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2024-12-26 21:06:29

The World’s 10 Largest Companies by Revenue (2019-2024)

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Collectively, the world’s 10 largest companies by revenue generate roughly $4.6 trillion in annual sales, exceeding the GDP of countries like Japan and Germany.

Over the past five years, corporate balance sheets have swelled amid robust consumer demand, recovering economies, and strong labor markets. At the same time, stock markets have become increasingly concentrated, with the largest companies gaining market share through pricing power and economies of scale.

This graphic shows the top 10 Fortune Global 500 companies since 2019, based on data from Fortune. For the rankings, Fortune included public and private companies that report financial data. The latest 2024 ranking is based on total revenues in companies’ fiscal years ending on or before March 31, 2024.

Ranked: The World’s Leading Corporate Giants by Revenue

Below, we show the largest firms by revenue around the world:

Walmart, with over 10,600 stores worldwide, has maintained its position as the world’s largest company by revenue for 12 consecutive years.

With slim profit margin of just 2.4%, Walmart is increasingly focused on digital advertising revenues. Today, Walmart commands 6.8% of U.S. retail ad spend, which is projected to reach $3.7 billion in 2024. Over the past two quarters, Walmart’s ad revenue growth has exceeded Amazon, driven largely by a growing number of marketplace sellers.

As America’s second-largest retailer, Amazon follows next in line, with $574.8 billion in revenues. Since 2019, revenues have more than doubled, driven by 310 million global customers using its online marketplace.

However, Amazon Web Services (AWS), fuels the majority of earnings given its high profit margins and strong growth. Today, AWS commands 31% of the global cloud services market.

Ranking in third is Chinese utility firm, State Grid, the largest employer in the world. The state-owned firm has regularly stood in the top 10 rankings, given its expansive global reach. Today, the utility giant has investments in projects across Australia, Brazil, Portugal, Italy and the Philippines.

Overall, Apple has the healthiest profit margins among the top 10 countries, at 25%. It is followed closely by oil giant Saudi Aramco, whose cheap production costs and vast oil reserves led profit margins to reach 24% in the latest fiscal year.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about this topic from a market cap perspective, check out this graphic on the world’s 25 largest companies by market capitalization in 2024.

The post Ranked: The World’s 10 Largest Companies by Revenue (2019-2024) appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

2024-12-26 15:09:16

As 2024 draws to a close, industries are bracing for monumental change in 2025. With the rise of AI, shifting geopolitical dynamics, and more–staying ahead of these changes is a challenge for leaders who want to thrive. So, how can you prepare?

To help you navigate, we’re giving you a glimpse into the future at what experts are predicting for 2025 through our Global Forecast Series.

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PS – Get a free gift if you sign up before January 1st! Details below.

Introducing the 2025 Global Forecast Series

The 2025 Global Forecast Series, presented by Inigo, is your ultimate cheatsheet for the year ahead. We kicked off the series last week with a free webinar exploring key trends on our radar–and now the biggest event of the year is ramping up.

Each year the VC team scours expert predictions from 800+ sources and curates them into the visuals you need to see. From now until the end of January, VC+ members get exclusive access to the whole series.

Join VC+ today to get a head start on the New Year!

Here’s What We Have in Store:

2025 Global Forecast Report

Your Guide to the Top Expert Predictions and Trends

This in-depth guide condenses hundreds of expert predictions into one essential report, covering key economic shifts, technological advancements, and geopolitical developments. With digestible visuals, it provides insights to help you navigate the trends that will shape the year ahead.

Coming Thursday, January 9th, 2025 (Get VC+ to access)

2025 Predictions Database

Download the Raw Data Behind the 2025 Global Forecast

VC+ members now get exclusive access to over 800 expert predictions, going beyond the ones featured in our Global Forecast report. Dive into the data by sentiment, topic, analyst, and more. Plus, explore the sources and links of the raw data along with extended research notes from our team.

Coming Thursday, January 30th, 2025 (Get VC+ to access)

Video: Unpacking the 2025 Global Forecast (Part 1 & 2)

Exclusive Insights from the VC Team on Key Predictions

In this special two-part video series, the Visual Capitalist team–including Editor-in-Chief, Jeff Desjardins–will break down the major findings from the 2025 Global Forecast report. VC+ members will also get exclusive access to further insights, predictions, and commentary on the top trends.

Coming Thursday, January 16th & 23rd, 2025 (Get VC+ to access)

Looking Back at 2024’s Prediction Consensus

How Did Expert Predictions for 2024 Pan Out?

