Asda Stores Ltd trading as Asda, is a British supermarket retailer, headquartered in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The company was founded in 1949 when the supermarket owning Asquith family merged with the Associated Dairies company of Yorkshire. It expanded into the south of England during the 1970s and 1980s, and acquired Allied Carpets, 61 large Gateway Supermarkets and other businesses, such as MFI, then sold off its acquisitions during the 1990s to concentrate on the supermarkets. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until 1999 when it was acquired by the American retail giant Walmart for £6.7 billion. Asda was the second-largest supermarket chain in Britain between 2003 and 2014 by market share, at which point it fell into third place. Since April 2019 it has regained its second place position, behind Tesco and ahead of Sainsbury's.