Apple earned more money last quarter than Amazon ever has

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Apple is worth more than the entire US energy sector combined
Apple, in case you didn't know, makes some crazy money!
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

From the way that Apple and Amazon are neck and neck when it comes to valuation, you could be forgiven for thinking that they make similar money.

But you’d be wrong: In fact, Apple brought in more cash in the last three months than Amazon has in its entire lifetime. While there’s no getting around how insanely successful Amazon is, that factoid alone shows just how far ahead of the rest of the tech pack Apple actually is!

According to a recent CNBC report, Apple generated $13.8 billion in net income during its March 2018 quarter. Amazon, on the other hand, has had a total net income of $9.6 billion — since it started life way back in 1994. This number is calculated by adding all of Amazon’s annual net income figures since starting out.

Last year, by comparison, Apple made a whopping $48.35 billion in profit during fiscal 2017.

But don’t count Amazon out

Investors would, of course, be foolish to count Amazon out.

Last month, we noted how the online retail giant has narrowed Apple’s market cap lead to less than $50 billion. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is now the world’s richest man, with a personal wealth estimated at $112 billion. Earlier this year he made the biggest single-year increase on the rich list this century, thanks to a net worth which has increased by $39.2 billion in just 12 months.

With Amazon’s business growing at a frankly bonkers rate — and businesses like its cloud computing services and Amazon Prime membership continuing to set records — there’s every chance that Amazon could overtake Apple over time. Since share prices are very much based on future potential, rather than past success, Amazon is very much a solid investment.

But in terms of who has raked in the most money so far? It’s not even close!

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