Amazon vs Netflix: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Amazon reported $716.9B of revenue in FY2025 and $77.7B of net income. Netflix reported $45.2B of revenue in FY2025 and $11B of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
Financial summary
Amazon
Amazon's headline revenue understates how concentrated its profit is. FY2025 net sales were $716.9B and operating income was $80.0B, of which AWS supplied $45.6B on $128.7B of sales. The North America segment turned $426.3B of sales into $29.6B of operating income, and International turned $161.9B into $4.8B. Advertising services, which Amazon reports inside the retail segments, grew from $56.2B in FY2024 to $68.6B in FY2025. Operating cash flow was $139.5B, but capital spending on AWS and AI capacity reached $131.8B, leaving free cash flow of $11.2B against $38.2B a year earlier.
Netflix
Netflix spent much of the 2010s running negative free cash flow and borrowing to fund originals such as Stranger Things. That investment phase is over. Revenue grew from $8.8B in 2016 to $45.18B in 2025, net income from $187M to $10.98B, and operating margin reached 29.5% in 2025. The company now self-funds its content slate and buys back stock; it had about $27B left under its repurchase authorization in September 2026. In 2026 it guided to $51.0B-$51.4B in revenue and a 31.5% operating margin, and it also received a one-time $2.8B termination fee after the Warner Bros. deal ended.
Revenue and profit by year
Amazon
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $716.9B | $77.7B | 10.8% | +12.4% | Source |
| FY2024 | $638B | $59.2B | 9.3% | +11.0% | Source |
| FY2023 | $574.8B | $30.4B | 5.3% | +11.8% | Source |
| FY2022 | $514B | -$2.7B | -0.5% | +9.4% | Source |
| FY2021 | $469.8B | $33.4B | 7.1% | +21.7% | Source |
| FY2020 | $386.1B | $21.3B | 5.5% | +37.6% | Source |
| FY2019 | $280.5B | $11.6B | 4.1% | +20.5% | Source |
| FY2018 | $232.9B | $10.1B | 4.3% | +30.9% | Source |
| FY2017 | $177.9B | $3B | 1.7% | +30.8% | Source |
| FY2016 | $136B | $2.4B | 1.7% | — | Source |
Netflix
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $45.2B | $11B | 24.3% | +15.9% | Source |
| FY2024 | $39B | $8.7B | 22.3% | +15.6% | Source |
| FY2023 | $33.7B | $5.4B | 16.0% | +6.7% | Source |
| FY2022 | $31.6B | $4.5B | 14.2% | +6.5% | Source |
| FY2021 | $29.7B | $5.1B | 17.2% | +18.8% | Source |
| FY2020 | $25B | $2.8B | 11.0% | +24.0% | Source |
| FY2019 | $20.2B | $1.9B | 9.3% | +27.6% | Source |
| FY2018 | $15.8B | $1.2B | 7.7% | +35.1% | Source |
| FY2017 | $11.7B | $558.9M | 4.8% | +32.4% | Source |
| FY2016 | $8.8B | $186.7M | 2.1% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
Amazon
- Online stores37.6%
First-party product and digital media sales recorded gross. $269.3B of FY2025 net sales.
- Third-party seller services24.0%
Referral commissions plus related fulfillment and shipping fees charged to independent sellers. $172.2B of FY2025 net sales.
- AWS18.0%
Cloud compute, storage, database, and AI services sold on consumption pricing. $128.7B of FY2025 net sales and $45.6B of operating income.
- Advertising services9.6%
Sponsored ads, display, and video advertising sold to sellers, vendors, publishers, and authors. $68.6B of FY2025 net sales.
- Subscription services6.9%
Prime membership fees plus digital video, music, audiobook, and e-book subscriptions. $49.6B of FY2025 net sales.
- Physical stores3.1%
Sales where customers select items in a store, mainly Whole Foods Market and Amazon Fresh. $22.6B of FY2025 net sales.
- Other0.8%
Shipping services, healthcare services, certain video licensing, and co-branded credit card agreements. $5.9B of FY2025 net sales.
Netflix
- Streaming membership fees
Roughly 95%+ of revenue
Monthly fees for Standard with Ads, Standard and Premium plans plus extra-member charges. Netflix reports almost all revenue as streaming revenue across four regions.
