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Try “burger”, “cash flow”, “Costco” or “markup”.

LessonsOne of six tracks

Big companies

How famous companies really make money. Every number comes from annual reports and other public sources, with the year it covers.

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A big-city skyline: a tall office tower, a long warehouse with a delivery truck out front, more offices behind, and a plane flying overhead.

The companies

  • How a big company is built

    Shareholders, the board, the CEO, business units and shared teams: the parts every company here is built from.

    Start here · 12 min · members

  • Banks

    How lending other people's money turns into a business.

    4 lessons · members

  • McDonald's

    Burgers, yes. But most of its restaurants are run by franchise owners, who pay it rent and fees.

    4 lessons · members

  • Starbucks

    Coffee on a lot of corners, and customers who put money on the app before they buy.

    4 lessons · members

  • Airlines

    Huge fixed costs and prices that change by the day. Why every empty seat hurts.

    4 lessons · members

  • Amazon

    An online store, a delivery network and a cloud computing business under one roof.

    4 lessons · members

  • Uber

    A marketplace: it doesn't own the cars. It connects riders and drivers and takes a fee.

    4 lessons · members

  • Costco

    A warehouse store with low prices and thin markups. So where does the profit come from?

    4 lessons · members

  • Google

    Search is free to use. So who pays? Advertisers.

    4 lessons · members

  • Insurance

    A business where risk is the product.

    4 lessons · members

  • Netflix

    Subscriptions, and paying for shows long before anyone watches them.

    4 lessons · members

Company names are lesson topics, not partnerships.