There’s a new king in town. Amazon has dethroned the previous retail ruler Walmart, ending a 13-year reign. The online giant posted $717 billion in sales in 2025 compared to Walmart’s $713 billion—a historic shift in sales dominance.
The secret to Amazon’s win? Amazon Web Services brought in nearly $129 billion last year, providing cloud computing, storage, and AI services to companies and governments worldwide. AWS is Amazon’s key profit driver and helps offset losses from its retail business. Amazon also pulled in more than $100 billion from ads and Prime subscriptions. By contrast, more than 90% of Walmart’s sales still come from its brick-and-mortar stores and websites.
But Walmart is very much still in the game. The retailer’s stock recently surpassed $1 trillion in value—the first traditional retailer to hit that mark. Under new CEO John Furner, US sales grew 4.6% last quarter, led by middle-class and upper-income shoppers hunting for deals.
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There’s a new king in town. Amazon has dethroned the previous retail ruler Walmart, ending a 13-year reign. The online giant posted $717 billion in sales in 2025 compared to Walmart’s $713 billion—a historic shift in sales dominance.
The secret to Amazon’s win? Amazon Web Services brought in nearly $129 billion last year, providing cloud computing, storage, and AI services to companies and governments worldwide. AWS is Amazon’s key profit driver and helps offset losses from its retail business. Amazon also pulled in more than $100 billion from ads and Prime subscriptions. By contrast, more than 90% of Walmart’s sales still come from its brick-and-mortar stores and websites.
But Walmart is very much still in the game. The retailer’s stock recently surpassed $1 trillion in value—the first traditional retailer to hit that mark. Under new CEO John Furner, US sales grew 4.6% last quarter, led by middle-class and upper-income shoppers hunting for deals.
Sign up for the Entrepreneur Daily newsletter to get the news and resources you need to know today to help you run your business better. Get it in your inbox.