- Advertising
About 3% of 2025 revenue
Ads sold on the Standard with Ads tier and live events through Netflix Ads Suite. Ad revenue passed $1.5B in 2025 and is expected to roughly double in 2026.
- Other (licensing, consumer products, DVD legacy)
Small, not separately material
Consumer products, Netflix House experiences and other small lines; the DVD service closed in September 2023.
Business model and strategy
Amazon
How it makes money
Amazon runs a hybrid model: it buys inventory and sells it directly, and it rents its store, warehouses, and ad inventory to independent sellers. In FY2025 online stores produced $269.3B of net sales, third-party seller services $172.2B, advertising services $68.6B, subscription services $49.6B, physical stores $22.6B, and AWS $128.7B.
Growth strategy
Amazon's growth now comes mostly from the higher-margin layers on top of its infrastructure. Advertising services grew from $56.2B in FY2024 to $68.6B in FY2025 as Amazon added inventory in Prime Video, grocery, and its demand-side platform.
Competitive advantage
Amazon's advantages depend on scale rather than patents. It carried $534.1B of gross property and equipment at the end of FY2025, including $155.1B of land and buildings and $172.5B of servers and networking equipment, which pays for delivery speed and cloud capacity smaller rivals cannot fund.
Netflix
How it makes money
Netflix makes money mainly from monthly membership fees for its streaming service, sold in tiers that range from Standard with Ads to the ad-free Standard and Premium plans, with extra-member fees for people outside a household. Advertising is the second, smaller stream: it passed $1.5B in 2025 and management expects it to roughly double in 2026. Content is the main cost.
Growth strategy
Netflix's growth plan for 2026 rests on four levers: price increases backed by engagement, a larger in-house ad business, live programming such as WWE Raw (which moved to Netflix in January 2025 under a reported 10-year deal) and NFL Christmas Day games, and a broader catalog that includes games and video podcasts. Management guided to 13%-14% revenue growth in 2026 with content expense up about 10%.
Competitive advantage
Netflix's edge is scale relative to rivals that still depend on legacy TV. It crossed 325 million paid memberships in Q4 2025, so a large content budget costs far less per member than it would for a smaller service. Its recommendation system, own content delivery network (Open Connect), app presence on nearly every connected screen, and a library of global originals reinforce that lead.
Questions about Amazon vs Netflix
Which company has higher revenue — Amazon.com, Inc. or Netflix, Inc.?
Amazon.com, Inc. reported $716.9B (FY2025), while Netflix, Inc. reported $45.2B (FY2025). By last reported revenue, Amazon.com, Inc. is the larger business, with Netflix, Inc. reporting a smaller revenue base.
What is the market cap of Amazon.com, Inc. vs Netflix, Inc.?
Amazon.com, Inc.'s market capitalisation stands at $2.69T, while Netflix, Inc.'s is $298.9B. Amazon.com, Inc. carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to Netflix, Inc..
Which is more financially efficient — Amazon.com, Inc. or Netflix, Inc.?
Amazon.com, Inc. generates $455k / employee in revenue per employee, while Netflix, Inc. generates $2.82M / employee. Netflix, Inc. shows higher revenue efficiency per headcount, though this reflects business model differences — capital-light software companies routinely outperform labour-intensive manufacturers on this metric.
How do Amazon.com, Inc. and Netflix, Inc. make money?
Amazon.com, Inc. and Netflix, Inc. generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. Amazon.com, Inc.: Amazon runs a hybrid model: it buys inventory and sells it directly, and it rents its store, warehouses, and ad inventory to independent sellers. Netflix, Inc.: Netflix makes money mainly from monthly membership fees for its streaming service, sold in tiers that range from Standard with Ads to the ad-free Standard and Premium plans, with extra-member fees for people outside a household.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — Amazon.com, Inc. or Netflix, Inc.?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, Amazon.com, Inc. trades at 3.8x P/S and Netflix, Inc. at 6.6x P/S. Netflix, Inc. commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to Amazon.com, Inc.. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is Amazon.com, Inc. bigger than Netflix, Inc.?
By last reported revenue, Amazon.com, Inc. ($716.9B (FY2025)) is the larger company compared to Netflix, Inc. ($45.2B (FY2025)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Amazon vs Netflix overview