Hilton vs NVIDIA: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Hilton reported $12B of revenue in FY2025 and $1.5B of net income. NVIDIA reported $215.9B of revenue in FY2026 and $120.1B of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
Financial summary
Hilton
Hilton's results reflect its shift from owning hotels to collecting fees. Revenue rose from $4.31 billion in pandemic-hit 2020 to $12.04 billion in 2025, while net income reached $1.46 billion in 2025 against $1.54 billion in 2024 (which included a tax benefit). Adjusted EBITDA grew about 9% to $3.73 billion in 2025, and Hilton returned $3.3 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends that year. In Q2 2026 revenue was about $3.34 billion, net income was $482 million, and adjusted EBITDA was $1.05 billion. Hilton raised its full-year 2026 guidance to 3.0% to 3.5% RevPAR growth and $4.04 billion to $4.08 billion of adjusted EBITDA, with about $3.5 billion of planned capital return.
NVIDIA
NVIDIA's revenue rose from $27.0B in fiscal 2023 to $60.9B in FY2024, $130.5B in FY2025 and $215.9B in FY2026, which ended January 25, 2026. FY2026 net income was $120.1B. Growth sped up again in fiscal 2027: Q1 revenue was $81.6B and Q2 (ended July 26, 2026) was $96.2B, up 106% year over year, with a 75.0% gross margin and $59.7B GAAP net income. Guidance for Q3 FY2027 is $108.0B, plus or minus 2%, and assumes no Data Center compute revenue from China. NVIDIA returned about $26.0B to shareholders in Q2. In May 2026 it raised the quarterly dividend to $0.25 from $0.01, and on September 28, 2026 it added $150B to its buyback authorization.
Revenue and profit by year
Hilton
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $12B | $1.5B | 12.1% | +7.7% | Source |
| FY2024 | $11.2B | $1.5B | 13.7% | +9.2% | Source |
| FY2023 | $10.2B | $1.1B | 11.1% | +16.7% | Source |
| FY2022 | $8.8B | $1.3B | 14.3% | +51.6% | Source |
| FY2021 | $5.8B | $410M | 7.1% | +34.4% | Source |
| FY2020 | $4.3B | -$715M | -16.6% | -54.4% | Source |
| FY2019 | $9.5B | $881M | 9.3% | +6.1% | Source |
| FY2018 | $8.9B | $764M | 8.6% | +9.5% | Source |
| FY2017 | $8.1B | $1.1B | 13.3% | +23.6% | Source |
| FY2016 | $6.6B | $338M | 5.1% | — | Source |
NVIDIA
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | $215.9B | $120.1B | 55.6% | +65.5% | Source |
| FY2025 | $130.5B | $72.9B | 55.8% | +114.2% | Source |
| FY2024 | $60.9B | $29.8B | 48.8% | +125.9% | Source |
| FY2023 | $27B | $4.4B | 16.2% | +0.2% | Source |
| FY2022 | $26.9B | $9.8B | 36.2% | +61.4% | Source |
| FY2021 | $16.7B | $4.3B | 26.0% | +52.7% | Source |
| FY2020 | $10.9B | $2.8B | 25.6% | -6.8% | Source |
| FY2019 | $11.7B | $4.1B | 35.3% | +20.6% | Source |
| FY2018 | $9.7B | $3B | 31.4% | +40.6% | Source |
| FY2017 | $6.9B | $1.7B | 24.1% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
Hilton
- Franchise and Licensing Fees
Largest fee stream
Royalties from owners of franchised Hilton hotels, typically a percentage of room revenue, plus licensing fees such as those from co-branded Hilton Honors credit cards and Hilton Grand Vacations.
- Base and Incentive Management Fees
Second fee stream
Fees for operating hotels on behalf of owners: a base fee tied to hotel revenue and an incentive fee tied to hotel profitability.
- Cost Reimbursement Revenues
Majority of reported revenue
Reimbursements from managed and franchised hotels for payroll and system costs Hilton pays on their behalf; largely offset by matching expenses.
- Owned and Leased Hotels
Small share
Room, food and beverage revenue from the limited number of hotels Hilton still owns or leases.
