Markets

How Big Tech Revenue and Profit Breaks Down, by Company

Published

3 years ago

September 13, 2022

Truman Du

Featured Creator

Article/Editing:

Carmen Ang

In the media and public discourse, companies like Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft are often lumped together into the same “Big Tech” category. After all, they constitute the world’s largest companies by market capitalization.

And because of this, it’s easy to assume they’re in direct competition with each other, fiercely battling for a bigger piece of the “Big Tech” pie. But while there is certainly competition between the world’s tech giants, it’s a lot less drastic than you might imagine.

This is apparent when you look into their various revenue streams, and this series of graphics by Truman Du provides a revenue breakdown of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft.

How Big Tech Companies Generate Revenue

So how does each big tech firm make money? Let’s explore using data from each company’s June 2022 quarterly income statements.

Alphabet

breakdown of Alphabet's revenue streams and profit

View the full-size infographic

In Q2 2022, about 72% of Alphabet’s revenue came from search advertising. This makes sense considering Google and YouTube get a lot of eyeballs. Google dominates the search market—about 90% of all internet searches are done on Google platforms.

Amazon

breakdown of amazon's revenue streams and profit

View the full-size infographic

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Amazon’s biggest revenue driver is e-commerce. However, as the graphic above shows, the costs of e-commerce are so steep, that it actually reported a net loss in Q2 2022.

As it often is, Amazon Web Services (AWS) was the company’s main profit-earner this quarter.

Apple

breakdown of Apple's revenue streams and profit

View the full-size infographic

Apple’s biggest revenue driver is consumer electronics sales, particularly from the iPhone which accounts for nearly half of overall revenue. iPhones are particularly popular in the U.S., where they make up around 50% of smartphone sales across the country.

Besides devices, services like Apple Music, Apple Pay, and Apple TV+ also generate revenue for the company. But in Q2 2022, Apple’s services branch accounted for only 24% of the company’s overall revenue.

Microsoft

breakdown of Microsoft's revenue streams and profit

View the full-size infographic

Microsoft has a fairly even split between its various revenue sources, but similarly to Amazon its biggest revenue driver is its cloud services platform, Azure.

After AWS, Azure is the second largest cloud server in the world, capturing 21% of the global cloud infrastructure market.

This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

Click for Comments

Markets

How Major Asset Classes Have Performed Since 2020

Explore asset class performance from 2020 to 2024, highlighting trends in Bitcoin, gold, equities, and bonds.

Published

3 days ago

June 13, 2025

Marcus Lu

How Major Asset Classes Have Performed Since 2020

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.

Key Takeaways

Bitcoin climbed 301% in 2020 as investors flocked to it as an inflation hedge and institutional adoption grew
Gold surged in 2024 as falling interest rates and persistent geopolitical uncertainty boosted demand for safe-haven assets

Over the past five years, asset classes have experienced significant shifts, influenced by global events and economic policies. This infographic illustrates the annual performance of major asset classes from 2020 to 2024, highlighting the volatility and resilience across different assets during this period.

Data & Discussion

The data, sourced from Bilello.blog, provides a comprehensive overview of annual returns for various asset classes between 2020 and 2024.

ETF	Asset Class	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
GLD	Gold	24.8%	-4.2%	-0.8%	12.7%	26.7%
EFA	EAFE Stocks	7.6%	11.5%	-14.4%	18.4%	3.5%
N/A	Bitcoin ($BTC)	301%	66%	-65%	156%	121%
VWO	EM Stocks	15.2%	1.3%	-18%	9.3%	10.6%
EMB	EM Bonds (USD)	5.5%	-2.2%	-18.6%	10.6%	5.5%
HYG	High Yield Bonds	4.5%	3.8%	-11%	11.5%	8%
BND	US Total Bond Market	7.7%	-1.9%	-13.1%	5.7%	1.4%
BIL	US Cash	0.4%	0.1%	1.4%	4.9%	5.2%
LQD	Investment Grade Bonds	11%	-1.8%	-17.9%	4.9%	0.9%
QQQ	US Nasdaq 100	48.6%	27.4%	-32.6%	54.9%	25.6%
DBC	Commodities	-7.8%	41.4%	19.3%	-6.2%	2.2%
SPY	US Large Caps	18.4%	28.7%	-18.2%	26.2%	24.9%
VNQ	US REITs	-4.7%	40.5%	-26.2%	11.8%	4.8%
TLT	Long Duration Treasuries	18.2%	-4.6%	-31.2%	2.8%	-8.1%

Bitcoin’s Volatility and Growth

Bitcoin experienced a remarkable surge of 301% in 2020, driven by rising investor interest in cryptocurrencies. Despite a significant drop of 65% in 2022, it rebounded with gains of 156% in 2023 and 121% in 2024, showcasing its unprecedented volatility and return potential.

Gold’s Resilience Amid Uncertainty

Gold demonstrated resilience, particularly in 2024, with a 26.7% increase, as investors sought safe-haven assets amid falling interest rates and geopolitical tensions. Its performance highlights gold’s traditional role as a store of value during periods of economic instability and market volatility.

U.S. Equities

US equities, represented by the S&P 500 (SPY), showed strong performance in 2021 and 2023, with gains of 28.7% and 26.2% respectively. However, 2022 saw a significant decline of 18.2%, setting a record for the biggest annual drop since 2008.

2025 has been another rocky year so far due to escalating tariff threats. When focusing on the first 73 trading days of a year, 2025 is the S&P 500’s fifth worst year in history.