Profit Margins of the Largest Companies

Commenters debated a Visual Capitalist ranking of corporate profit margins, with baldeagle calling out an apparent error that sorted profit numbers alphabetically and questioning the piece’s quality. ksec argued profits in isolation are misleading and revenue should be considered, and Onavo insisted Amazon should be split to isolate AWS because segment mix distorts comparisons. Panzerschrek characterized big tech profits as a form of “feudal rent” on society, while hackeraccount and Onavo pointed to high returns in niche assets and business models - storage units reportedly yielding ~10% returns and quant shops or platforms like OnlyFans delivering very strong per-capita economics.

Other commenters defended margin-based comparisons or offered alternative metrics. Rayiner said profit margin is the consumer-relevant number because it shows how much of a purchase becomes profit. Mrjay42 celebrated Nvidia’s outsized margins. Adventured called the article “mediocre” but recommended operating income as a better measure, providing specific figures attributed to their view (Nvidia ~ $96B sales/$63B operating income, Visa ~61% op margin, Micron and Sandisk cited with ~80% and ~78% op margins respectively) to argue that segment-level accounting and operating-income metrics can materially change interpretations.