6 Companies That Won Big in 2016

For some the biggest companies on the planet, 2016 has been a brutal year.

Take everyone’s perennial standard-bearer of trendiness, Apple. The software and hardware company was coming off a banner year in 2015. They had sold a record-crushing 13 million phones during the opening weekend for the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6s. Ultimately, they pulled off a historic $53.4 billion in profits. So spectacular was Apple’s performance in 2015, that Fortune ranked them #3 and most profitable in the 2016 Fortune 500.

But consumers haven’t been so keen on Apple in 2016. This year, with the lukewarm debut of the iPhone 7, their profits have dropped by 14%, and analysts are wondering if the world has reached “peak Apple.”

And what about banking giant Wells Fargo? Even as recently as June 2016, Wells Fargo was named as the fourth most profitable company in the Fortune 500 and all seemed well. Now, just a few months hence, Wells Fargo is embroiled in scandal, its CEO has been flogged before Congress and dismissed in shame, and it’s facing a wave of retaliatory lawsuits from fired ex-employees.

Although its profits seem to be intact, 2016 may go down in history as the year Wells Fargo permanently lost the trust of both its employees and its customers.

And then there’s Uber. In 2015, Fast Company highlighted the ride-sharing service as one the world’s most innovative and promising companies. Although the up-and-coming market disruptor had been spending much more than it made in previous years, industry experts were sure 2016 would be the year Uber exploded into profitability. These expectations would be dashed to pieces when Uber reported a $1.27-billion loss in the first half of 2016 alone.

But even while 2016 has seen giants and industry darlings take some serious punishment, the year has also seen other companies triumph and defy expectations in a stellar way, including these six companies that won big in 2016:

1. Netflix

For years, this video streaming pioneer has endured years of criticism and doubt from analysts and experts. They were spending too much — blockbuster-sized budgets of millions of dollars — on original programming with no proof that such an investment would translate into higher profits. They planned to grow their original programming to a shocking 600 hours of movie and TV series by the end of this year. But 2016 would be the year Netflix finally silenced the naysayers and established itself as the leader in its space.

In Q3 of 2016, Netflix reported a 20% increase in profits and 3.57 million new subscribers. This was largely due to the burgeoning popularity of their exclusive original programming, like ’80s throwback series Stranger Things, which took over the zeitgeist over the summer, Narcos, and How to Make a Murderer. In addition, a 2016 study found that 53.7% of consumers in the U.S. and Canada now use Netflix, with Amazon Prime being the closest competitor at 24%. The results were enough to justify Netflix’s investment strategy and silence their critics.

“Unlike traditional broadcasters, Netflix’s goal isn’t to appeal to as broad an audience as possible, but to cater to niches and effectively give every slice of the population a show or movie they can’t live without,” says Fast Company, which also named Netflix among its “Most Innovative” list. “The strategy seems to be working.”

Going into 2017, Netflix plans to increase their investment in original programming 20% to $6 billion.

2. Walt Disney Company

In 2006, Disney bought Pixar Animation for $7.4 billion. Six years ago, they purchased Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. Two years later, they paid the same price for Lucasfilm, the home of Star Wars. You could argue that those three investments are quickly becoming the fuel behind the House of Mouse. Nowhere is that more apparent than in 2016.

Days ago, Walt Disney Studios reported that they are currently in the midst of their best year at the international box office ever. By July 10, the studio had surpassed $5 billion globally. This was driven by a string of super-hits: The Jungle Book ($966.3 million), Captain America: Civil War ($1.132 billion), and Finding Dory ($1.018 billion). Most stunning of all is that Disney still has three surefire hits yet to be released this year: Doctor Strange this week, Moana on Nov. 23, and Rogue One, which is sure to dominate the box office for weeks afterward, on Dec. 16.

It’s hard to imagine Disney’s current success without these smart investments. Combined with Disney’s proficiency at franchising, these will likely fuel their dominance at the cinema into the next decade.

3. Tesla Motors

In March 2015, Bloomberg published an article entitled “Will Tesla Ever Make Money?”. That title pretty much summed up how everyone felt about the luxury electric car maker. They all agreed that Tesla could make pretty, high-performing vehicles, but could they make money? Tesla had promised in years past to turn a profit, and those promises remained unfulfilled going into 2016.

Last week, Tesla announced that it had turned a profit in Q3 of this year, surprising investors and markets. What’s made the difference from 2015 to 2016? According to industry experts, Tesla has figured out its production problems and cut out much of the fat that was killing their margins previously.

“Overall, Tesla is running a much leaner machine than a year ago,” says investor Gorden Lam.

But will this be a one-time spike in profitability for Tesla or the start of the profitable future? Only 2017 will tell.

4. Alphabet

Over the years, many have foretold the eventual downfall of the parent company of Google. Over and over again, Alphabet has proven them wrong. How? By keeping their core business strong, despite investing heavily beyond their core money-making operations in futuristic, pie-in-the-sky ideas, like self-driving cars and glasses that can answer your email. Going into 2016, Alphabet was already the 8th most profitable company in the Fortune 500.

If there’s one story behind Alphabet’s success in 2016, it’s this: advertising revenue is still Google’s bread and butter. Their revenue rose by 21% in 2016, and 90% of that was advertising revenue. It’s cloud business also became a major contributor, seeing a 38% increase in revenue.

5. Huawei

While iPhones were slowly losing popularity and Galaxy Notes were bursting into flames, one Chinese smartphone upstart was slowly growing into a serious competitor which ranks third only behind Samsung and Apple. Their secret to growth: a dedication to research and development.

2016 is quickly shaping up to be a year of good fortune for Huawei. While the year has seen Apple sales decline and Samsung sales stay flat, Huawei’s phone sales are growing by 10 million units from year to year. While Huawei’s phones stand shoulder to shoulder with Apple’s and Samsung’s, they are substantially cheaper. This could account for the huge bump in sales earlier this year for Huawei.

6. Boeing

The aerospace manufacturer has been around for longer than pretty much all of the other companies on this list put together (with the exception of Disney, of course), quietly going about the business of supplying the world with aircraft. This year, however, Boeing became a surprise superstar.

It’s not often that companies actually raise their profit projects mid-year, maybe because most companies struggle to reach the goals they’ve already made. But last month, when Boeing saw a 33.7% rise in its quarterly profits and bump in the number of aircraft it expected to deliver by year’s end, the company announced that it would be raising its revenue targets for 2016 by a mere $500 million.

Not a bad way to end the year.