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What is revenue?

Revenue is a company's total sales over a period: the first line of the income statement, before any costs.

Also called the "top line", it measures the size of the business and its trajectory: steadily growing revenue signals demand for the company's products. But alone it's not enough: you can book billions in sales at a loss.

In earnings reports the market watches year-over-year revenue growth: for a mature big tech 10% is solid, for a listed startup 30–50% is expected.

Concrete example

Amazon posted hundreds of billions in revenue for years with near-zero margins: the market's bet was on future scale, and it paid off.

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Frequently asked questions

Is revenue or profit more important?

They're complementary: revenue shows growth, profit shows the ability to turn it into value.

What do top line and bottom line mean?

Top line is revenue (first line of the income statement), bottom line is net income (the last line).