These 18 big companies made more than $250,000 in profit per employee last year

One U.S. financial giant earned nearly $2 million for every worker.
MAP.09.20.Saudi-Aramco-Profit-Global-500
Tanajib is an oil complex located on the coast of the Arabian Gulf, about 200 km north of Dammam. November 21, 2019
Courtesy of Saudi Aramco

The world’s 500 biggest companies employ some 69.9 million people and together earned a total of $2.06 trillion last year. That translates to roughly $29,500 for each worker. But the 18 companies in the graphic above, concentrated in a handful of industries, proved vastly more efficient than average at making profits per employee. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the U.S. government-sponsored mortgage lenders, earned a combined $21.4 billion with a total of just 14,300 workers. Meanwhile, Saudi Aramco, the profit leader in the Global 500 with $88 billion, has 79,000 employees. Bigger isn’t always more profitable, though. Gold jewelry retailer Rajesh Exports of India produced $170 million in profits with the smallest workforce in the 500: a mere 409 employees.

A version of this article appears in the August/September 2020 issue of Fortune with the headline “Making the most of their workforce.”

Subscribe to Fortune Daily to get essential business stories straight to your inbox each morning.