The world’s most successful companies by profit per employee

In a year defined by AI breakthroughs, colossal layoffs, and serious cost-cutting across industries, sales, market cap, and headcount are no longer the epitome of power and success. Since AI and automation have increasingly replaced traditional roles, companies are now able to achieve notable profits with fewer employees, transforming the rules of operational efficiency.

Companies like Apple, which surpasses USD two million in revenue per employee, and NVIDIA, which took advantage of the AI boom to reach record profits, show how a lean, high-performing workforce can become a company’s greatest asset. Meanwhile, firms such as Meta and Goldman Sachs have taken a different route – streamlining operations and cutting headcount to protect margins and boost efficiency, even in the face of weaker demand.

While market capitalisation still offers valuable insight into a company’s impact, the team at BestBrokers decided to look into the two other most telling metrics of true business performance: revenue and net income per employee. We gathered financial data on the 235 largest companies by market capitalisation as of April 7, 2025, sourced from Companies Market Cap. To work out the profit and revenue per employee, we did extensive research into the official annual reports published by the companies and divided each company’s annual revenue and net income by the number of its staff. We then ranked the firms based on this metric.

The World’s Most Valuable Companies Ranked by Profit Per Employee

Net income per employee (NIPE) is a powerful indicator of efficiency, which shows how effectively a company can convert its human capital into profit. It offers valuable insight, especially for cross-industry comparisons where revenue models may differ but profitability remains the central objective. By using annual net income, the metric depicts performance across the full economic cycle, avoiding fluctuations caused by diverse seasonal factors like holidays or product launches that often influence quarterly results. Collectively, the top 20 global companies with the highest profit per employee, according to our research, generated a tremendous net income of approximately USD 535.36 billion. With a combined workforce exceeding 738,000, the average profit per employee stands at an impressive USD 806,111. Of the 20 top-performing firms on our list, 80 percent are headquartered in the United States, China contributes two companies, while Sweden and Saudi Arabia each have one representative.

NVIDIA, the leading AI chip maker, tops the ranking with a net income of USD 2.024 million per employee, despite ranking third in market capitalisation at USD 2.301 trillion. While it does not report the highest total annual net income among the companies surveyed, its relatively lean workforce gives it a significant advantage in profitability per employee. Despite its global reach and influence, NVIDIA maintains a notably smaller headcount than many tech giants, including Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), and Apple. At the end of 2024, the company had a total of 36,000 employees – more than six times fewer than Microsoft, which reported a workforce of 228,000 in the same period. As a result of the high demand for its chips that power generative AI, cloud computing, and machine learning, NVIDIA has achieved extraordinary profit growth while keeping its team compact – securing its position as the clear leader in net income per employee.

Altria Group, a dominant force in the tobacco industry, claims the second spot on the list with an impressive USD 1.816 million in net income per employee, supported by a workforce of just 6,200 employees in 2024. The company reported a net profit of USD 11.264 billion for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2024. Close behind is the leader in 2023, the world’s largest oil producer, Saudi Aramco, with a net profit of USD 1.61 million per employee.

Prologis, a prominent logistics real estate giant based in San Francisco, California, ranks fourth, achieving USD 1.378 million of net income per employee, with a workforce of 2,703. Next is AppLovin, a mobile app technology firm, with USD 1.008 million in net income per employee. While neither of these companies leads in market capitalisation or annual revenue, their smaller headcounts earn them the top positions in terms of net income per employee. On the other hand, Temu owner PDD Holdings (Pinduoduo), while employing a larger team of 17,400, succeeds in maintaining USD 885,200 in net income per employee, portraying its ability to reach significant profits through its broad e-commerce platform. Unfortunately, not all companies in our analysis have experienced the same level of success. Out of the 241 companies we reviewed, seven reported a loss per employee. For instance, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a leader in last year’s rankings for profit per employee, now records a loss of -USD 87,803 per worker, likely due to increased investments in research and development. The biggest losses are visible with MicroStrategy, which reports a loss of -USD 760,535 per employee, and Bristol-Myers Squibb, with a loss of -$262,405 per employee. In addition, aerospace giants Boeing and Safran also struggled with losses, at -USD 69,041 and -USD 6,941 per employee, which might be a result of supply chain disruptions and economic instability.

