McDonald's Corporation: McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest restaurant company by systemwide sales (~$139B in FY2025), operating 40,000+ restaurants in 100+ countries. FY2025 revenue was $26.9B with $8.6B net income (31.9% margin). Led by CEO Chris Kempczinski, with 210 million active loyalty users.
McDonald's Corporation: Key Facts
| Company Name | McDonald's Corporation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1940 |
| Founder(s) | Richard McDonald, Maurice McDonald, Ray Kroc |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois |
| Industry | Restaurants and franchising |
| CEO | Chris Kempczinski |
| Employees | 150K |
| Market Cap | $217.0B |
| Revenue (FY2025) | $26.9B |
| Stock Symbol | MCD (NYSE) |
| Website | https://www.mcdonalds.com/ |
| Last Reviewed | 2026-05-02 |
| Data As Of | 2025 |
- Revenue sourced to SEC filing and/or company annual report
- Primary sources include SEC filings, annual reports, and investor materials where available
- For informational purposes only - not financial advice
- Last updated: May 2026
In 1948, two brothers in San Bernardino did something no restaurant owner had ever considered rational: they fired their carhops, slashed a profitable menu down to nine items, and rebuilt their kitchen like a Ford assembly line. Customers initially stayed away. Then they came back in waves. That decision — choosing speed and consistency over variety and service — became the founding logic of a company that now collects rent on 40,000 properties across 100+ countries and posts a 31.9% net margin selling food that averages under $8 per transaction. McDonald's reported $26.9 billion in consolidated revenue for FY2025, but the number that actually explains the business is $139 billion: that's what flows through the entire system of franchised restaurants, most of it never touching the parent company's income statement directly. The golden arches aren't really a restaurant brand anymore. They're a real estate portfolio with a condiment strategy.
McDonald's Corporation: Key Facts
- McDonald's Corporation was founded in 1940.
- Founded by Richard McDonald, Maurice McDonald, Ray Kroc.
- Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois.
- Country: United States.
- CEO: Chris Kempczinski.
- Approximately 150K employees worldwide.
- Market capitalization: $217.0B.
- Annual revenue: $26.9B (FY2025).
- Net income: $8.6B.
- Publicly traded: MCD.
- Industry: Restaurants and franchising.
- Listed on a public stock exchange.
- Founded 1940 by Richard and Maurice McDonald in San Bernardino, CA. Transformed by Ray Kroc after 1955.
- Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Listed on NYSE as MCD.
- CEO Chris Kempczinski (since November 2019).
- FY2025: $26.9B consolidated revenue (up 3.7%), $8.6B net income (31.9% margin).
- Systemwide sales: ~$139B (up 7% YoY). 40,000+ restaurants in 100+ countries.
- Q1 2026: $6.52B revenue (up 9%), global comps +3.8%, systemwide sales $34B+ (up 11%).
- Loyalty program: 210M 90-day active users, $37B in systemwide sales to members (up 20% YoY).
- ~95% of restaurants are franchised. McDonald's owns/leases the real estate.
- Market cap: ~$217B (May 2026). Stock: ~$275-285/share (down 10% YTD).
- Drive-thru: ~70% of US revenue. ~150,000 direct employees; ~2M+ system-wide.
- McDonald's systemwide sales reached ~$139 billion in FY2025 — larger than most countries' GDP.
- The franchise real-estate model produces a 31.9% net margin because McDonald's earns rent and royalties without bearing food/labor costs.
- 210 million active loyalty users generated $37 billion in systemwide sales in FY2025 (up 20% YoY).
McDonald's Corporation: McDonald's Corporation: McDonald's Corporation Company Timeline
Richard and Maurice McDonald opened their San Bernardino drive-in restaurant, creating the operating base they would later simplify into the Speedee Service System.
Richard and Maurice McDonald opened the first McDonald's restaurant on May 15, 1940 in San Bernardino, California. The original drive-in gave the brothers a live operating laboratory before they stripped the model down to a faster, lower-cost menu. [source]
The brothers simplified operations in 1948 around 15-cent hamburgers, shakes, and fries. The shift mattered because it turned restaurant service into a repeatable production process built on a limited menu, speed, and consistency.Speedee Service System Introduced is documented through the 1948 source and then interpreted in relation to McDonald's Corporation's business model. [source]
Ray Kroc opened the Des Plaines franchise and began transforming the McDonald brothers' system into a national franchising model.
Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald's in Des Plaines, Illinois on April 15, 1955 after becoming the brothers' franchise agent. That restaurant became the base for converting a California operating idea into a national franchise system. [source]
Hamburger University opened in the basement of an Elk Grove Village, Illinois restaurant in 1961. The training program mattered because it formalized the standards and operating routines that franchisees needed to deliver a consistent experience. [source]
McDonald's says it acquired the rights to the brothers' company in 1961 for $2.7 million. The deal gave Kroc control of the name and system, setting up the real estate-backed franchise model that later defined parent-company economics. [source]
The Big Mac, developed by owner-operator Jim Delligatti of Pittsburgh, was added to the national menu in 1968. It became a durable core product and a recognizable signal of the company's ability to turn franchisee ideas into systemwide menu platforms. [source]
Fred Turner became CEO and reinforced the operating discipline, supplier standards, and international expansion culture that made McDonald's expandable.
The Egg McMuffin, created by owner-operator Herb Peterson of Santa Barbara, California, was added to the national menu in 1975. It helped turn breakfast into a major daypart rather than leaving the restaurants dependent on lunch and dinner traffic. [source]
The Plan to Win strategy refocused McDonald's on core restaurant execution after a period of over-diversification into adjacent restaurant brands.
McDonald's marked Global McDelivery Day in 2017 to support the broader launch of McDelivery with UberEATS. Delivery expanded restaurant reach beyond the counter and drive-thru, while also adding packaging, marketplace-fee, and kitchen-throughput challenges. [source]
McDonald's acquired Dynamic Yield to accelerate personalized ordering and data-driven menu boards across drive-thru and kiosk channels.
Chris Kempczinski became CEO and steered McDonald's through pandemic disruption, digital acceleration, and renewed focus on the core menu.
