Apple 12th on Fortune's Global 500 list of companies

The problem with these lists is that they are comparing apples to oranges when looking at "total revenue."  A retailer and a product manufacturer generate revenue in different ways.  In an extreme example, I could set up a business selling hundred dollar bills for $99.95 with free shipping.  The revenue for my company would be incredible, limited only by my ability to fun the losses.  Amazon and Walmart before them are incredibly good at being the intermediary between product companies and consumers and therefore do a ton of business.  Their total revenue is the retail price of every single item they sell.  Imagine Amazon going the only place you could buy iPads.  Apple's revenue from iPads would actually be less than Amazon's revenue in that case (since Apple gets credit for the wholesale price and Amazon gets credit for the retail price).  That's just a silly way to count success in my opinion.

Of course you can make the same argument about Apple.  Apple's total revenue includes every dollar spend on the App Store even though Apple gives 70% of it away to the creators.  To me, that's qualitatively different from the revenue Apple generates from iPhone and Mac sales.

Oh well, yay?  Too bad Apple is in the "doldrums."  Is that one notch above "beleaguered" and two above "doomed"?

randominternetperson said:

The problem with these lists is that they are comparing apples to oranges when looking at "total revenue."  A retailer and a product manufacturer generate revenue in different ways.  In an extreme example, I could set up a business selling hundred dollar bills for $99.95 with free shipping.  The revenue for my company would be incredible, limited only by my ability to fun the losses.  Amazon and Walmart before them are incredibly good at being the intermediary between product companies and consumers and therefore do a ton of business.  Their total revenue is the retail price of every single item they sell.  Imagine Amazon going the only place you could buy iPads.  Apple's revenue from iPads would actually be less than Amazon's revenue in that case (since Apple gets credit for the wholesale price and Amazon gets credit for the retail price).  That's just a silly way to count success in my opinion.

Of course you can make the same argument about Apple.  Apple's total revenue includes every dollar spend on the App Store even though Apple gives 70% of it away to the creators.  To me, that's qualitatively different from the revenue Apple generates from iPhone and Mac sales.

Oh well, yay?  Too bad Apple is in the "doldrums."  Is that one notch above "beleaguered" and two above "doomed"?

Yup. Same as when Fandroids say "Android is selling billions!" even though "Android" is neither a company nor a a phone and "Android" is barely making a profit as a whole.

“ Apple has slipped one place in the Fortune Global 500 list of most profitable companies.”

So, it seems the list is of the companies with the most revenue, not profits. Or am I missing something. 

randominternetperson said:

The problem with these lists is that they are comparing apples to oranges when looking at "total revenue."  A retailer and a product manufacturer generate revenue in different ways.  In an extreme example, I could set up a business selling hundred dollar bills for $99.95 with free shipping.  The revenue for my company would be incredible, limited only by my ability to fun the losses.  Amazon and Walmart before them are incredibly good at being the intermediary between product companies and consumers and therefore do a ton of business.  Their total revenue is the retail price of every single item they sell.  Imagine Amazon going the only place you could buy iPads.  Apple's revenue from iPads would actually be less than Amazon's revenue in that case (since Apple gets credit for the wholesale price and Amazon gets credit for the retail price).  That's just a silly way to count success in my opinion.

Of course you can make the same argument about Apple.  Apple's total revenue includes every dollar spend on the App Store even though Apple gives 70% of it away to the creators.  To me, that's qualitatively different from the revenue Apple generates from iPhone and Mac sales.

Oh well, yay?  Too bad Apple is in the "doldrums."  Is that one notch above "beleaguered" and two above "doomed"?

What should they go by?   Gross Profit?  After Tax Net Profit? etc.?  Or should they be rated only within respect to other actual competitors.   Amazon and Apple only compete in a couple of areas, but neither are a large revenue stream compared to other products/services.

What a crock. List of the most profitable companies, my rear end. What they are measuring is growth in revenue and growth in profits, not absolute numbers. Amazon ahead of Apple? On revenue of ~$280 billion (up 20% YoY) AMZN recorded ~$11.5b in profits (up 15% YoY). AAPL had poor year on year comparisons but still took home ~$55b IN PROFITS from ~$260b revenue.

Which business would you rather be in?