times article today describes Walmart’s investment of $50 million with a for-profit on-line university to provide college courses for its workforce.

There’s more where that money came from, of course, and Walmart’s might and interest has influenced supply chains of all sorts of goods and services over the years. The suggestion is that higher education could be next, perhaps to the discomfort of traditional colleges. Nice kicker to the story:

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In the meantime, the two companies are still getting acquainted. Mr. Boston said the relationship was going well, but the giant retailer — used to dealing with thousands of suppliers around the world — was still adjusting to the unusual nature of their agreement.

“We had to keep reminding them in a nice way that we weren’t an outsourced provider, we’re a university,” Mr. Boston said.

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