The Fortune 500 Companies Earning The Most (And Least) Profit Per Worker
At the Australian Financial Review Property Summit, multi-millionaire CEO Tim Gurner sparked global backlash after saying that "unemployment has to jump by 40-50 percent" and "we need to see pain in the economy" to reduce "arrogance in the employment market."
But the comments have been met with responses pointing out that while company profits and productivity have largely risen, worker pay has climbed much slower while the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite households.
In response, B2B Marketplace DesignRush recently looked at the biggest U.S. companies by revenue, also known as the Fortune 500, and analyzed which earn the most and least profit per employee.
Fortune 500 Companies With The Highest And Lowest Profit Per Employee
Taking a list of the 500 largest U.S. companies by revenue, according to Fortune, each company was ranked according to the highest profit gained per employee.
Eight of the top ten are energy and crude oil production companies, which have seen record profits during the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis.
Companies with the highest profit per employee:
Company
Annual profit
Employees
Profit per employee
Diamondback Energy
$4.4 billion
972
$4.5 million
Chesapeake Energy
$4.9 billion
1,200
$4.1 million
Pioneer Natural Resources
$7.8 billion
2,076
$3.7 million
Devon Energy
$6 billion
1,800
$3.3 million
Coterra Energy
$4 billion
1,225
$3.3 million
Continental Resources
$4 billion
1,404
$2.8 million
EOG Resources
$7.7 billion
2,850
$2.7 million
EQT
$1.7 billion
744
$2.4 million
Marathon Oil
$3.6 billion
1,570
$2.3 million
Moderna
$8.3 billion
3,900
$2.1 million
Diamondback Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FANG) earns the most profit per employee in the U.S., with an eye-watering $4.5 million made for each of its 972 employees.
Five companies are based in Texas and three in Oklahoma, with EQT Corp (NYSE:EQT) in Pennsylvania and Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) in Massachusetts.
The top ten are among the Fortune 500 companies earning the highest profits as a percentage of sales.
Data shows the average Fortune 500 company earns $180,000 profit per employee.
Companies With The Lowest Profit Per Employee
Company
Annual profit
Employees
Profit per employee
Performance Food Group
$113 million
34,825
$3,244
Goodyear Tire Rubber
$202 million
74,000
$2,729
Salesforce
$208 million
79,390
$2,619
Lear
$328 million
168,700
$1,944
ABM Industries
$230 million
127,000
$1,811
GXO Logistics
$197 million
112,000
$1,758
Yum China Holdings
$442 million
275,000
$1,604
General Electric
$225 million
172,000
$1,308
American Airlines Group
$127 million
129,700
$979
Aramark
$195 million
273,875
$712
Of the 446 companies that made a profit for FY23, three earning the lowest profit per employee rank in the top 100 U.S. by annual revenue: General Electric Co (NYSE:GE), American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL), and Performance Food Group Co (NYSE:PFGC).
Fortune 100 Companies Earning The Highest Profit-Per-Employee
Company
Annual profit
Employees
Profit per employee
Fannie Mae
$12.9 billion
8,000
$1.6 million
Freddie Mac
$9.3 billion
7,819
$1.2 million
Apple
$99.8 billion
164,000
$608,554
American International Group
$10.2 billion
26,200
$392,213
Pfizer
$31.3 billion
83,000
$377,975
Microsoft
$72.7 billion
221,000
$329,131
$59.9 billion
190,234
$315,253
Meta Platforms
$23.2 billion
86,482
$268,263
Qualcomm
$12.9 billion
51,000
$253,647
AbbVie
$11.8 billion
50,000
$236,720
Among the Fortune 100 (oil production, energy, and pipeline companies removed), the Federal National Mortgage Association, also known as Fannie Mae, earns the highest profit per employee of $1.6 million.
The top two companies, Fannie Mae (OTCMKTS:FNMA) and Freddie Mac (OTCMKTS:FMCC), are government-sponsored.
Apple earns the highest profit per employee in the technology sector, almost double that of its closest competitors, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), and over double compared to Meta.
Tech companies swept the rankings, with five appearing in the top ten.
Pfizer, commonly known for developing COVID-19 vaccines, earns the most out of the pharmaceutical companies in the Fortune 100.
Gianluca Ferruggia, General Manager at DesignRush, commented on the findings: “At a time with mass layoffs, job uncertainty, and a tug-of-war between CEOs and workers, it is staggering to see the profits made by the highest-earning companies, with some making huge amounts per employee on payroll. It should be noted that other factors influence profit beyond employee efforts, such as global events, economic outlook, brand image, reputation, and marketing.
That is especially true considering the huge difference in energy and oil companies' profits compared to the average. So, while profit per worker may not paint a full picture, it provides insight into the level of efficiency and productivity of these global brands during uncertain times.”
The study was conducted by DesignRush, which provides valuable data on relevant trends that help businesses make educated decisions coming from their years of experience in the B2B community.
Source valuewalk