Amazon Overtakes Walmart as the Biggest U.S. Company by Revenue
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Why did Walmart lose its title as the biggest U.S. company by revenue?
Walmart loses its crown as the biggest U.S. company by revenue. Plus, U.S. imports hit a record last year, despite President Trump's tariffs. And who's got beef? Higher prices for burgers and steaks may be here to stay.
Ranchers are just, they're really enjoying these good times. They've historically always struggled to make profits, and now they're really making money, and a lot of them have decided that they're going to hold on to it and There's not a lot of signs of significant herd rebuilding. So that creates an environment where beef is just the premier luxury protein.
It's Thursday, February 19th. I'm Alex Oselev for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. A new report from the Commerce Department out today shows that the nation's trade deficit, the gap between imports and exports, was just over $900 billion last year. That's only slightly smaller than in 2024, despite big tariffs from the Trump administration that aimed at closing trade gaps.
What factors contributed to the rise of Amazon over Walmart?
U.S. imports last year rose 5 percent and hit a record, meaning that the country remains a heavy net importer. We're exclusively reporting that President Trump is weighing an initial limited strike on Iran to force it to meet his demands for a nuclear deal. It would be the first step designed to pressure Tehran into an agreement. The opening attack would target a few military or government sites. It could come within days if it's authorized. If Iran refuses to end its nuclear enrichment after that strike, the U.S. would respond with a broad campaign against the regime. potentially aimed at toppling the government. Officials said Trump hasn't decided yet to order any attack, and it couldn't be determined how seriously Trump is considering this limited strike option.
Officials said that discussions lately have focused more on larger-scale campaigns. Trump signaled today that the U.S. would decide its next moves within 10 days. At a board of peace gathering about Gaza, Trump said that, quote, bad things will happen if Iran doesn't make a deal.
So now we may have to take it a step further or we may not.
How are beef prices affected by supply chain issues?
Maybe we're going to make a deal. You're going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days.
Iranian officials have threatened to respond with maximum force to American strikes. Walmart reported strong sales growth in its latest quarter, with U.S. comparable sales, a key retail metric, rising 4.6 percent. It continued to attract shoppers of all income levels to its groceries and online deliveries. The company's new CEO, John Ferner, said on Walmart's earnings call this morning that investments in the online business were helping fuel growth.
The investments we've made in technology and supply chain help us deliver items even faster. They're paying off. Here in the U.S., customers using fast delivery, and that's delivery in under three hours, grew more than 60 percent for the year.
But the end of the fiscal year also saw Walmart losing its crown as the biggest U.S. company by annual revenue. It's been overtaken by a big rival in e-commerce, Amazon. Sarah Nassauer, who covers Walmart for the Journal, says it's a milestone.
For the first time in over a decade, Amazon is bigger than Walmart by annual revenue.
What are the reasons behind the current high beef prices?
And that is symbolic. You know, it's symbolic internally inside Walmart, right? And how they view themselves. It's also symbolic, you know, externally. And it just speaks to how quickly Amazon has been able to grow their younger company than Walmart. There is a shift happening, but both Amazon and Walmart are growing fast. So you're seeing these two massive behemoths grow really fast.
If you eat beef, you may have noticed that its price has gone way up. The Labor Department said last week that ground beef prices in January rose 17 percent from a year earlier. That's a much bigger increase than groceries overall. Those were up 2.1 percent. And it's looking like these high prices may be here to stay. Patrick Thomas, who covers the food supply chain for the Journal, is here to discuss.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why did Walmart lose its title as the biggest U.S. company by revenue?
0:00–1:05
2
What factors contributed to the rise of Amazon over Walmart?
1:05–2:03
3
How are beef prices affected by supply chain issues?
2:03–3:11
4
What are the reasons behind the current high beef prices?
3:11–4:12
5
How are consumers responding to rising beef prices?
4:12–5:46
6
What actions is President Trump taking regarding beef imports?
5:46–6:44
7
How do jet engines power AI data centers?
6:44–7:52
8
What updates are there on the investigation involving Prince Andrew?
7:52–11:14