Amazon Overtakes Walmart as America’s Largest Company After 13-Year Reign

Amazon Overtakes Walmart as America's Largest Company After 13-Year Reign

Amazon has dethroned Walmart as the largest U.S. company by revenue, claiming the top spot on the Fortune 500 for the first time and ending Walmart's 13-year run at No. 1. Based on fourth-quarter earnings, Amazon recorded $716.9 billion in revenue for 2025, narrowly edging out Walmart's $713.2 billion—a margin of just $3.7 billion that nonetheless marks a historic shift in corporate America's pecking order.

The changing of the guard, set to be reflected in Fortune's June rankings, makes Amazon only the fourth company ever to lead the Fortune 500, joining an exclusive club that includes Exxon, General Motors, and Walmart itself. Walmart had held the top position for 21 of the last 24 years, a dominance that now gives way to the e-commerce giant it once viewed as an existential threat.

But the story here isn't one of decline and fall. Unlike the fate of Sears, Kmart, and J.C. Penney—retailers Walmart left in its wake a generation ago—Walmart's displacement comes amid what Fortune describes as a period of growth and reinvention. The company's online business grew 27% in the most recent quarter, and it continues to outpace Amazon in grocery delivery, a crucial battleground for both retailers.

The competitive pressure from Amazon appears to have forced Walmart into a transformation that may have saved it from irrelevance. Under former CEO Doug McMillon and current CEO John Furner, Walmart began a cultural and operational overhaul in 2014, shifting from its initial slow response to e-commerce disruption to embracing the kind of innovation-through-failure approach that has characterized Amazon's own growth strategy.

For CFOs watching this rivalry, the implications extend well beyond retail. Both companies are now competing across multiple fronts—AI development, streaming services, and media operations—turning what was once a straightforward retail battle into a broader contest for technological and cultural dominance. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Walmart's Furner are positioning their companies not just as retailers but as technology platforms with retail operations attached.

The narrow revenue gap—less than 1% separates the two companies—suggests this ranking could flip again. More significantly for finance leaders, it demonstrates how competitive pressure can drive operational transformation even in mature, capital-intensive businesses. Walmart's ability to remain relevant while being overtaken offers a case study in how legacy companies can respond to digital disruption without collapsing under its weight.

The question now is whether Walmart's reinvention will be enough to reclaim the top spot, or whether Amazon's momentum across cloud computing, advertising, and logistics will widen the gap. For an industry that has seen dramatic consolidation and disruption over the past two decades, the fact that both companies are growing—rather than one simply cannibalizing the other—may be the most interesting development of all.