McDonald's agreed to acquire Dynamic Yield in 2019 to personalize drive-thru menu boards, kiosks, and app experiences using signals such as time of day, weather, restaurant traffic, and trending items. The deal mattered because it made digital decisioning part of restaurant operations, even after the platform was later sold to Mastercard. [source]
McDonald's reported $25.49 billion in FY2023 revenue, confirming a strong post-pandemic recovery driven by pricing, delivery, drive-thru, and digital channels.
McDonald's reported $25.92 billion in FY2024 revenue while managing inflation, value perception, and continued modernization of the restaurant system.
U.S. Public health agencies linked a 2024 E. Coli outbreak to slivered onions served on McDonald's Quarter Pounders in affected states. The episode mattered because it showed how one ingredient and supplier issue can create national trust and operations risk for a highly scaled restaurant system. Quarter Pounder E. [source]
McDonald's reported $26.885 billion in FY2025 revenue and $8.563 billion in net income. The result showed how a system with about 95% franchised restaurants can produce high parent-company earnings from rent, royalties, fees, and selective company-operated sales. [source]
What Is the History of McDonald's Corporation?
The McDonald brothers weren't visionaries. They were pragmatists who got tired of managing teenagers.
Richard and Maurice McDonald opened their first restaurant in 1940 — a barbecue drive-in on E Street in San Bernardino, California, complete with carhops, a sprawling menu, and all the operational chaos that came with the format. They'd moved to California from New Hampshire in the 1930s, tried their hand at a movie theater, failed, and landed in the restaurant business almost by default. The drive-in did well enough. By the late 1940s it was grossing $200,000 annually — solid money for a roadside joint.
But the brothers hated the business they'd built. Carhops quit constantly. Teenage customers loitered. The menu was too broad to execute consistently. Dishes broke. Profit margins were thin despite strong revenue. In 1948, they made a decision that looked insane to everyone watching: they closed the restaurant for three months, fired all their carhops, eliminated two-thirds of the menu, and reopened with a system they called the Speedee Service System.
No more waitresses. No more plates — everything came in paper wrappers and bags. No more barbecue, no more variety. Just hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, shakes, soft drinks, and pie. The kitchen was redesigned like a production line: each worker had one task, repeated endlessly. One person grilled patties. Another dressed buns. Another worked the fryer. The brothers literally drew the kitchen layout on a tennis court with chalk, moving imaginary workers through the flow until the choreography was tight.
Customers initially balked. The drive-in crowd wanted their carhops and their choice. But families discovered something: the food was cheap (15-cent hamburgers), fast (under 30 seconds), and predictable. No surprises, no bad nights. Within a year, the new format was outperforming the old one. By the early 1950s, the San Bernardino location was doing $350,000 in annual revenue with margins the brothers had never seen before — because fewer menu items meant less waste, less training, less labor complexity, and higher throughput per square foot.
They franchised a handful of locations in the early 1950s, but the brothers weren't empire builders. They were operators who liked their life in San Bernardino. They didn't want to fly around the country inspecting restaurants or managing franchisee relationships.
Enter Ray Kroc. He was 52 years old in 1954, selling Multimixer milkshake machines to restaurants across the Midwest, watching his career plateau. When he got an order from a single hamburger stand in California requesting eight Multimixers — enough to make 40 milkshakes simultaneously — he drove out to see what kind of operation needed that capacity. What he found wasn't just a busy restaurant. It was a system that could be replicated anywhere.
Kroc opened his first franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois, in April 1955. His genius wasn't the food or even the operations — the brothers had already perfected those. His genius was control. He understood that franchising without standards would destroy the brand. So he built an infrastructure of inspections, training programs, supplier specifications, and operational manuals that turned independent operators into standardized executors of a single system.
The financial breakthrough came from Harry Sonneborn, who joined Kroc in 1956 and saw something Kroc initially missed: the real money wasn't in royalties on hamburger sales. It was in real estate. Sonneborn's insight was that McDonald's should lease or buy the land and buildings, then sublease to franchisees at a markup. This gave the company leverage over operators (miss your standards, lose your lease) and created a recurring revenue stream tied to property values rather than just food sales. By 1961, when Kroc bought out the McDonald brothers for $2.7 million (a deal the brothers later called their biggest regret, given the company's trajectory), the real estate model was already the financial engine.
The brothers got their $2.7 million and watched from San Bernardino as their name became the most recognized restaurant brand on Earth. Kroc got a system he could scale. The irony is that both contributions were essential: without the brothers' operational insight, there was nothing worth franchising. Without Kroc's expansion discipline and Sonneborn's financial architecture, it would have remained a regional curiosity. The company that reported $26.9 billion in FY2025 revenue still runs on the 1948 logic — that operational simplicity, ruthlessly standardized, scales further than culinary ambition ever could.
McDonald's Corporation was founded in 1940 in San Bernardino, California, by Richard and Maurice McDonald as a barbecue drive-in, then transformed into a franchise empire by Ray Kroc after 1955. Now headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the company is led by CEO Chris Kempczinski (since November 2019). McDonald's operates in restaurants and franchising, running the world's largest restaurant system by systemwide sales (~$139 billion in FY2025) with over 40,000 locations across 100+ countries. Revenue model: McDonald's earns primarily from franchise rent (the company owns or leases restaurant sites and subleases to franchisees at a markup), royalties (typically 4-5% of gross sales), and fees — plus direct food sales from the ~5% of locations it operates directly. This real-estate-backed franchise model produces a 31.9% net margin because McDonald's collects rent and royalties without bearing direct food and labor costs. McDonald's reported $26.885 billion in FY2025 consolidated revenue (up 3.7% YoY) with net income of $8.563 billion. Q1 2026 showed continued momentum: revenue of $6.52 billion (up 9% YoY), global comparable sales +3.8%, and systemwide sales exceeding $34 billion. The loyalty program reached 210 million 90-day active users generating $37 billion in systemwide sales. Market capitalization is approximately $217 billion (NYSE: MCD). The company employs approximately 150,000 people directly, with the broader system employing an estimated 2 million+ globally. Competitive position: McDonald's advantage is its franchise real-estate model (landlord economics), global brand recognition (~95% awareness in developed markets), dedicated supply chain, drive-thru density (70% of US revenue), 210 million loyalty users, and the operational simplicity that allows consistent execution across 40,000+ locations. Strategic direction: Under the 'Accelerating the Arches' framework, McDonald's is focused on digital loyalty and personalization, core menu leadership, value and affordability, delivery expansion, restaurant modernization, chicken category growth, and selective unit expansion toward 50,000 total restaurants.
