Amazon has overtaken Walmart to become the largest company in the world based on annual revenue and is a strong indication of an inflection point in the retail industry.
The Narrow Victory
Walmart reported annual revenue of $713.2 billion for the most recent fiscal year, trailing Amazon’s $716.9 billion. This was the first milestone expected to be achieved in February 2025 when Amazon became the first company to pass Walmart in terms of quarterly sales with $187.8b in total sales and $180.5 billion, respectively.
The growth of Amazon as compared to that of Walmart, 12% a year over a year to reach $716.9 billion, demonstrates that Amazon doubled its revenue in the last two decades.
The Power Diversification of Amazon
The diversification of Amazon into the businesses supplies its competitive advantage. Third-party, seller services are expected to contribute 24 % of 2025 sales with Amazon Web Services (AWS) having 18 % or $128.7 billion which is 20 % off the increase.
AWS maintains a commanding 30% market share lead that will be driven by AI projects like the $38 billion OpenAI partnership, only strengthening Amazon as the leader.
Walmart’s Resilient Push
The strategy of Walmart is still based on its large physical stores chain that consists of more than 4,605 stores in the United States as of January 2025.
The model is supplemented by a significant online growth, which saw U.S. e-commerce sales grow by 27 % in the fourth quarter and report 15 quarters in a row of double-digit growth. However, the retail base of the company seems to fall behind the technological wave of Amazon.
Future Battleground
According to the estimated revenues, Amazon aims at the increased advertising revenues of $60+ billion in 2026 and heavy investments in AI-related capital spending, which might increase the profit gap.
It has been argued that the diversification of Amazon helps the company counter the impacts of retail cycle declines, and that Walmart specializing in necessities can allow the company a bounce back on market share in case the e-commerce boom picks up; the pace at which AI will be used will probably overlay the subsequent inclination of revenue leaders.