Does Walmart Own Lowes?

  It seems like many people believe that Walmart owns the home improvement store chain Lowes. However that is an outright lie and an urban legend. Today in my technical writing class somebody did an ethics speech on Walmart. One student happened to mention that Walmart owns Lowes. I raised my hand and said that is a misconception. Everybody told me that they do own Lowes. I didn't want to start an argument about and left them to be wrong.
  So how did this rumor start anyway? I don't know the answer to that particular question but I will post my theories on how it came to be. It is rumored that some of the members of the Walton family owns stock in Lowes. They might have had stock in Lowes at one time but not anymore. Basically this is just one of those boycott either store rumor. 
  Here are five ways to discredit this rumor.

1. Lowes Sponsors a NASCAR Full time. Walmart has sponsored a NASCAR a few times on and off but they were mostly partial sponsorships or a one time deal, such as the number 50 car driven by Bill Elliot for one race to honor Walmart's 50th Anniversary in 2012.
2. Lowes has been around longer than Walmart.
3. Lowes does not have Walmart Private Fleet trucks pulling freight to their stores. Lowes doesn't have a private trucking fleet.
4. A Walmart discount card won't work at Lowes, Neither will a Walmart credit card.
5. Lowes sells Kobalt Tools which are exclusive to Lowes, and are not sold at Walmart or Sam's Club stores. 

  So long story short, Walmart does NOT OWN Lowes