Early Challenges
McDonald's early problem was operational complexity. The 1940 San Bernardino restaurant used the broader drive-in model of its time, but the brothers learned that a smaller menu and a faster workflow could produce better economics. Their 1948 Speedee Service System stripped the restaurant down to a repeatable process, which made the food cheaper, faster, and easier to train. The next challenge was control: Ray Kroc could scale the concept only if franchisees followed the system closely enough that customers trusted the experience in different markets.
Pivot
McDonald's shifted from a single restaurant operation to a franchise based expansion model under Ray Kroc. The company standardized operations to ensure consistency. It focused on scalability and efficiency. The franchise model reduced capital requirements for expansion.
Pivot
McDonald's pivoted back to its core business after divesting non core brands such as Boston Market and Chipotle. The company simplified operations and improved efficiency. It introduced the Plan to Win strategy focusing on quality service cleanliness and value. The pivot improved financial performance and stability. It marked a return to disciplined execution.
Pivot
McDonald's launched a turnaround strategy focused on modernization and digital transformation. The company introduced self service kiosks and mobile ordering. It simplified the menu to improve operational efficiency. Delivery partnerships expanded customer access. It positioned McDonald's for future growth.
Pivot
The COVID 19 pandemic forced McDonald's to pivot toward drive thru delivery and digital channels. Dining room closures required rapid operational changes. The company simplified its menu and improved efficiency. Investments in digital infrastructure accelerated significantly. It permanently changed the company's operating model.
McDonald's Corporation: McDonald's Corporation: Expert Analysis
Editor's Note
For McDonald's Corporation, the strongest evidence is this: McDonald's advantage comes from franchise contracts, controlled real estate, brand memory, supply-chain scale, drive-thru density, and a kitchen management approach refined since 1948. The part I would watch most closely is equally concrete: McDonald's central challenge in 2026 is protecting the value promise while costs keep rising.
Strategic Insight
Everyone focuses on McDonald's as a franchisor. The deeper insight is that it's a capital allocation machine that has solved a problem most businesses never crack: how to grow without deploying your own capital.
Every new McDonald's restaurant costs $1-2.5 million to build and equip. The company opens hundreds per year. But McDonald's doesn't write those checks — franchisees do. The parent company's role is to identify the site, negotiate the lease, set the standards, and then hand the keys (and the capital risk) to an independent operator who's betting their own net worth on the brand's continued strength. In return, McDonald's collects rent and royalties in perpetuity with minimal variable cost.
This creates an unusual strategic dynamic: McDonald's growth rate is ultimately constrained not by its own balance sheet, but by franchisee confidence. When operators believe their unit economics are strong — when a new restaurant can generate 15-20% cash-on-cash returns — they'll build more, remodel faster, and adopt technology willingly. When that confidence erodes, the entire system decelerates regardless of what corporate strategy says.
The 2024-2025 period tested this dynamic directly. Inflation squeezed franchisee margins. The National Owners Association pushed back on remodel timelines and technology costs. Corporate responded with the value strategy ($5 Meal Deal) that drove traffic back — essentially subsidizing franchisee top-line growth to restore operator confidence. It worked, but it revealed the dependency: McDonald's corporate can set strategy, but it can't execute strategy without willing franchisees.
The strategic risk isn't a competitor building a better burger. It's the slow erosion of the implicit contract between franchisor and franchisee — the understanding that both sides profit from the system. If corporate extracts too much (higher rent, more mandates, tighter standards) while operators absorb too much cost (wages, inflation, delivery fees, remodels), the system doesn't collapse dramatically. It just stops growing. And for a stock trading at 25x earnings, "stops growing" is the real catastrophe.
McDonald's Corporation: McDonald's Corporation: Founders
Maurice James McDonald
Maurice McDonald co-founded the original McDonald's restaurant with Richard McDonald in 1940 and helped design the operating philosophy that later made the brand expandable. His contribution was rooted in simplification: fewer menu items, more disciplined preparation, and a kitchen organized around repeatable steps rather than improvisation. In 1948, he and Richard rebuilt the business around the Speedee Service System, creating a faster and more predictable way to serve hamburgers, fries, and shakes. Maurice did not become the public face of the national company after Ray Kroc entered the business, but his influence is embedded in the system Kroc franchised. After Kroc bought the company in 1961, Maurice largely stepped away from the brand's national expansion. His lasting legacy is the idea that restaurant growth begins with operational clarity, not menu variety or personality-driven service.
Richard James McDonald
Richard McDonald co-founded McDonald's and played a leading role in the 1948 redesign that turned a local drive-in into the template for modern fast food. He helped develop the Speedee Service System, which reduced the menu, removed carhops, and used assembly-line routines to serve food quickly and consistently. Richard's contribution was partly architectural: he helped think through how the kitchen should be arranged so that work could move in sequence. After Ray Kroc began franchising the concept in 1955, Richard and Maurice remained the originators of the operating model even as Kroc became the expansion figure. In 1961, the brothers sold the company to Kroc for $2 million. Richard's legacy is visible whenever McDonald's prioritizes speed, consistency, menu focus, and process discipline over restaurant theatrics.
Ray Kroc
Ray Kroc opened his first McDonald's franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois in 1955 and built the franchising organization that made the brand famous far beyond California. He pushed strict operating rules, supplier consistency, operator training, and quality control because he believed customers should receive the same experience regardless of location. Kroc bought the company from Richard and Maurice McDonald in 1961 for $2 million, gaining control of the name and system. As CEO from 1967 to 1973 and a continuing influence afterward, he helped create the expansion culture that defined McDonald's for decades. Kroc's legacy is complicated because he did not invent the original system, but he scaled it with intensity and discipline. His lasting influence is the belief that a restaurant can be managed like a repeatable business format, not merely a place that serves food.
How Does McDonald's Corporation Make Money?
The single most misunderstood thing about McDonald's is that people call it a fast-food company. Technically, sure. But the corporate entity in Chicago doesn't flip burgers for a living. It collects rent.
Here's the math that matters: McDonald's owns or holds long-term leases on the majority of its 40,000+ restaurant sites worldwide. It then subleases those properties to franchisees at a significant markup — often 8.5% to 12% of the franchisee's gross sales, on top of a separate 4-5% royalty fee. When a franchisee does $3 million in annual revenue, McDonald's corporate might collect $375,000-$500,000 from that single location in combined rent and royalties, without buying a single pound of beef.