- Other Revenues
Small share
Purchasing, timeshare and other ancillary revenue tied to Hilton's platform.
NVIDIA
- Data CenterDominant
GPU accelerators, AI systems, networking, and software for cloud, enterprise, and supercomputing customers.
- GamingMaterial
GeForce GPUs and gaming-platform products for PC gamers, creators, and consumer AI PCs.
- Professional Visualization
Complementary
Workstation GPUs, visualization, simulation, and Omniverse-related products.
- AutomotiveGrowth
Automotive compute, software, and autonomous-driving platforms.
- Software And ServicesGrowth
Enterprise AI software, cloud services, libraries, and platform subscriptions layered on hardware.
Business model and strategy
Hilton
How it makes money
Hilton runs an asset-light, fee-based model. Third-party owners pay to build and own hotels; Hilton supplies the brand, design standards, central reservations, revenue management tools, procurement, and access to Hilton Honors, which had 243 million members at the end of 2025. In return Hilton collects franchise fees, typically a percentage of room revenue, plus management fees on hotels it operates.
Growth strategy
Hilton grows by adding rooms rather than buying buildings. Its main levers are new brands aimed at gaps in the market (Spark by Hilton in premium economy, LivSmart Studios in extended stay, Tempo and Motto in lifestyle, Outset Collection for independent hotels, Apartment Collection and Undergraduate by Hilton in 2026), conversions of independent hotels into Hilton brands, and expansion into new countries.
Competitive advantage
Hilton's advantage is scale on both sides of its network. Guests join Hilton Honors because it covers more than 9,000 hotels, and owners sign Hilton franchise agreements because Honors members and Hilton's booking channels deliver demand. That loop is hard to copy: a new brand would need thousands of owners to risk capital before it had the loyalty base to justify it.
NVIDIA
How it makes money
NVIDIA is a fabless chip and systems company: it designs GPUs, CPUs, networking and software, and outsources manufacturing mainly to TSMC. Data Center is the core business, at $193.7B of FY2026 revenue (about 90%) and $89.0B of the $96.2B earned in Q2 FY2027.
Growth strategy
NVIDIA wants to sell the whole AI factory, not just accelerators. It ships a new architecture roughly every year: Blackwell, then Blackwell Ultra, then Vera Rubin, which reached full production in mid-2026. Each rack combines GPUs, Vera CPUs, NVLink, Spectrum-6 switches and BlueField DPUs.
Competitive advantage
NVIDIA's lead comes from three things working together. CUDA has been in use since 2006 and much of the AI software stack is tuned for it. NVIDIA sells full systems that tie compute, NVLink and networking into one rack. Its scale also gets it priority access to TSMC wafers and high-bandwidth memory.
Questions about Hilton vs NVIDIA
Which company has higher revenue — Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. or NVIDIA Corporation?
Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. reported $12.0B (FY2025), while NVIDIA Corporation reported $215.9B (FY2026). By last reported revenue, NVIDIA Corporation is the larger business, with Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. reporting a smaller revenue base. Note: these are from different fiscal years and are not a direct like-for-like comparison.
What is the market cap of Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. vs NVIDIA Corporation?
Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.'s market capitalisation stands at $70.7B, while NVIDIA Corporation's is $5.45T. NVIDIA Corporation carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc..
Which is more financially efficient — Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. or NVIDIA Corporation?
Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. generates $66k / employee in revenue per employee, while NVIDIA Corporation generates $5.14M / employee. NVIDIA Corporation 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 Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. and NVIDIA Corporation make money?
Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. and NVIDIA Corporation generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.: Hilton runs an asset-light, fee-based model. NVIDIA Corporation: NVIDIA is a fabless chip and systems company: it designs GPUs, CPUs, networking and software, and outsources manufacturing mainly to TSMC.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. or NVIDIA Corporation?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. trades at 5.9x P/S and NVIDIA Corporation at 25.2x P/S. NVIDIA Corporation commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. bigger than NVIDIA Corporation?
By last reported revenue, NVIDIA Corporation ($215.9B (FY2026)) is the larger company compared to Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. ($12.0B (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 Hilton vs NVIDIA overview