What happened
According to Bloomberg, Amazon has overtaken Walmart in annual revenue: Amazon reported $717 billion for the year ended in December, while Walmart reported $713.2 billion for the 12 months ended January 31. Both companies generate the majority of their revenues in the U.S.
Walmart is the largest physical retailer with more than 10,000 stores; Amazon is the leader in online commerce. But the key to Amazon’s advantage is its cloud unit AWS. Without AWS, Amazon’s 2025 annual revenue would be about $588 billion, meaning the company effectively embodies a “retail + platform” model.
What experts say
"This is more of a symbolic victory. Amazon did not beat Walmart in retail. It simply surpassed it in revenue by running a business Walmart does not operate in."
— Kirti Kalyanam, Executive Director of the Retail Management Institute at Santa Clara University
Why it matters
The numbers are not just about money. They show how control over digital infrastructure is turning into economic and geopolitical advantage. AWS is not just incremental profit: it’s a platform that powers services, data and solutions for businesses and government entities.
For Ukraine this has practical significance: cloud services affect the speed of digital transformation, the resilience of critical infrastructure, and opportunities for cooperation in the defense sector. The advantage of large technology ecosystems also raises issues of regulation, taxation and competition in the global market.
Market context
The most valuable company by market capitalization right now is Nvidia — about $4.5 trillion, roughly twice Amazon’s market cap and three times Walmart’s. This is a reminder that the center of economic power is increasingly shifting toward technology, not just sales volume.
Conclusion
Amazon moving ahead of Walmart in revenue is a signal: future influence of companies will be measured not only by store networks or trade volume, but by control over platforms and data. For Ukraine this is both a challenge and an opportunity: how to integrate into new value chains, take advantage of cloud services, and reduce dependencies where they are risky?