That's why the company posts a 31.9% net margin on $26.9 billion in FY2025 revenue. For context, a typical company-operated restaurant chain — one that actually pays cooks, buys ingredients, and manages shift schedules — operates at 5-10% net margins if it's lucky. McDonald's has engineered itself out of the hard part of the restaurant business.
The revenue breaks into three buckets. The dominant stream is franchised restaurant income: rent plus royalties from roughly 38,000 locations operated by independent owners who invested $1-2.5 million of their own capital to build each store. Second is company-operated restaurant revenue from the ~2,000 locations McDonald's still runs directly — these generate lower margins but serve as testing grounds for new products, technology, and operational changes. Third is developmental licensing fees from international markets where McDonald's grants broader territorial rights to master franchisees.
What does the parent company actually do for that rent and royalty check? It provides the brand (worth decades of advertising spend), site selection expertise, building design standards, Hamburger University training, national and global marketing campaigns, supply chain coordination with dedicated suppliers like Keystone Foods and Cargill, menu R&D, and increasingly, the digital infrastructure — the app, loyalty platform, kiosk software, and data analytics that now drive $37 billion in systemwide sales to loyalty members alone.
The system employed roughly 2 million people globally in 2025. McDonald's corporate payroll covers about 150,000 of them. The rest work for franchisees. That's not a footnote — it's the entire architecture. McDonald's has built a business where other people's employees serve other people's customers in buildings McDonald's owns, using a brand McDonald's controls, buying supplies from vendors McDonald's selected. The parent company keeps the highest-margin slice of every transaction without touching the messiest operational variables.
Systemwide sales hit approximately $139 billion in FY2025, growing 7% year-over-year. Only about $26.9 billion of that shows up as McDonald's consolidated revenue — the rest stays with franchisees. But the corporate take comes at margins that would make a software company nod approvingly.
Revenue Streams
- Franchise rent and royalties: Franchise rent and royalties
- Company-operated restaurants: Company-operated restaurants
- Licensing and delivery economics: Licensing and delivery economics
What Products and Services Does McDonald's Corporation Offer?
Big Mac (Burger)
The Big Mac is McDonald's signature layered burger and a global brand marker. It functions as both a menu staple and a pricing reference point for customers comparing fast-food value.
French Fries (Sides)
McDonald's fries are among the chain's most important repeat-purchase items because they attach naturally to meals and carry strong brand memory. Consistency in potato sourcing, preparation, and holding times is central to the product's economics.
Happy Meal (Family meals)
The Happy Meal combines child-sized food, toys, and family-oriented marketing into a product that builds early brand familiarity. Entertainment partnerships have made it a powerful traffic driver for parents and children.
Egg McMuffin (Breakfast)
The Egg McMuffin helped McDonald's create a durable breakfast business and expanded the chain beyond lunch and dinner. It remains important because morning routines are habit-driven and can produce frequent visits.
Chicken McNuggets (Chicken)
Chicken McNuggets gave McDonald's an expandable chicken platform with strong appeal across children, adults, and snack occasions. The product also helps the company compete in a market where chicken-focused chains have gained share.
McCafe (Coffee and beverages)
McCafe extends McDonald's into coffee, espresso drinks, and higher-frequency beverage occasions. It helps the company compete with Starbucks and convenience stores, especially at breakfast and during commuting hours.
MyMcDonald's Rewards (Digital loyalty)
MyMcDonald's Rewards turns anonymous restaurant visits into identifiable customer relationships through points, offers, and personalized promotions. The program supports repeat visits and gives the company data that can shape pricing and menu decisions.
McDelivery (Delivery)
McDelivery uses third-party delivery partnerships and McDonald's digital channels to extend restaurant reach beyond physical locations. It adds convenience-driven demand but also creates packaging, fee, and kitchen-throughput challenges.
What Is McDonald's Corporation's Competitive Advantage?
Ask yourself a practical question: what would it actually take to build a McDonald's competitor from zero?
You'd need 14,000 drive-thru-accessible properties in the United States alone — prime corner lots near highway exits, suburban intersections, and urban commuter routes. Most of those sites are already locked up by existing chains on 20-year leases. You'd need a supply chain capable of delivering consistent beef, chicken, potatoes, and produce to thousands of locations daily at costs low enough to sell a burger for $2-$3 and still make money. That means dedicated supplier relationships built over decades — McDonald's works with partners like Lopez Foods and Cargill who've configured entire production lines around its specifications.
You'd need a brand that 95%+ of consumers in developed markets recognize on sight. That's not a marketing budget problem; it's a time problem. Brand awareness at that level is the compound interest of fifty years of advertising, cultural presence, and childhood memory. You'd need a franchise training system (Hamburger University has operated since 1961) that can take an independent operator and make them execute a standardized experience within weeks. You'd need 210 million loyalty program members generating first-party data for personalization.
And here's the part that makes the whole thing circular: you'd need enough customer traffic to make a $5 average ticket profitable at massive volume. That traffic exists because of the brand, the locations, the speed, and the price — which exist because of the traffic. It's a flywheel that took seven decades to spin up.
The drive-thru density deserves special attention. Approximately 70% of U.S. McDonald's revenue comes through the drive-thru window. That's not just a service format — it's a real estate moat. Competitors who lease strip-mall inline spaces or urban storefronts simply cannot access that revenue stream. Chick-fil-A understands this (their drive-thrus are legendarily efficient), but they operate 3,000 locations versus McDonald's 14,000+ in the U.S. Alone.
The advantage isn't invincible — nothing is — but it's layered in a way that no single competitive move can unravel. You'd have to attack the real estate, the brand, the supply chain, the franchise economics, and the digital infrastructure simultaneously. Nobody's doing that.
Who Are McDonald's Corporation's Main Competitors?
The company that should worry Chris Kempczinski most is Chick-fil-A. Not because it will overtake McDonald's in total revenue — it won't, not with 3,000 locations versus 14,000 in the U.S. — but because it proves something uncomfortable: you don't need McDonald's scale to generate superior unit economics. Chick-fil-A produces roughly $9 million per restaurant annually. McDonald's averages about $3.5 million. That's a 2.6x gap in productivity per location, achieved with a focused chicken menu, a corporate-owned model (no franchisee owns the real estate), and a service culture that makes McDonald's crew look disengaged by comparison. They do this while closing every Sunday. The implication is brutal: if Chick-fil-A ever decided to push past 5,000 U.S. Locations, every new opening would likely outperform the McDonald's down the street.
