Whatco

McDonald's

Quick-service restaurants · United States

McDonald's franchises and operates McDonald's restaurants in more than 100 countries, earning rent and royalties on franchisee sales and running some restaurants itself.

What makes it different

Loyalty members already spend about $37B a year.

~$37BSystemwide sales to loyalty membersFY2025

Across 70 loyalty markets, nearly 210 million customers were active in the last 90 days at the end of 2025.

How big it is

How big is McDonald's?

$26.9BRevenuesFY2025
45,356Restaurants2025
$139.4BSales at all restaurantsFY2025
How it makes money FY2025

Rent and royalties, plus its own restaurants.

  • Rents from franchisees39%$10.4B
  • Company-operated restaurant sales36%$9.7B
  • Royalties from franchisees22%$6.0B
  • Initial franchise fees0%$88M
  • Other revenues2%$647M
How the business works

Own the site. Franchisees run it.

  1. 1Land under restaurants
  2. 2Operators run the restaurants
  3. 3Rent plus royalty on sales

Rent and royalties follow franchisee sales, so system growth lifts profit without more company-run restaurants.

Who owns it
  • The Vanguard Group10.03%
  • BlackRock, Inc.7.3%
  • State Street Corporation5.1%

CEO: Christopher Kempczinski

Who it competes with
Key moments
  1. 1940McDonald's is founded in San Bernardino
  2. 1948Speedee Service System
  3. 1955Ray Kroc opens his first McDonald's
  4. 1961Buys out the McDonald brothers
  5. 1967First restaurants outside the United States
Sources

Every number on this page comes from McDonald's's own reports.

Full profile

The rest of the story is in the app.

What McDonald's tracks30 metrics
Restaurants
Franchised restaurants
90-day active loyalty users
Results, quarter by quarterwith a chart
Revenue
Profit
Margin
Where the money comes from3 regions
International Operated Markets
U.S.
International Developmental Licensed Markets & Corporate
The full timeline19 moments
2019
2024
2026
McDonald's vs Yum! Brandsside by side
Revenue
Profit
People
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