Companies that owe more than they own, and are fine
95 companies with revenue above $1bn report negative total equity: their liabilities exceed their assets as filed.
Taken literally, that is the definition of balance-sheet insolvency. Taken in context, most of these companies are large, profitable and in no difficulty at all.
The mechanism is share repurchases. When a company buys its own stock, the cash leaves the asset side and the repurchase is charged against equity. Do that for long enough, at prices well above the book value of the assets, and equity goes through zero and keeps going. Nothing about the business has deteriorated; the company has simply returned more capital to shareholders over its life than the historical cost of what it owns.
The second mechanism is distribution. Drug wholesalers and other high-volume, low-margin distributors run on negative working capital by design: they are paid by customers before they pay suppliers. That is a structurally strong position that reads as a weak one on this measure.
Where negative equity does matter is in combination. A company with negative equity, falling revenue and negative free cash flow is telling a different story from one with negative equity and a decade of buybacks behind it. The measure is a prompt to look, not a verdict.
What this is usually called
Filings call this a stockholders' deficit or a total deficit; analysts say negative book value, negative net worth or an upside-down balance sheet. All describe the same line: total assets minus total liabilities, below zero. It is not the same as insolvency, which is a cash-flow test about paying debts as they fall due, and not the same as a negative market capitalisation, which cannot happen.
The question, as a query
The list below is what this returns today. It is written in the screener's own syntax, so it can be copied, loosened or tightened without leaving the site.
NEGATIVE(equity) AND revenue > 1b| Company | Revenue | Net income | Gross margin | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCKMCKESSON CORP | $403.43B | $4.76B | 3.6% | $5.72B |
| CAHCARDINAL HEALTH INC | $254.25B | $1.71B | 3.8% | $4.52B |
| DELLDell Technologies Inc. | $113.54B | $5.94B | 20.0% | $8.55B |
| LOWLOWES COMPANIES INC | $86.29B | $6.65B | 33.5% | $7.65B |
| HCAHCA Healthcare, Inc. | $75.60B | $6.78B | Unavailable | $7.69B |
| ABBVAbbVie Inc. | $61.16B | $4.23B | 70.2% | $17.82B |
| HPQHP INC | $55.30B | $2.53B | 20.6% | Unavailable |
| AALAmerican Airlines Group Inc. | $54.63B | $111.00M | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| PMPhilip Morris International Inc. | $40.65B | $11.35B | 67.1% | $10.66B |
| SBUXSTARBUCKS CORP | $37.18B | $1.86B | Unavailable | $2.44B |
| BKNGBooking Holdings Inc. | $26.92B | Unavailable | Unavailable | $9.09B |
| MCDMCDONALDS CORP | $26.88B | $8.56B | Unavailable | $7.19B |
| MARMARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL INC /MD/ | $26.19B | $2.60B | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| MOALTRIA GROUP, INC. | $23.28B | $6.95B | 62.5% | $9.07B |
| AZOAUTOZONE INC | $18.94B | $2.50B | 52.6% | $1.79B |
| ORLYO REILLY AUTOMOTIVE INC | $17.78B | $2.54B | 51.6% | $1.59B |
| OTISOtis Worldwide Corp | $14.43B | $1.38B | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| DVADAVITA INC. | $13.64B | $746.80M | Unavailable | $1.31B |
| UNM InsurerUnum Group | $13.08B | $738.50M | Unavailable | $555.40M |
| CYHCOMMUNITY HEALTH SYSTEMS INC | $12.48B | $509.00M | 85.1% | $208.00M |
| WWayfair Inc. | $12.46B | -$313.00M | 30.2% | $464.00M |
| LUMNLumen Technologies, Inc. | $12.40B | -$1.74B | 46.5% | Unavailable |
| HLTHilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. | $12.04B | $1.46B | Unavailable | $2.03B |
| CARAVIS BUDGET GROUP, INC. | $11.65B | -$889.00M | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| TDGTransDigm Group INC | $8.83B | $2.07B | 60.1% | $1.82B |
| FDXFFedEx Freight Holding Company, Inc. | $8.80B | $655.00M | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| OPTUOptimum Communications, Inc. | $8.59B | -$1.87B | 69.3% | -$118.84M |
| HTZHERTZ GLOBAL HOLDINGS, INC | $8.50B | -$747.00M | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| YUMYUM BRANDS INC | $8.21B | $1.56B | 69.8% | $1.64B |
| BBWIBath & Body Works, Inc. | $7.29B | $649.00M | 43.7% | $865.00M |
| COKECoca-Cola Consolidated, Inc. | $7.23B | $570.58M | 39.7% | $619.59M |
| WYNNWYNN RESORTS LTD | $7.14B | $327.33M | Unavailable | $692.22M |
| AAGILENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC. | $6.95B | $1.30B | 52.4% | $1.15B |
| IRMIRON MOUNTAIN INC | $6.90B | Unavailable | Unavailable | -$931.63M |
| HLFHERBALIFE LTD. | $5.04B | $228.30M | 77.9% | $252.90M |
| DPZDOMINOS PIZZA INC | $4.94B | $601.70M | 40.0% | $671.50M |
| AMCAMC ENTERTAINMENT HOLDINGS, INC. | $4.85B | -$632.40M | Unavailable | Unavailable |
| CCICROWN CASTLE INC. | $4.26B | $444.00M | 97.3% | Unavailable |
| CLMTCalumet, Inc. /DE | $4.14B | -$33.80M | 5.9% | $56.60M |
| MTDMETTLER TOLEDO INTERNATIONAL INC/ | $4.03B | $869.19M | 59.4% | $848.65M |
Showing the 40 largest by revenue of 95. Open the full list in the screener.
What this does not show
Equity here includes non-controlling interests and is the figure as filed, at historical cost. It is not a market value and not an estimate of what the company would be worth if wound up.
The measures behind this
Total equity incl. NCI Total liabilities Total assets
Related findings
Citing this
SequelSEC, “Companies that owe more than they own, and are fine”, 20 September 2026. https://sequelsec.com/findings/companies-with-negative-shareholder-equity
Figures are recomputed on every view from SEC filings, so a number quoted from this page should carry the date it was read.