No. 1 on the Fortune Global 500: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos on How His Garage Startup Became the Largest Company in the World by Revenue
**Amazon's remarkable journey from a Seattle garage to the Fortune Global 500 throne is a masterclass in vision, diversification, and betting on what won't change.**
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## The Crown Is Amazon's
On July 28, 2026, Fortune released its prestigious Fortune Global 500 list, and for the first time in 13 years, there was a new name at the top. Amazon officially surpassed Walmart to claim the title of the world's largest company by revenue, ending a historic run .
This is more than just a symbolic win. Amazon reported **$716.9 billion** in revenue for the 2025 fiscal year, narrowly edging out Walmart's $713.2 billion . It marked a 12% revenue jump for the e-commerce and cloud giant, a feat that underscores just how much the company has evolved since its founding in 1994 . Jeff Bezos, the founder who started it all with a $245,573 loan from his parents , now sits atop a corporate empire worth more than $2 trillion and employs 70.2 million people worldwide .
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## The Secret Weapon: Betting on What Doesn't Change
In an era of constant disruption, Bezos has long advocated for a counterintuitive strategy. He suggests that instead of asking what will change in the next decade, you should ask: **"What's not going to change in the next 10 years?"** .
Bezos applied this principle to Amazon's retail business, focusing on three "immutable" customer desires: low prices, vast selection, and fast delivery . He then applied this same philosophy to Amazon Web Services (AWS). He reasoned that customers would always want reliable cloud services, rapid innovation, and competitive pricing .
### The Power of AWS
This long-term bet on AWS has been the engine of Amazon's financial transformation. The cloud computing division generated roughly $142 billion in annualized revenue in 2025 , with Q4 2025 sales hitting $35.6 billion—up 24% year-over-year . More importantly, AWS carries operating margins far exceeding traditional retail—**32.9% to 38.1%** compared to retail's low single digits . Without AWS, Amazon's 2025 revenue would have been **$588 billion**, suggesting its top-line advantage is closely tied to a business Walmart does not operate .
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## How a 1994 Garage Bet Became a Global Powerhouse
### The Humble Beginnings
Jeff Bezos quit his hedge fund job in 1994 to start an online bookstore in his Seattle garage. He initially called it "Cadabra Inc." before rebranding to "Amazon," inspired by the world's largest river . With a loan from his parents, he set out to create the "everything store."
### The Start of the Cloud Era
In 2006, Amazon launched AWS, betting that the same infrastructure powering its own website could be rented to other developers. This decision would prove to be one of the most profitable in business history, creating a new high-margin revenue stream that insulated the company from the razor-thin margins of retail .
### Diversification into Advertising
Amazon's advertising business has become a third pillar. The company’s three-tier structure (cost-per-click ads, display ads, and publisher services) has challenged the "Meta and Google duopoly," capturing 13.9% of the U.S. digital ad market in 2024 . Advertising revenue is now in the tens of billions annually, adding to the bottom line.
### The 2026 Blueprint
Today, Amazon's business model is a powerhouse of diversification. While retail remains central ($464 billion from online stores and physical locations), services (marketplace, advertising, subscriptions) now account for roughly **53% of revenue**, making the business far more resilient than a traditional retailer . The company also made an incredible **$200 billion capital commitment** largely to building its capacity for AI and cloud computing in 2026 alone .
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## Frequently Asked Questions
### Q: How did Amazon beat Walmart to become No. 1 on the Fortune Global 500?
A: Amazon reported $717 billion in revenue for the 2025 fiscal year, surpassing Walmart's $713 billion . Amazon's 12% revenue growth was driven by its cloud computing division (AWS) and advertising growth, not just retail sales .
### Q: What is Amazon Web Services (AWS) and why is it so important?
A: AWS is Amazon's cloud computing division, launched in 2006. It provides computing, storage, and AI services globally . It generated about $142 billion in annualized revenue in 2025 and accounts for most of Amazon's operating profit, with margins over 30% .
### Q: What is Jeff Bezos's "what doesn't change" philosophy?
A: Bezos recommends focusing on things that won't change in the next decade, rather than trying to predict change. For Amazon, this meant low prices, vast selection, and fast delivery .
### Q: What is Amazon's total revenue breakdown?
A: In 2025, 52.7% of revenue came from services (marketplace, advertising, subscriptions), while 47.3% came from product sales. The U.S. represents nearly 70% of total revenue .
### Q: Who are the top 10 companies on the 2026 Fortune Global 500?
A: The top 10 are: 1) Amazon, 2) Walmart, 3) State Grid (China), 4) UnitedHealth Group, 5) Saudi Aramco, 6) Apple, 7) McKesson, 8) Alphabet, 9) CVS Health, and 10) China National Petroleum .
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## Conclusion: An Empire Built on Relentless Reinvention
The story of Amazon's ascent to the No. 1 spot on the Fortune Global 500 is not just a story of a company that sold more stuff. It's the story of a business that understood the power of diversification. Jeff Bezos took a 1994 online bookstore and transformed it into a company where cloud computing and digital advertising generate the bulk of the value.
The revenue milestone is less about "retail supremacy" and more about the enduring power of diversification. As the Magnificent Seven collectively generated $2.3 trillion in revenue and $608 billion in profits in 2025, Amazon's ability to blend high-margin cloud services, digital advertising, and massive retail scale serves as a blueprint for the modern corporate titan .
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