[size=1.1]This series of graphics by Truman Du illustrates the income statements of five of the world’s biggest companies—Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, and Alphabet—and shows how their financials have evolved since the date of their very first public disclosures.

[size=1.1]Editor’s note: Click on any graphic to see a full-width version that is higher resolution. Also, because these companies are in some cases 10,000x the size they were at IPO date, the two visual financial statements are not meant to be directly comparable in sizing.

[size=1.1]Let’s start with Apple, the first company to go public, and the biggest in the mix:

[size=1.1]revenue driver for the company.

[size=1.1]In 2021, Apple generated $94.7 billion in profit at a 26% margin. Today, the company is one of the only Big Tech companies that has been able to withstand the industrywide drop in valuations. Sitting strong with a market capitalization over $2 trillion, the company is worth roughly the same as Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta combined.

[size=1.1]

View the full-size infographic

[size=1.1]Microsoft, one of the oldest companies on this list, went public in 1985. Back then, the company only sold microprocessors and software—hence the name Micro-Soft.

[size=1.1]And while Microsoft’s flagship operating system (Windows) is still one of its major revenue drivers, the company’s product offerings have become much more diverse.

[size=1.1]Now, its revenue streams are split fairly evenly between its cloud service (Azure), productivity tools (Office), and personal computing (Xbox and Windows OS).

[size=1.1]

View the full-size infographic

[size=1.1]When Amazon went public in 1997, the online retailer was only selling books.

[size=1.1]But by 1998, Amazon started rapidly expanding its product offering. Soon it was selling everything from CDs and toys to electronics, and even tools.

[size=1.1]Fast forward to now, and the ecommerce segment of Amazon has become just a portion of the company’s overall business.

[size=1.1]Amazon is also a cloud-service provider (AWS), supermarket chain (with its grocery brands Amazon Fresh and its acquisition of Whole Foods) and even a video streaming service (Prime Video). In particular, AWS stands out as an important part of Amazon’s overall business, driving a whopping 74% of operating profits.

[size=1.1]

View the full-size infographic

[size=1.1]When Google went public in 2003, it was a simple search engine that generated about $1.4 billion in ad revenue from its website and cloud network.

[size=1.1]Today, the company (now renamed Alphabet) has become synonymous with the internet, and accounts for an overwhelming majority of the internet’s search traffic. Because of this, it generates hundreds of billions in ad revenue each year.

[size=1.1]The company also owns YouTube, and has branched out into different verticals as well like consumer tech (Fitbit), and premium streaming (YouTube Premium &TV).

[size=1.1]