Burger King and Wendy's occupy the traditional rival slots but neither poses a structural threat. Burger King's U.S. Same-store sales have chronically lagged, and Restaurant Brands International's attention is split across Tim Hortons, Popeyes, and Firehouse Subs. Wendy's is sharper operationally — better breakfast execution, competitive drive-thru speeds, stronger social media instincts — but at roughly 5,700 U.S. Locations to McDonald's 14,000+, it's fighting with a smaller army on every block.
The more interesting competitive dynamic is vertical, not horizontal. Starbucks doesn't sell burgers, but it owns the morning commute ritual for tens of millions of Americans. Every McCafe dollar McDonald's earns is a dollar Starbucks didn't get. When Starbucks stumbled in 2024 with declining traffic and a CEO change, McDonald's breakfast business quietly strengthened. That's not coincidence — it's substitution. The breakfast daypart is a zero-sum fight for habitual behavior, and McDonald's $2-$4 coffee plus McMuffin undercuts Starbucks' $6-$8 average ticket decisively on price.
Fast-casual brands — Chipotle at $11.3 billion in revenue, Sweetgreen scaling toward profitability, Cava growing at 30%+ comps — compete for a different customer psychologically but the same wallet practically. A consumer spending $14 at Chipotle three times a week isn't spending that money at McDonald's. These brands create a ceiling on McDonald's pricing power: push the average ticket too far above $8-$9 and value-conscious customers start asking whether they should just pay the extra $3-$4 for perceived quality.
Ghost kitchens and delivery-native brands were supposed to rewrite the rules circa 2020. They didn't. Turns out, brand trust matters enormously when you're ordering food you can't see being prepared. McDonald's golden arches on a DoorDash screen carry decades of consistency expectations that a virtual brand called 'Burger Bliss' simply cannot match. Delivery now represents roughly 10% of McDonald's systemwide sales — a channel it absorbed rather than was disrupted by.
So where does McDonald's actually lose? Anywhere a competitor offers meaningfully better food quality at a comparable convenience level. That's a narrow window today — most quality-focused competitors sacrifice speed or accessibility — but it widens every year as fast-casual chains add drive-thrus and improve throughput. McDonald's response is smart: invest in chicken quality (McCrispy), modernize restaurants with dual drive-thru lanes, and use loyalty data to make the experience feel personalized rather than industrial. The competitive position isn't eroding. But the margin for complacency is thinner than the stock's 25x multiple suggests.
How Has McDonald's Corporation's Revenue Grown Over Time?
Forget revenue for a moment. The number that actually reveals McDonald's financial character is the gap between systemwide sales and consolidated revenue.
In FY2025, the entire McDonald's system generated approximately $139 billion in sales. But only $26.9 billion showed up on the parent company's income statement. That $112 billion gap? It stayed with franchisees — who bore the food costs, labor costs, rent (paid to McDonald's), and local operating expenses. McDonald's kept the high-margin slice: rent markups, royalties, and fees that convert to $8.6 billion in net income at a 31.9% margin.
The Q4 2025 acceleration told the real story of the year. After a soft first half where consumers pulled back on restaurant spending, the value strategy kicked in: global comparable sales jumped 5.7% (U.S. +6.8%), consolidated revenue hit $7 billion for the quarter (up 10% year-over-year), and systemwide sales grew 11%. The loyalty program was the engine — sales to loyalty members reached $37 billion for the full year, up 20%.
Q1 2026 confirmed the momentum wasn't a one-quarter blip: revenue of $6.52 billion (up 9%), global comps +3.8%, adjusted EPS of $2.83 beating consensus by $0.09. Operating income grew 12%.
The stock tells a more complicated story. MCD trades around $275-285 per share as of May 2026, down roughly 10% year-to-date despite the operational strength. The market is pricing in macro uncertainty — consumer spending concerns, potential recession risk, and the question of whether value-driven traffic growth can coexist with margin expansion. At a $217 billion market cap, investors are paying about 25x trailing earnings for a business growing revenue at 4-9% depending on the quarter. Not cheap, not expensive. The market is saying: prove the consumer holds up.
Revenue History Source: SEC filing
| Fiscal Year | Revenue | Net Income | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | $22.8B | — | |
| 2018 | $21.3B | — | |
| 2019 | $21.4B | — | |
| 2020 | $19.2B | — | |
| 2021 | $23.2B | — | |
| 2022 | $23.2B | — | |
| 2023 | $25.5B | — | |
| 2024 | $25.9B | — | |
| 2025 | $26.9B | — |
What Companies Has McDonald's Corporation Acquired?
| Year | Company | Value | Strategic Purpose | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Chipotle Mexican Grill stake | Undisclosed | McDonald's invested in Chipotle Mexican Grill when the burrito chain was still small, eventually becoming its majority owner. The purpose was to participate in fast-casual growth and learn from a conc | McDonald's fully divested Chipotle by 2006. Financially, the investment was successful, but strategically it showed that some high-growth concepts are better owned independently than forced into McDon |
| 1999 | Donatos Pizza | Undisclosed | McDonald's acquired Donatos Pizza as part of a late-1990s push into adjacent restaurant concepts. The company was looking for new growth beyond burgers and believed pizza could offer an expandable cat | McDonald's sold Donatos back to its founder in 2003. The outcome reinforced the company's later decision to focus on core menu execution, restaurant modernization, and franchise economics rather than |
| 2000 | Boston Market | $174M | McDonald's acquired Boston Market out of bankruptcy to explore growth beyond its core hamburger platform. The rotisserie-chicken chain offered a different meal occasion and a more dinner-oriented form | McDonald's eventually sold Boston Market in 2007. The deal failed as a long-term growth platform but helped clarify that McDonald's creates the most value when it improves the core system rather than |
| 2019 | Dynamic Yield | $300M | McDonald's acquired Dynamic Yield to enhance digital personalization across drive-thru, kiosk, and ordering experiences. The goal was to use data such as time, weather, menu context, and customer beha | The acquisition partly achieved its strategic purpose by accelerating McDonald's personalization capabilities, even though the asset was later divested. Its larger importance was cultural: it pushed t |
| 2019 | Apprente | Undisclosed | McDonald's acquired Apprente to advance voice-based ordering technology for the drive-thru. The startup specialized in conversational AI that could process spoken orders, accents, and menu variations. | Apprente helped McDonald's build and test AI ordering capability, but the outcome was evolutionary rather than a clean automation breakthrough. The acquisition showed that McDonald's was willing to bu |
McDonald's Corporation: McDonald's Corporation: Controversies & Legal Issues
1990 — McLibel defamation case
McDonald's sued environmental activists in the United Kingdom over critical pamphlets, creating a legal fight that became known as the McLibel case. The trial drew global attention to criticism of the company's labor, environmental, and nutrition practices, and it became a public-relations burden even where McDonald's prevailed legally.
