Amazon just overtook Walmart in revenue for the first time

(Image credit: Future)

Amazon’s most recent quarterly revenue was $8bn higher than Walmart’s
Solid holiday season 2024 performance raises Amazon figures
Walmart continues to battle with the high costs of physical stores

It might be the world’s fourth-most valuable company, with a market cap of $2.36 trillion dollars, but Amazon has never been able to reach Walmart's levels of quarterly revenue - until now.

In the three months ending December 31, 2024, Amazon reported a 10% year-over-year increase in revenue to $187.8 billion, putting it ahead of Walmart ($180.6 billion) for the first time ever.

This is despite the ecommerce platform being around three times larger than Walmart, which has a valuation of $780.92 billion.

Amazon vs Walmart

Despite the historical moment, projections for 2025 suggest that the two companies could be battling it out for months to come. Walmart’s full fiscal year projection stands at $708.7 billion, just a small jump ahead of the $700.8 prediction for Amazon.

Speaking on its earnings release, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy thanked the most successful holiday season yet for strong growth. Cloud developments within AWS also propped up company revenue, acconting for $28.8 billion, or around 15% of the entire revenue.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said that “low prices, a growing assortment, and an eCommerce business driven by faster delivery times” were all responsible for strong results.

However, while Walmart may have expanded into third-party marketplaces, fulfillment services and advertising, its core business remains centered around in-person shopping, and maintaining physical stores is costly due to increasing wages and other expenses.

To put the two companies’ revenues into perspective and to highlight what’s at stake, Apple, the world’s most valuable company and one of three with a $3 trillion+ market cap, posted quarterly revenue of $124.3 billion. Nvidia, the second-most valuable company, posted $35.1 billion and Microsoft, in position three, posted $69.6 billion.

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With several years’ experience freelancing in tech and automotive circles, Craig’s specific interests lie in technology that is designed to better our lives, including AI and ML, productivity aids, and smart fitness. He is also passionate about cars and the decarbonisation of personal transportation. As an avid bargain-hunter, you can be sure that any deal Craig finds is top value!