McDonald's vs Oracle: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
McDonald's reported $26.9B of revenue in FY2025 and $8.6B of net income. Oracle reported $67.4B of revenue in FY2026 and $17.1B of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
McDonald's
- Latest revenue
- $26.9B (FY2025)
- Net income
- $8.6B
- Net margin
- 31.9%
- Revenue growth
- +1.0% a year, FY2016–FY2025
Oracle
- Latest revenue
- $67.4B (FY2026)
- Net income
- $17.1B
- Net margin
- 25.4%
- Revenue growth
- +6.6% a year, FY2017–FY2026
Financial summary
McDonald's
McDonald's corporate revenue ($26.885 billion in 2025, up 3.7%) is a fraction of the roughly $139 billion that customers spend across the system, because franchised restaurant sales are not booked as company revenue. What the company does book is mostly franchise rent and royalties, which explains net income of $8.563 billion in 2025 and operating margins well above typical restaurant operators. In Q2 2026, revenue rose 4% (2% in constant currency) to about $7.1 billion, diluted EPS was $3.32 ($3.38 adjusted), and systemwide sales grew 5% to $37 billion. The company returns most free cash flow through dividends, which it has raised every year since 1976, and share buybacks.
Oracle
Oracle's revenue grew from $39.1 billion in FY2020 to $57.4 billion in FY2025 and $67.36 billion in FY2026, when net income was $17.09 billion. Growth is now driven by cloud: Q1 FY2027 cloud revenue (IaaS plus SaaS) was $11.6 billion, up 62%, and operating cash flow was a record $23 billion for the quarter. The other side of the ledger is capex. FY2026 capital spending of $55.7 billion pushed free cash flow negative, and Oracle has funded the gap with bond issuance and equity sales. Management guides to at least $90 billion of FY2027 revenue and non-GAAP EPS of $8.10.
Revenue and profit by year
McDonald's
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $26.9B | $8.6B | 31.9% | +3.7% | Source |
| FY2024 | $25.9B | $8.2B | 31.7% | +1.7% | Source |
| FY2023 | $25.5B | $8.5B | 33.2% | +10.0% | Source |
| FY2022 | $23.2B | $6.2B | 26.6% | -0.2% | Source |
| FY2021 | $23.2B | $7.5B | 32.5% | +20.9% | Source |
| FY2020 | $19.2B | $4.7B | 24.6% | -10.1% | Source |
| FY2019 | $21.4B | $6B | 28.2% | +0.5% | Source |
| FY2018 | $21.3B | $5.9B | 27.9% | -6.8% | Source |
| FY2017 | $22.8B | $5.2B | 22.8% | -7.3% | Source |
| FY2016 | $24.6B | $4.7B | 19.0% | — | Source |
Oracle
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | $67.4B | $17.1B | 25.4% | +17.3% | Source |
| FY2025 | $57.4B | $12.4B | 21.7% | +8.4% | Source |
| FY2024 | $53B | $10.5B | 19.8% | +6.0% | Source |
| FY2023 | $50B | $8.5B | 17.0% | +17.7% | Source |
| FY2022 | $42.4B | $6.7B | 15.8% | +4.8% | Source |
| FY2021 | $40.5B | $13.7B | 34.0% | +3.6% | Source |
| FY2020 | $39.1B | $10.1B | 25.9% | -1.1% | Source |
| FY2019 | $39.5B | $11.1B | 28.1% | +0.3% | Source |
| FY2018 | $39.4B | $3.6B | 9.1% | +4.2% | Source |
| FY2017 | $37.8B | $9.5B | 25.0% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
McDonald's
- Franchise rent and royalties~45%
Franchise rent and royalties
- Company-operated restaurants~25%
Company-operated restaurants
- Licensing and delivery economics~15%
Licensing and delivery economics
Oracle
- Cloud Services and License SupportLargest
OCI, SaaS, database services, and recurring support revenue.
- Cloud License and On-Premise LicenseMaterial
New licenses and cloud license rights for enterprise software.
- ServicesMaterial
Consulting, support, and implementation work.
- HardwareSmaller
Exadata, engineered systems, and related hardware products.
Business model and strategy
McDonald's
How it makes money
About 95% of McDonald's restaurants are owned and operated by franchisees or developmental licensees. The corporation makes money in three main ways: (1) rent, because it owns or leases the land and buildings at many franchised sites and charges franchisees rent, often tied to a percentage of sales; (2) royalties, a percentage of each restaurant's monthly sales;
Growth strategy
McDonald's growth plan, branded Accelerating the Arches, rests on marketing, core menu (burgers, chicken, coffee), and the 3 D's: digital, delivery, and drive-thru. The company targets roughly 50,000 restaurants worldwide by the end of 2027, with China, other developmental licensed markets, and the U.S. contributing the largest number of openings.
Competitive advantage
McDonald's advantage is scale that rivals cannot easily copy: more than 45,000 restaurants, control of prime real estate at many franchised sites, a long-tenured franchisee base that funds most store capital, and a supply chain that buys beef, potatoes, chicken, and packaging at volumes few chains match.
Oracle
How it makes money
Oracle sells to businesses and governments, not consumers. Its largest revenue line is cloud services and license support: customers pay recurring fees for OCI compute, storage, GPUs and database services, for Fusion Cloud ERP, HCM, SCM and NetSuite subscriptions, and for annual support on licensed Oracle Database and middleware.
Growth strategy
Oracle's growth plan rests on renting AI training and inference capacity at very large scale. It is building data centers for OpenAI under the Stargate program (a partnership OpenAI describes as over $300 billion across five years and up to 4.5 gigawatts), and it also serves xAI, Meta, NVIDIA and AMD workloads.
Competitive advantage
Oracle's edge comes from its installed base. Oracle Database runs core financial, telecom and government systems, and moving those workloads is slow, expensive and risky, which keeps support revenue recurring. OCI adds a price-performance pitch built on bare-metal servers and RDMA networking for large GPU clusters, and Oracle can offer the same database inside rival clouds.
Questions about McDonald's vs Oracle
Which company has higher revenue — McDonald's Corporation or Oracle Corporation?
McDonald's Corporation reported $26.9B (FY2025), while Oracle Corporation reported $67.4B (FY2026). By last reported revenue, Oracle Corporation is the larger business, with McDonald's Corporation 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 McDonald's Corporation vs Oracle Corporation?
McDonald's Corporation's market capitalisation stands at $175.7B, while Oracle Corporation's is $393.6B. Oracle Corporation carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to McDonald's Corporation.
Which is more financially efficient — McDonald's Corporation or Oracle Corporation?
McDonald's Corporation generates $179k / employee in revenue per employee, while Oracle Corporation generates $478k / employee. Oracle 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 McDonald's Corporation and Oracle Corporation make money?
McDonald's Corporation and Oracle Corporation generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. McDonald's Corporation: About 95% of McDonald's restaurants are owned and operated by franchisees or developmental licensees. Oracle Corporation: Oracle sells to businesses and governments, not consumers.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — McDonald's Corporation or Oracle Corporation?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, McDonald's Corporation trades at 6.5x P/S and Oracle Corporation at 5.8x P/S. McDonald's Corporation commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to Oracle Corporation. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is McDonald's Corporation bigger than Oracle Corporation?
By last reported revenue, Oracle Corporation ($67.4B (FY2026)) is the larger company compared to McDonald's Corporation ($26.9B (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 McDonald's vs Oracle overview