Outcome: McDonald's won parts of the case but suffered reputational damage because the litigation made the criticism more visible. The episode influenced how large consumer companies respond to activists and public-interest campaigns.
2004 — Super Size Me and obesity backlash
The documentary Super Size Me intensified public criticism of McDonald's portion sizes, nutrition profile, and role in American eating habits. The controversy followed earlier obesity lawsuits and forced the company to address nutrition disclosure and menu perception more directly.
Outcome: McDonald's removed Supersize options and expanded nutrition information and alternative menu items. The reputational issue never fully disappeared, but the company became more careful about health messaging and children's marketing.
2014 — Wage and labor-practice lawsuits
McDonald's faced lawsuits and public campaigns alleging wage theft, unpaid overtime, and unfair labor practices within parts of its U.S. Restaurant system. The controversy highlighted the tension between the company's franchise structure and public expectations that the parent brand should influence workplace standards.
Outcome: Some matters were settled or addressed through compliance changes, while labor activism continued. The issue remains strategically important because wage increases can alter franchisee economics across the system.
2024 — Quarter Pounder E. Coli outbreak
A U.S. E. Coli outbreak linked by health officials to slivered onions used on Quarter Pounders forced McDonald's to temporarily remove the product from affected markets. The event showed how a single supplier or ingredient issue can damage trust across a national brand at high speed.
Outcome: McDonald's pulled affected ingredients, restored the product after supply changes, and worked with health authorities as the investigation closed. The incident renewed attention on supplier oversight and food-safety controls.
Who Leads McDonald's Corporation?
Ray Kroc
CEO (1967–1973)
Ray Kroc led the era when McDonald's shifted from a promising franchise chain into a disciplined national institution. His key decisions were to enforce strict operating standards, build a training culture through Hamburger University, recruit franchisees who would follow the system, and support the real estate logic developed with Harry Sonneborn. Kroc understood that inconsistency would destroy trust, so he made uniform food, clean stores, and fast service non-negotiable. The measurable outcome was a chain that could expand rapidly without losing its basic customer promise. By the time his C
Fred Turner
CEO (1974–1987)
Fred Turner led McDonald's through an era of operational formalization and international expansion. A former grillman and operations executive, Turner treated process discipline as the company's core asset. He strengthened training, supplier standards, restaurant procedures, and franchise relationships while expanding the brand into more international markets. His leadership helped make McDonald's a global system rather than a U.S. Chain exporting a logo. The measurable outcome was broader geographic reach, stronger consistency, and a deep operating bench that allowed the company to scale thro
Jim Skinner
CEO (2004–2012)
Jim Skinner led McDonald's during the recovery from over-diversification and weak early-2000s performance. His key decision was to back the Plan to Win strategy, which focused the company on people, products, place, price, and promotion rather than chasing unrelated restaurant concepts. Under Skinner, McDonald's improved core menu execution, remodeled stores, expanded coffee and breakfast relevance, and restored operating discipline. The measurable result was a stronger brand and improved financial performance after a difficult period. Skinner's era matters because it reminded the company that
Steve Easterbrook
CEO (2015–2019)
Steve Easterbrook led a turnaround era focused on refranchising, modernization, all-day breakfast, delivery, and digital investment. He pushed McDonald's to become more asset-light by increasing the share of franchised restaurants, which improved the parent company's margin profile. He also accelerated store remodels and technology adoption, while all-day breakfast initially boosted U.S. Sales before adding kitchen complexity. The measurable outcome was stronger valuation support and a higher-quality earnings mix, though his tenure ended abruptly after a conduct-related leadership crisis. East
Chris Kempczinski
CEO (2019–present)
Chris Kempczinski has led McDonald's through the pandemic recovery, the acceleration of digital ordering, and a renewed emphasis on the core menu. His major decisions include prioritizing drive-thru and delivery during COVID-19 disruption, expanding loyalty programs, investing in personalized ordering, and keeping the Accelerating the Arches strategy focused on marketing, core products, and the 3Ds: digital, delivery, and drive-thru. He has also had to manage franchisee tension, inflation, Russia exit fallout, and food-safety scrutiny. The measurable outcome is a company that recovered from FY
How Is McDonald's Corporation Growing?
McDonald's growth story right now comes down to two bets that matter and a handful of supporting moves that get more attention than they deserve.
The first real bet is digital loyalty. The MyMcDonald's Rewards program hit 210 million 90-day active users across 70 markets in FY2025, driving $37 billion in systemwide sales — up 20% year-over-year. This isn't a nice-to-have anymore; it's becoming the primary mechanism for traffic growth. Personalized offers based on purchase history, time of day, and location are replacing the blunt instrument of national TV advertising. The company is targeting 250 million+ active users over the next two years, and if they get there, they'll have a first-party data asset that rivals most tech companies in consumer behavior insight.
The second real bet is chicken. This sounds mundane, but McDonald's has historically been a burger company competing in a market where chicken is growing faster. Chick-fil-A's U.S. Systemwide sales now exceed $21 billion from just 3,000 locations — extraordinary unit economics that prove the chicken opportunity. McDonald's is investing in chicken sandwich quality, McCrispy positioning, and McNugget innovation to capture share in a protein category that's less commodity-price-volatile than beef and appeals to health-conscious consumers who perceive chicken as lighter.
Everything else — delivery expansion through DoorDash and Uber Eats, restaurant modernization with dual drive-thru lanes and kiosks, selective unit growth toward 50,000 total restaurants (from 40,000+ today), the $5 Meal Deal value strategy — these are important operational moves but they're not strategic pivots. They're the blocking and tackling of a mature system trying to grow same-store sales at mid-single-digit rates in a saturated market.
