A new study has revealed the financial reports of the world’s biggest tech brands to show exactly how long it takes each to make their first $1 billion, as well as how fast they make a billion today.
It also calculated how much the world’s biggest brands make every second.
Apple – $8,267.20 per second
Total Revenue: $265,595,000,000
First Billion: 14 years
Latest Billion: 1.4 days
In August 2018, Apple became the first public company in the world to hit the trillion-dollar mark after share prices rose to $207.05, sending the tech giant to all-new heights. This landmark moment came just 42 years after the company was founded.
Amazon – $5,511.46 per second
Total Revenue: $177,866,000,000
First Billion: 5 years
Latest Billion: 2.1 days
In June 2018, Investopedia named America ‘the United States of Amazon’ as the company’s Prime memberships tipped over the 100m mark. Fast forward to September of the same year and the retail kings became the second $1 trillion company, just weeks after Apple became the first to hit this impressive milestone.
Google – $3,507.30 per second
Total Revenue: $110,855,000,000
First Billion: 5 years
Latest Billion: 3.3 days
Google was fined $2.7 billion for breaching European Union antitrust rules in June 2017 after it was found to be using its search engine to steer users to its own shopping platform. Luckily for the tech giants, this figure was dwarfed by its $110 billion revenue in the same year.
Microsoft – $3,507.30 per second
Total Revenue: $110,360,000,000
First Billion: 15 years
Latest Billion: 3.3 days
In October 2018, Microsoft announced it had acquired coding platform GitHub for $7.5bn, expanding the brand’s developer tool and services offering. The deal is rumoured to have made GitHub’s three founders billionaires.
Facebook – $1,286.01 per second
Total Revenue: $40,653,000,000
First Billion: 6 years
Latest Billion: 9 days
Facebook shares were down 7 per cent in March 2018 after a data scandal dominated the headlines around the world, equating to an estimated loss of $40 billion.
Chief strategy officer of GBH Insights, Daniel Ives, commented that the social media channel could lose $5 billion in annual revenue if it failed to reassure its users and government agencies.
“The markets have changed dramatically over the past 30 years, not just in composition, but also how quickly a firm can grow,” said Fiona Cincotta, a senior market analyst at City Index, which conducted the study.
“From the data, the earlier the business was founded, the longer it took to reach its first billion in revenue.
“While firms founded at the turn of the last century, such as Walgreens or Target, have taken over 100 years to hit the $1 billion mark, more recently founded companies such as Facebook or Amazon have hit the milestone in next to no time.
“Potential for growth in today’s market is significantly greater than before.”