‹ CDW
Ch 1 · The Tech Middleman
Chapter 1 · Growth
It sells the tech everyone else runs on.
CDW sources laptops, servers, software, and cloud for businesses, schools, and governments — then makes it all work.
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✦ The bottom line
CDW rang up $22.4B selling and setting up technology last year — up 6.8%. Enormous sales, on purpose-thin margins.
↓ the brief below
✦ Teach me
Money coming in
CDW's revenue is the full price of the hardware and software it resells, plus its services. Because most product cost passes to vendors, the sales number is huge but only a thin slice is kept.
Wall Street calls this
Revenue / net sales
For a reseller, revenue size matters less than the thin margin it keeps — watch both.
Net sales · fiscal year 2025
$22.4
B
Up from $21.0B a year earlier — +6.8%. Growth returning as businesses refresh their tech.
Source · 10-K · Consolidated Statements of Operations · FY2025 · Filed Feb 20, 2026
From the 10-K · why customers use them
We are vendor, technology, and consumption model unbiased, offering a broad selection of products and multi-branded IT solutions.
↳ Translated: not tied to one brand, so it suggests whatever fits — and customers trust that.
Source · 10-K · Business — Overview · FY2025 · Filed Feb 20, 2026
Scale grower
Mid-single-digit growth on an enormous sales base — a volume business, not a margin one.
You just finished
Chapter 1 · GROWTH
The Tech Middleman
you now read: money coming in (revenue)
Up next
Then
Chapter 3 · MOAT
Trusted to Pick the Right Thing
Chapter 4 · MANAGEMENT
Buying the Pullback
Chapter 5 · BEHIND THE NUMBERS
Boxes Today, Services Tomorrow
Chapter 6 · RISK
What If IT Budgets Freeze?