Lists, with the story behind the order
The biggest, the most, the first: lists are how most people look things up. Ours are sorted by a figure from a public source or chosen by a rule we state, and each one comes with the story of why the order is what it is, and where it misleads.
A list is a question with the answer in order
Who brings in the most per employee? Who spends the most on research? Which deals did companies admit they overpaid for? Each list answers one question like that from one public source, then tells you what the ranking does not: that a drug wholesaler brings in six times as much per employee as Microsoft because it resells what others make, that the bigger research budget did not buy more sales, that a write-down arrives years after the mistake. Start with the list; stay for the reason the order is what it is.
How large companies spend, staff and earn, ranked from their own filings.
Revenue per employee“McKesson brings in $9.4 million per employee. Microsoft keeps more profit from each.”1,312 large companies, from their annual reports, with the biggest payrolls.Read the list →The biggest R&D spenders“Intel outspent Nvidia on research every year from 2016 to 2024. Nvidia now sells four times as much.”630 companies' research budgets, and the share of revenue they spend.Read the list →The biggest federal contractors“Washington committed more contract money to UnitedHealth than to Boeing in 2025. It came to 6% of UnitedHealth’s revenue.”35 public companies with $1 billion or more of government contracts, and what that customer is to each.Read the list →Layoff TrackerEvery job cut companies reported to the SEC, by year, with the reason they gave.Read the list →Who runs the companies, where they came from, and what they are paid.
CEO factories“McKinsey trained more of today’s new CEOs than anyone else. Five accounting firms, together, trained almost twice as many.”Where 2,412 new chief executives worked before, from their appointment filings.Read the list →Highest-paid CEOsWhat chief executives were awarded, and what the stock made of it.Read the list →Founders who came backThe founders who returned to run their companies, and how the companies did.Read the list →What companies bought and split, and what came of it.
The biggest goodwill write-downs“Companies wrote off $125.9 billion of goodwill in 2022. The year before, $8.9 billion.”163 write-downs of $1 billion or more since 2016: the deals companies admitted they overpaid for.Read the list →Acquisition TrackerWhat companies bought, in their own words, by year.Read the list →Spinoffs and breakupsWhat usually happens after a company splits itself up.Read the list →Books chosen by a stated rule, each tied to a decision we have covered.
The books behind the decisions“The books behind the decisions: 14 leaders tell it their way. The record tells what happened next.”14 books by the leaders who made the calls, each beside the record of how it turned out.Read the list →Tools to try
- Ansoff move finderFramework: Ansoff Matrix
- Business model canvas builderFramework: Business Model Canvas
- Change readiness checkFramework: Kotter's 8-Step Change Model
- Five Forces scorerFramework: Porter's Five Forces
- SMART goal builderFramework: SMART Goals
- SWOT builderFramework: SWOT Analysis
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