Glossary
Revenue
All the money a company brought in from selling its products and services, before any costs are subtracted.
Revenue is the top line, both literally and figuratively: it is the first line of the income statement and everything else on the statement is subtracted from it. It measures scale of activity, not success, because a company can bring in a great deal of money and spend more.
Revenue growth is watched closely because it is difficult to sustain without customers genuinely buying more. It is also easier to interpret than profit, which can be reshaped by accounting judgments and one-off events in a way that money received from customers cannot.
Reports usually break revenue down by segment and geography, and the breakdown is often more informative than the total. A flat headline figure can conceal one part of the business growing quickly while another shrinks by a similar amount.
See it on a real company
KO shows this figure on its pageWe label it "Revenue", and Wall Street calls it "Revenue". The page is open to everyone, no account needed.
Related terms
- Net IncomeWhat is left of revenue after every expense, interest payment, and tax has been subtracted: the bottom line.
- Gross MarginThe share of each dollar of revenue left after paying the direct cost of producing what was sold.
- Earnings ReportA company's quarterly public account of what it earned and spent, filed with regulators and released on a set date.
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