Just did some research on digital business models and found this interesting insight.

Here is how the big digital leaders, namely Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft make their money.

Alphabet and Facebook are clearly advertising companies. Apple is clearly a product design company. Amazon is a retailer with big stakes in Media and Cloud Services. And Microsoft is a little bit of everything, but still makes 50% of its revenue from its past successes Office and Windows. Of course, we have to remember that these companies are huge, so there are many other ways that they make their money too.


The image is provided by Visual Capitalist and Business Insider.

Just wondering: How much of this revenue is generated through APIs? I can only guess, but for Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook it would be a whole lot of the pie.

So what is the Digital Business Model of your company? Find out in this blogpost and video.

Revenue of Digital Business Leaders

Also published on Medium.

Matthias Biehl

As API strategist, Matthias helps clients discover their opportunities for innovation with APIs & ecosystems and turn them into actionable digital strategies. Based on his experience in leading large-scale API initiatives in both business and technology roles, he shares best practices and provides both strategic and practical guidance. He has stayed a techie at heart and at some point, got a Ph.D. Matthias publishes a blog at api-university.com, is the author of several books on APIs, and regularly speaks at technology conferences.