Each year, our research team compiles expert predictions to create the annual Prediction Consensus. This dispatch reviews the accuracy of 2024’s forecasts, examining what experts got right, wrong, and missed entirely. It also provides valuable insight to help guide your perspective as we look ahead to the trends shaping 2025.

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Bonus Gift: Best of VC+ 2024

Recapping the Top Insights Sent Out in 2024

Simply sign up to VC+ before January 1st and we’ll also send you this bonus content showcasing the must-see dispatches, visuals, and insights shared with VC+ members throughout 2024. Don’t miss out!

Coming Thursday, January 2nd, 2025 (Get VC+ to access)

Unlock Even More with VC+

The Global Forecast Series is just the beginning. Join the VC+ community to receive exclusive visual content throughout the year:

• Special Dispatches: Weekly visual briefings on global trends that matter
• The Trendline: Weekly highlight of the best visualizations chosen by the Visual Capitalist editorial team
• VC+ Archive: Get full access to the whole collection of previous VC+ content.
• Visual Capitalist Ad-Free: Complimentary Ad-Free subscription to Visual Capitalist’s site (worth $23.99/year).

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The post How Leaders Stay Ahead in 2025 appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

2024-12-25 21:12:59

Charted: How U.S. Household Incomes Have Changed (1967-2023)

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

This chart tracks the share of U.S. households by annual income bracket from 1967 to 2023.

All annual income is in 2023 dollars, adjusted for inflation, but not for cost of living differences.

Data is sourced from the Census Bureau, published 2024.

Americans Are Making More Money Than Ever Before

Incomes for American households have grown quite a bit in the last six decades.

In 1967, nearly one-third of households made less than $35,000 a year (adjusted to 2023 dollars), and in 2023, that’s fallen to one-fifth.

Here’s the share of households per income bracket for every year since 1967. Categories have been combined from the original source and all figures are rounded. As a result percentages may not sum exactly to 100.

Meanwhile, the other end of the spectrum is seeing growth in the bracket size. In 1967, fewer than 2% of American households made more than $200,000 per year. In 2023, that number had risen to 15%.

Of course, there’s an increase in labor to also be accounted for. Six decades ago, only one-third of all U.S. households had all parents working. By 2009, the situation had reversed.

What This Chart Doesn’t Tell Us

Lastly, looking at incomes is only one half of the story. It doesn’t account for how prices of goods and services have changed relative to growing incomes.

Houses for example cost about 3x the median income in 1967, and in 2022 cost nearly 6x the median income.

However, the vast majority of consumer goods are much cheaper now, relative to incomes, due to how manufacturing has moved out to other parts of the world.

Food is also much cheaper, dropping from 15% of household income in 1967, to around 7% in 2022—the year when record food inflation had pushed prices up.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

Naturally, incomes vary quite a lot across the country. Check out Mapped: Median Income by State in 2024 to see by how much.

The post Charted: How U.S. Household Incomes Have Changed (1967-2023) appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

2024-12-24 23:42:18

Top 20 Destinations for Immigrants

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

There are approximately 281 million international migrants, equivalent to 3.6% of the global population.

This graphic ranks the top 20 destination countries for migrants in 1995 and 2020, based on data from the UN IOM’s World Migration Report 2024.

U.S.: The Leading Destination

The U.S. remains the top destination for global migrants, likely due to its vast economic opportunities and size.

Russia and Ukraine have both fallen in the rankings and are likely even lower now due to Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Country	1995 - Immigrants (millions)	Country	2020 - Immigrants (millions)
United States	24.6	United States	43.4
Russia	11.9	Germany	14.2
Germany	7.3	Saudi Arabia	13
India	6.7	Russia	11.6
France	6	United Kingdom	8.9
Ukraine	5.8	UAE	8.4
Saudi Arabia	4.9	France	8.1
Canada	4.7	Canada	7.8
Australia	4.1	Australia	7.4
United Kingdom	4	Spain	6.6
Kazakhstan	2.9	Italy	6.1
Pakistan	2.5	Ukraine	4.6
Hong Kong SAR	2.1	India	4.5
Côte d'Ivoire	2	Thailand	3.5
UAE	1.8	Kazakhstan	3.4
Italy	1.7	Malaysia	3.1
Israel	1.6	Kuwait	3
Jordan	1.5	Hong Kong SAR	2.9
Argentina	1.5	Jordan	2.7
Uzbekistan	1.4	Japan	2.5

Conversely, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have seen significant increases in immigration since 1995. Both nations have worked to diversify their economies beyond oil, creating opportunities for immigrants in other industries.

