Amazon Overtakes Walmart as America’s Biggest Company

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For more than a decade, Walmart sat atop the Forbes 500 ranking. Now, that streak is over.

Amazon’s rise to the No. 1 spot reflects a broader shift in the American economy, where e-commerce, cloud computing, and digital services have become increasingly dominant drivers of corporate growth. The company is now just the fourth business to lead the Forbes 500 in the ranking’s 72-year history.

The visualization above ranks the 50 largest U.S. companies by revenue using data from the 2026 Forbes 500 list, via 50 Pros. Alongside Amazon’s ascent, the ranking highlights the enormous scale of healthcare, technology, energy, and financial firms across corporate America.

Amazon Ends Walmart’s 13-Year Run

In 2026, Amazon displaced Walmart as the world’s largest company by revenue, ending Walmart’s 13-year reign at the top.

This shift follows a decade in which Amazon’s revenue surged alongside the growth of e-commerce and online shopping. The company’s strategic investments also expanded over this period, including its $13.7 billion acquisition of grocery retailer Whole Foods in 2017.

This data table lists American companies based on total revenue in their most recent fiscal year.

The COVID-19 pandemic also affected the retail race between Amazon and Walmart. Lockdowns and isolation pushed many consumers toward online shopping at a scale not seen before, helping Amazon’s revenue jump by more than a third between 2019 and 2020.

Amazon’s displacement of Walmart makes the 1994-founded online retailer just the fourth company to top the Forbes 500 in the list’s 72-year history. Prior to Walmart, General Motors and ExxonMobil held the title. In 2025, GM’s revenue reached $185 billion, while ExxonMobil led the American oil industry at $332 billion.

Healthcare: Soaring Revenues

Healthcare companies generate over $2.7 trillion in combined revenue across America’s 50 largest companies, led by UnitedHealthcare at $448 billion.

Nearly one out of every five dollars in the U.S. economy is spent in the healthcare sector, which is reflected in the massive revenues of companies like CVS Health ($402 billion), Cigna ($275 billion), and Johnson & Johnson ($94 billion).

Technological advancements and an aging U.S. population have driven growth in the sector, with firms like UnitedHealthcare and Cigna each posting over 10% year-over-year revenue growth.

America’s Core Sectors

The technology sector generated over $1.6 trillion in revenue from just its six top firms, with Apple ($416 billion) and Google parent company Alphabet ($403 billion) leading the way.

Meanwhile, Berkshire Hathaway ($371 billion) posted the highest revenue among financial firms, followed by JPMorgan Chase ($182 billion) and government-sponsored enterprise Fannie Mae ($153 billion).

Notably, the only consumer goods company to break into America’s top 50 firms by revenue is PepsiCo, which generated $94 billion in revenue in the 2025 fiscal year. This puts the food and beverage company ahead of industrial and logistics giants like Boeing ($90 billion) and United Parcel Service ($89 billion).

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