The value play deserves a note: the $5 Meal Deal drove the U.S. Comparable sales recovery in 2025 (Q4 comps hit +6.8%), but it's a double-edged sword. Every value promotion that drives traffic also compresses franchisee margins. The company has to keep finding the line where consumers feel they're getting a deal and operators feel they're making money. That tension never fully resolves.
Everything depends on one variable: whether 210 million loyalty users can be converted from deal-seekers into habitual high-frequency visitors. If McDonald's cracks personalization — truly individualized offers that nudge a customer from 3 visits per month to 4 — the math transforms. An extra visit per month across 250 million users at a $8 average ticket is $24 billion in incremental systemwide sales annually. That's not a fantasy number; it's the gap between a mature franchisor grinding out 3% comps and a digital platform company that happens to serve fries. If personalization stalls — if the app becomes just another coupon book — then McDonald's remains what it's been for a decade: a magnificent cash machine growing at GDP-plus rates, rewarding shareholders through buybacks rather than multiple expansion. The franchise system won't break either way. Forty thousand locations with 95% franchise penetration and real-estate-backed economics don't collapse. But the difference between a $250 billion company and a $350 billion company over the next five years comes down to whether Chris Kempczinski's team can make a fast-food app behave like a recommendation engine. The obstacle isn't technology. McDonald's has the data, the engineering talent, and the budget. The obstacle is franchisee cooperation — because personalized pricing means different customers pay different amounts at the same restaurant, and operators historically hate complexity that slows the drive-thru line. Solving that tension is the whole game.
What Are the Biggest Risks Facing McDonald's Corporation?
The franchise tension is the one that keeps McDonald's executives up at night, and it's worth understanding why.
McDonald's corporate reported $8.6 billion in net income for FY2025. Beautiful number. But that profit depends entirely on franchisees continuing to invest, operate, and expand. And franchisees are getting squeezed from multiple directions simultaneously: minimum wage increases (California's $20/hour fast-food minimum hit in 2024), food cost inflation that hasn't fully normalized, mandatory technology upgrades (kiosks, dual drive-thru lanes, app integration), remodel requirements that can cost $500,000-$1 million per location, and delivery platform commissions eating 15-30% of every order that comes through DoorDash or Uber Eats.
When corporate margins are 31.9% and your franchisee's store-level cash-on-cash return is declining, you have a political problem inside your own system. Franchisees start pushing back on remodel timelines, resisting technology mandates, and lobbying for marketing fund changes. The National Owners Association — an independent franchisee advocacy group — has been increasingly vocal about the gap between corporate profitability and operator economics.
The health perception issue is slower-moving but structural. Gen Z consumers index higher on wellness, ingredient transparency, and environmental consciousness. McDonald's will never be Sweetgreen, and it shouldn't try to be, but the long-term demographic shift means the company needs its value proposition to be compelling enough that health-conscious consumers still choose convenience over principles. So far, that trade-off holds for most people. But regulatory pressure on calorie labeling, children's marketing restrictions, and packaging waste keeps tightening the operating environment.
The most dangerous near-term risk is actually simpler: consumer pullback. In inflationary periods, people don't always trade down to fast food — sometimes they trade away from restaurants entirely and cook at home. McDonald's saw this in early 2024 before the $5 Meal Deal strategy pulled traffic back. The company lives and dies by visit frequency, and frequency is fragile when a family of four can spend $35-$45 at McDonald's or $25 at a grocery store for a home-cooked meal.
McDonald's Corporation: McDonald's Corporation: Quick Reference Q&A
Q: When was McDonald's Corporation founded?
A: McDonald's Corporation was founded in 1940 by Richard McDonald, Maurice McDonald, Ray Kroc.
Q: Where is McDonald's Corporation headquartered?
A: McDonald's Corporation is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Q: Who is the CEO of McDonald's Corporation?
A: The CEO of McDonald's Corporation is Chris Kempczinski.
Q: What is McDonald's Corporation's annual revenue?
A: McDonald's Corporation reported annual revenue of $26.9B in FY2025.
Q: How many employees does McDonald's Corporation have?
A: McDonald's Corporation employs approximately 150K people worldwide.
Q: What is McDonald's Corporation's market cap?
A: McDonald's Corporation's market capitalization is approximately $217.0B.
Q: What is McDonald's Corporation's stock ticker?
A: McDonald's Corporation trades under the ticker MCD on the NYSE.
Q: What country is McDonald's Corporation from?
A: McDonald's Corporation is a United States-based company.
Q: What industry is McDonald's Corporation in?
A: McDonald's Corporation operates in the Restaurants and franchising industry.
Q: What companies has McDonald's Corporation acquired?
A: McDonald's Corporation has acquired Dynamic Yield, Apprente, Boston Market, among others.
Q: Who is the CEO of McDonald's?
A: The CEO of McDonald's Corporation is Chris Kempczinski. The company was founded in 1940.
Q: What is McDonald's's annual revenue?
A: McDonald's Corporation reported approximately $26.9B in annual revenue. See the financials page for the full revenue history.
Q: How does McDonald's make money?
A: The single most misunderstood thing about McDonald's is that people call it a fast-food company. Technically, sure. But the corporate entity in Chicago doesn't flip burgers for a living. It collects rent. Here's the math that matters: McDonald's owns or holds long-term leases on the majority of its 40,000+ restaurant sites worldwide. It then subleases those properties to franchisees at a signific
Q: What does McDonald's do?
A: McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest restaurant company by systemwide sales (~$139 billion in FY2025), operating over 40,000 restaurants across 100+ countries through a franchise-heavy model where approximately 95% of locations are owned by independent operators. Founded in 1940 and reshaped by Ray Kroc after 1955, the company earns primarily from franchise rent, royalties, and fees rathe
Q: When was McDonald's founded?
A: McDonald's Corporation was founded in 1940, by Richard McDonald, Maurice McDonald, Ray Kroc, in Chicago, Illinois.
Q: What did McDonald's Corporation learn from Over Diversification Strategy?
A: McDonald's expanded aggressively into non core businesses such as Boston Market and Donatos Pizza. These acquisitions required different operational models that did not align with McDonald's core strengths. Management attention was diverted away from the primary business.