Conflicts and Climate Change

According to the UN, millions of people have been displaced in the past two years due to conflicts in countries such as Syria, Yemen, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Myanmar.

Large-scale displacements caused by climate and weather-related disasters also occurred in many parts of the world during 2022 and 2023, including Pakistan, the Philippines, China, India, Bangladesh, Brazil, and Colombia. At the end of 2022, 117 million people were living in displacement globally.

Migration has also significantly impacted the global economy. For example, international remittances totaled $831 billion in 2022.

Learn More on the Voronoi App 

If you liked this graphic, make sure to check out this graphic that shows which states Americans moved to the most.

The post Ranked: Top 20 Destinations for Immigrants (1995 vs. 2020) appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

2024-12-24 21:12:44

Big Tech’s AI Data Center Costs

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Big tech companies are aggressively investing billions of dollars in AI data centers to meet the escalating demand for computational power and infrastructure necessary for advanced AI workloads.

This graphic visualizes the total AI capital expenditures and data center operating costs for Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon from January to August 2024.

AI capital expenditures are one-time or infrequent investments in long-term AI assets and infrastructure.

Data center operating costs are ongoing expenses for running and maintaining AI data centers on a day-to-day basis

The data comes from New Street Research via JP Morgan and is updated as of August 2024. Figures are in billions. Operating costs include cash operating expenses, software, depreciation, and electricity.

Training AI Models Is Eating Up Costs

Below, we show the total AI capital expenditures and data center operating costs for Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon.

Microsoft currently leads the pack in total AI data center costs, spending a total of $46 billion on capital expenditures and operating costs as of August 2024.

Microsoft also currently has the highest number of data centers at 300, followed by Amazon at about 215. However, variations in size and capacity mean the number of facilities doesn’t always reflect total computing power.

In September, Microsoft and BlackRock unveiled a $100 billion plan through the Global Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Investment Partnership (GAIIP) to develop AI-focused data centers and the energy infrastructure to support them.

Notably, both Google and Amazon currently spend more than twice as much training their models as they do running them for their end-use customers (inference).

The training cost for a major AI model is getting increasingly expensive, as it requires large data sets, complex calculations, and substantial computational resources, often involving powerful GPUs and significant energy consumption.

However, as the frequency and scale of AI model deployments continue to grow, the cumulative cost of inference is likely to surpass these initial training costs, which is already the case for OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about data center distribution in the U.S., check out this graphic that shows the percentage of U.S. states’ electricity that data centers consumed.

The post Visualizing Big Tech Company Spending On AI Data Centers appeared first on Visual Capitalist.

2024-12-23 23:42:31

China’s GDP Growth is Now Lagging the Rest of Asia

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

China’s economy is facing a series of significant challenges, including a property crisis and high youth unemployment. After decades of rapid growth, the country is now expected to experience less economic growth than other Asian nations.

This graphic illustrates the projected growth of per-capita GDP for selected Asian nations between 2023 and 2026, based on data compiled by HSBC as of November 2024.

Chinese Economy Lagging

India and Southeast Asian nations are projected to achieve an average per-capita GDP growth of 6.5% over the 2023–2026 period.

Most of these economies are expected to thrive, bolstered by youthful demographics, a rising middle class, strong foreign and domestic private investment flows, and a booming technology sector.

Country	Average Per-Capita GDP Growth (2023–2026P)
China	3.9%
Japan	4.1%
Vietnam	4.7%
Singapore	5.3%
Thailand	5.4%
Malaysia	5.7%
Indonesia	6.7%
Philippines	8.7%
India	8.7%

China, however, is forecasted to experience an average per-capita GDP growth of just 3.9%. To address these economic challenges, China’s top leaders have signaled plans for stronger stimulus measures to help fill gaps in consumer demand.

Senior Chinese officials have also indicated plans for increased government spending and further interest rate cuts.

The ruling Communist Party faces a “long, long battle” to reflate the economy, according to Robin Xing, chief China economist at Morgan Stanley, who told Bloomberg Television that 2025 will “be the year of trying.”

“Maybe by 2026, they will finally find the right dose of policies — a combination of consumption-centric stimulus plus social safety net reform,” Xing added.

Learn More on the Voronoi App 

The post China’s GDP Growth is Now Lagging the Rest of Asia appeared first on Visual Capitalist.