Tech and Financial Companies Lead in Profit Per Staff Member

Globally, technology and financial firms lead the rankings for net profit per employee which is a reflection of their ability to generate substantial profits with relatively smaller teams. Collectively, the 45 tech companies on our list report a total of USD 9.61 million in net income per employee, averaging USD 213,515 per employee. Meanwhile, the 54 financial firms produce USD 9.31 million in total net income per employee, resulting in a sector average of USD 172,418. Both sectors are heavily reliant on intellectual capital and software-driven models, which allows them to grow their income without a proportional increase in headcount. Tech firms, in particular, benefit from the global reach of platforms and AI technologies, while financial institutions avail themselves of automation, investment income, and fee-based services to achieve high profitability with compact workforces.

An interesting observation emerges in the Shipping & Logistics and Tobacco sectors, both of which achieve high average profits per employee despite being represented by only a few companies. The Shipping & Logistics sector includes just two firms (Prologis and United Parcel Service) among the 235 companies analysed, yet it records a substantial collective net profit of USD 1.39 million per employee and an average of USD 695,089. Similarly, the Tobacco sector, with only three representatives (Altria Group, British American Tobacco, and Philip Morris International), generates an average of USD 658,670 in net profit per employee.

American Corporations Making the Highest Profit Per Employee

The most successful American companies once again come predominantly from the Technology and Finance sectors, with all of them also ranking among the top performers globally. Saudi Aramco and the two Chinese companies on the list are the only ones preventing the United States from claiming all the top ten positions in terms of net profit per employee. Interestingly, while ConocoPhillips held the second spot in our 2023 rankings, it does not appear on the 2024 list. This may be attributed to a decline in its annual net income, USD 9.22 billion in 2024 compared to USD 10.9 billion the previous year, together with a rise in its headcount, from 9,900 in 2023 to 11,800 in 2024.

UK Companies with the Most Profit Per Worker

In the UK, the leading metals and mining giant Rio Tinto stands out as the most profitable company per employee, generating USD 217,802 in net income per worker. It is followed by Shell, the world’s second-largest investor-owned oil and gas company, with USD 167,646 in profit per employee. The Financial sector takes third place this time with HSBC, which records USD 108,455 per employee—an impressive figure given its large workforce of 211,304, compared to 53,039 at Rio Tinto and 96,000 at Shell.

European Companies Leading in Profit Per Employee

Investor AB, Sweden’s leading investment firm, tops the European rankings with a profit of USD 546,492 per employee and a workforce of 18,805. The company also led the chart last year, though it experienced a decrease in net profit – from USD 12.26 billion in 2023 to USD 10.27 billion in 2024. Meanwhile, its headcount rose slightly from 18,565 to 18,805. Sweden is also represented by Spotify, which ranks ninth on the list. Other European countries with two entries each include Switzerland (Chubb and Novartis), the United Kingdom (Rio Tinto and Shell), and France (Hermès and TotalEnergies).

The World’s Most Successful Companies Ranked by Revenue Per Employee

While net income per employee is a powerful tool to measure efficiency, revenue per employee provides a broader picture of whether the parts of the organisation are operating well and the extent to which employees and their capabilities are utilised. The leader in this chart is Welltower, an American healthcare real estate investment trust, which holds only 685 employees, yet achieved a total revenue of USD 7.99 billion, thus recording an impressive USD 11.67 million of revenue per employee. Its smaller workforce also secures it a spot on our net income per employee list, although it ranks at the bottom there.

Saudi Aramco ranks second with USD 6.40 million in revenue per employee, followed by McKesson, a major pharmaceuticals distributor, at USD 6.06 million per employee. Exxon Mobil, the largest U.S. oil and gas company, comes in fourth with USD 5.73 million per employee. The United States accounts for 70 percent of the top performers, with fourteen companies. China follows with three representatives (PDD Holdings, CNOOC, and CATL), while Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and Canada are each represented by one company — Saudi Aramco, Shell, and Enbridge, respectively.

What Changed in a Year?

Due to the rapidly evolving global landscape, companies are in constant competition to achieve greater efficiency and profitability. Compared to last year’s list of companies ranked by net income per employee, 65 percent of the top 20 remain the same, though with shifts in their positions, while seven new companies have entered the rankings. The 2024 leader, NVIDIA, moves up from the 4th spot in 2023, while Prologis sees a slight drop from second place in 2023 to third in 2024. Saudi Aramco, the leader in 2023 for net profit per employee, now ranks third in 2024 but holds second place for revenue per employee. ConocoPhillips, in comparison, experienced a significant decline, dropping from third place in 2023 to tenth in 2024.