Q: How did the Employee Wage Lawsuits case affect McDonald's Corporation?
A: McDonald's faced multiple lawsuits related to wage theft and labor practices in the United States. Employees alleged unpaid overtime and unfair working conditions. These cases were part of a broader movement advocating for higher minimum wages. The issue gained national attention and media coverage.
Q: How does McDonald's Corporation's revenue mix actually work?
A: McDonald's Corporation earns through Franchise rent and royalties, Company-operated restaurants, Licensing and delivery economics. McDonald's business model is anchored in two linked businesses: selling food to consumers and selling a controlled operating system to franchisees.
Q: McDonald's central challenge in 2026 is protecting the value promise while costs keep rising at McDonald's Corporation?
A: McDonald's central challenge in 2026 is protecting the value promise while costs keep rising. Beef, potatoes, packaging, energy, rent, and wages all flow into restaurant economics, and customers notice quickly when a brand associated with affordability begins to feel expensive.
Q: Which competitor pressure matters most for McDonald's Corporation?
A: McDonald's Corporation is compared against starbucks-corporation, the-coca-cola-company, pepsico-inc. The current quick-service battle is being fought on four fronts: value, drive-thru speed, digital loyalty, and franchise economics.
Q: How should readers interpret $26.9B for McDonald's Corporation?
A: Start with $26.9B in FY2025, then read it beside margin quality, segment mix, and cash demands.
Q: Why does the major strategic shift matter for McDonald's Corporation?
A: McDonald's shifted from a single restaurant operation to a franchise based expansion model under Ray Kroc. The company standardized operations to ensure consistency. It focused on scalability and efficiency. The franchise model reduced capital requirements for expansion.
McDonald's Corporation: McDonald's Corporation: Frequently Asked Questions: McDonald's Corporation
Who is the CEO of McDonald's?
The CEO of McDonald's Corporation is Chris Kempczinski. The company was founded in 1940.
What is McDonald's's annual revenue?
McDonald's Corporation reported approximately $26.9B in annual revenue. See the financials page for the full revenue history.
How does McDonald's make money?
The single most misunderstood thing about McDonald's is that people call it a fast-food company. Technically, sure. But the corporate entity in Chicago doesn't flip burgers for a living. It collects rent. Here's the math that matters: McDonald's owns or holds long-term leases on the majority of its 40,000+ restaurant sites worldwide. It then subleases those properties to franchisees at a signific
What does McDonald's do?
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest restaurant company by systemwide sales (~$139 billion in FY2025), operating over 40,000 restaurants across 100+ countries through a franchise-heavy model where approximately 95% of locations are owned by independent operators. Founded in 1940 and reshaped by Ray Kroc after 1955, the company earns primarily from franchise rent, royalties, and fees rathe
When was McDonald's founded?
McDonald's Corporation was founded in 1940, by Richard McDonald, Maurice McDonald, Ray Kroc, in Chicago, Illinois.
What did McDonald's Corporation learn from Over Diversification Strategy?
McDonald's expanded aggressively into non core businesses such as Boston Market and Donatos Pizza. These acquisitions required different operational models that did not align with McDonald's core strengths. Management attention was diverted away from the primary business.
How did the Employee Wage Lawsuits case affect McDonald's Corporation?
McDonald's faced multiple lawsuits related to wage theft and labor practices in the United States. Employees alleged unpaid overtime and unfair working conditions. These cases were part of a broader movement advocating for higher minimum wages. The issue gained national attention and media coverage.
How does McDonald's Corporation's revenue mix actually work?
McDonald's Corporation earns through Franchise rent and royalties, Company-operated restaurants, Licensing and delivery economics. McDonald's business model is anchored in two linked businesses: selling food to consumers and selling a controlled operating system to franchisees.
McDonald's central challenge in 2026 is protecting the value promise while costs keep rising at McDonald's Corporation?
McDonald's central challenge in 2026 is protecting the value promise while costs keep rising. Beef, potatoes, packaging, energy, rent, and wages all flow into restaurant economics, and customers notice quickly when a brand associated with affordability begins to feel expensive.
Which competitor pressure matters most for McDonald's Corporation?
McDonald's Corporation is compared against starbucks-corporation, the-coca-cola-company, pepsico-inc. The current quick-service battle is being fought on four fronts: value, drive-thru speed, digital loyalty, and franchise economics.
How should readers interpret $26.9B for McDonald's Corporation?
Start with $26.9B in FY2025, then read it beside margin quality, segment mix, and cash demands.
Why does the major strategic shift matter for McDonald's Corporation?
McDonald's shifted from a single restaurant operation to a franchise based expansion model under Ray Kroc. The company standardized operations to ensure consistency. It focused on scalability and efficiency. The franchise model reduced capital requirements for expansion.
McDonald's Corporation: McDonald's Corporation: Sources & References
- McDonald's FY2025 Form 10-K (2025) [sec_filing]
- McDonald's official history (2025) [official_company_source]
- McDonald's founding FAQ (2026) [official]
- McDonald's leadership profile (2026) [official_company_source]
- Dynamic Yield acquisition release (2019) [official_company_source]
- CNBC Dynamic Yield deal report (2019) [annual_report]
- Dynamic Yield sale to Mastercard (2021) [official_company_source]
- FDA E. Coli outbreak investigation (2024) [official]
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/63908/000006390826000035/mcd-20251231.
- https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-company/who-we-are/our-history.
- https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/faq/when-was-mcdonalds-founded.
- https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-company/who-we-are/our-leadership.
- https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-stories/article/dynamic_yield.
- https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/25/mcdonalds-announces-acquisition-to-personalize-the-drive-thru.
- https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-stories/article/mastercard-DY.
- https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/63908/000006390825000012/mcd-20241231.
- https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-stories/article/investor-update-2023.
- https://corporate.mcdonalds.com/corpmcd/our-stories/article/mcd-announces-targets-development-loyalty-membership-cloud-tech.htmlMcDonald.
- https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000063908.
Bottom Line
McDonald's Corporation is a stable Restaurants and franchising with $26.9B in annual revenue as of 2025. McDonald's advantage is its franchise real estate model, global brand, operating strategy, supply chain, value menu, and drive-thru scale. The primary risk: The main exposures are food inflation, franchisee economics, wage pressure, health perception, and consumer trade-down or trade-away behavior.
