What a new billion of revenue used to buy
Plain arithmetic on filed numbers: employees added per billion dollars of revenue growth, by era. In 2013–2019 a new billion came with roughly 600 to 3,300 new employees at these companies. In 2021–2025 it comes with 80 to 670 — and at Amazon revenue grew $247 billion while headcount fell by 32,000. Nominal dollars, so the true decline is somewhat gentler than drawn; the direction is not in doubt.
What does it show?
In 2013–2019 a new billion of revenue came with 600–3,300 new employees at these companies. In 2021–2025 it comes with 80–670 — and at Amazon, revenue grew $247B while headcount fell by 32,000.
Methodology
For each company and era, the change in fiscal year-end headcount between the era's first and last available years, divided by the change in annual revenue in billions — plain arithmetic on filed numbers, no fitting. Eras where revenue grew less than $5B are shown as omitted rather than plotted, because the ratio explodes on a small denominator (Oracle 2013–2019 grew $2.3B and would print +6,879). Dollars are nominal: a 2025 billion is smaller than a 2013 billion, so the true decline is somewhat gentler than drawn. M&A moves employees without matching revenue timing — Amazon's 2013–2019 figure includes the fulfilment build-out and Oracle's 2005–2012 includes the Sun acquisition. Data sources as in the companion path chart.