A plain-English look at Gilead Sciences' business, revenue, profit, and market value based on its most recent public filings and market data.
From Antivirals to Cell Therapy
Few American drugmakers have shaped the fight against a single disease category the way Gilead Sciences has shaped HIV treatment. Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Foster City, California, the company has spent nearly four decades building a portfolio centered on life-threatening infectious diseases — HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C — before expanding into cancer treatment.
The Hepatitis C Turning Point
Gilead's acquisition of Pharmasset brought it the rights to Sovaldi, a hepatitis C drug that reshaped treatment for the disease and remains part of combination regimens considered standards of care today. That deal illustrates a pattern in Gilead's history: buying its way into new therapeutic ground rather than waiting to build it organically.
A Growing Foothold in Oncology
More recently, Gilead has pushed into oncology through acquisitions. The CAR-T cell therapy Yescarta/Tecartus came through its purchase of Kite, while Trodelvy, used for breast and bladder cancer, arrived via the acquisition of Immunomedics. Together, these deals mark Gilead's attempt to diversify beyond infectious disease into cancer care, a market with very different competitive dynamics.
What the Company Looks Like Today
Gilead is a large, publicly traded company on the Nasdaq under the ticker GILD, with roughly 17,000 employees worldwide. It first went public in January 1992, and its shares have traded on the public markets ever since.
Revenue and Profit in Plain Terms
In its most recent fiscal year, Gilead reported $29.4 billion in revenue and $8.5 billion in net income. That means for every dollar the company brought in, it kept close to 29 cents as profit — a net margin of 28.9%. Its gross margin of 78.8% shows that the cost of actually producing its drugs is a relatively small slice of each sales dollar, which is typical for branded pharmaceuticals with patent protection.
A Company That Is Growing, Slowly
Revenue climbed 8% from fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 2025. That is not explosive growth, but it is steady expansion for a company already generating tens of billions in annual sales — a reminder that scaling up gets harder as the base gets bigger.
The Balance Sheet Picture
Gilead holds $59.0 billion in total assets, giving a sense of the scale of the operation behind the revenue and profit figures — everything from manufacturing facilities to accumulated cash, receivables, and the value attached to its various drug franchises and past acquisitions.
How the Market Values Gilead
The company's market capitalization stands at $160.4 billion, with shares recently trading at $136.36 on a 15-minute delayed basis. That price sits 12% below the stock's 52-week high, meaning the market has pulled back somewhat from its most optimistic recent valuation of the company.
Pricing the Earnings
Gilead trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.1, a figure that reflects how much investors are currently paying for each dollar of the company's annual profit. It also pays a dividend yielding about 2.41% annually, a modest cash return to shareholders on top of any change in share price.
Reading the Numbers Together
Taken as a whole, these figures describe a profitable, established pharmaceutical company with a durable core business in HIV and hepatitis treatment, a growing oncology arm built through acquisition, and steady if unspectacular revenue growth over the past several years.
A Note on This Report
This article is factual reporting drawn from public filings and market data, not investment advice.
