In a slow-motion race of two behemoths, Amazon has officially displaced Walmart as the world's biggest company by sales.
For the first time, Walmart on Thursday reported lower annual sales than Amazon: Walmart's revenue was $713.2 billion for the year ending in January, while Amazon, boosted by its lucrative cloud-computing business, made $716.9 billion in revenue for the year ending in December.
For about a decade, Walmart had reigned supreme thanks to its status as the world's largest retailer with nearly 11,000 stores employing more than 2 million people. Amazon has struggled to develop a physical-store footprint despite its purchase of Whole Foods in 2017. But it's the biggest online retailer, employing 1.6 million people.
Yet the factor that's propelled Amazon past Walmart is its fast-growing technology side. Amazon Web Services is the leading provider of cloud computing. Earlier this month, it reported its fastest growth in years, as companies turn to Amazon Web Services and its massive web of data centers in their rush toward artificial intelligence.
Walmart has stepped into the AI race with its own shopping assistant and investments into retail technology. But it doesn't compete in cloud services. On the retail side, the two are increasingly competing for the same dollars — with the U.S. market being the largest for both — as Amazon pushes to offer the lowest prices and Walmart cites high-income shoppers as its fastest-growing segment in recent years.
On Thursday, Walmart reported 24% growth of its online sales and a notable expansion of its fastest deliveries, including those made within hours.
Earlier this month, the value of Walmart's stock surpassed $1 trillion in market value. Amazon's topped $2 trillion in 2024.
Editor's note: Amazon is among NPR's recent financial supporters and pays to distribute some NPR content.
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