Amazon vs. Walmart: The Retail War Just Picked a Winner

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN | AMZN Price Prediction) and Walmart (NYSE:WMT) reported earnings revealing two companies of nearly identical scale but radically different profit architectures. Amazon closed fiscal 2025 with annual revenue of $716.92 billion, while Walmart finished fiscal 2026 with $713.16 billion. The revenue gap is negligible, but the strategy gap is enormous.

AWS Carries Amazon. Omnichannel Carries Walmart.

Amazon’s Q4 story belongs to cloud and advertising, not stores. AWS grew 24% year-over-year to $35.58 billion, its fastest pace in 13 quarters. AWS generates the lion’s share of Amazon’s consolidated profit. Advertising Services added $21.32 billion, up 23%, building on partnerships with Netflix, Spotify, and SiriusXM.

Walmart’s quarter ran on physical stores fused with digital fulfillment. Global eCommerce grew 24% in Q4, with Walmart U.S. eCommerce up 27%, now representing 23% of Walmart U.S. net sales, a record high. Store-fulfilled expedited delivery grew…