Technology
A Visual History of the Largest Companies by Market Cap (1999-Today)
A Visual History of the Largest Companies by Market Cap
The macro narrative that underlies the market is constantly under revision.
While this is partially a function of shifts in investor sentiment, it’s also driven by game-changing events as well as much more structural market forces.
For example, how does the macro narrative change after a commodity price crash? What about when the unprecedented scale of technology is truly understood by the market?
An Evolving Narrative
In this week’s chart, we look at how the big picture narrative has changed over time by using a very simple approach.
We have visualized the market capitalizations of the 10 largest public companies in the world over five-year intervals from 1999 until today, and it gives us a series of snapshots of what the market was “thinking” during these specific periods.
Not only is it evident as certain industries rise to prominence, but there are also some interesting individual stories to follow. We can see iconic companies – such as Apple – ascend into the public consciousness, while others fall off the radar completely.
| Year | Description | Top Company | Who Dominates Top 10? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Dotcom Bubble | Microsoft ($583B) | Five tech companies in the mix |
| 2004 | Post-Bubble | GE ($319B) | Diverse mix of companies by industry |
| 2009 | Financial Crisis | PetroChina ($367B) | Six non-U.S. companies make list |
| 2014 | $100 Oil | Apple ($560B) | Last year for oil companies, tech starts ascending |
| 2019 | Big Tech Era | Microsoft ($1,050B) | Seven companies are tech |
The composition of the top 10 changes in each of the snapshots above, and this simple approach helps capture the market narrative for each timeframe.
During the Dotcom Bubble, you can see that half of the list was dominated by tech companies. This was short-lived, and the years 2004, 2009, and 2014 have much more diverse lists.
You can also see the impact of the financial crisis on U.S. company valuations. In 2009, there is an equal distribution of Chinese and American companies. Royal Dutch Shell (UK/Netherlands) and Petrobras (Brazil) help round out the top 10.
Finally, over the last five years, you can see the impact of lower oil prices and the growing scale of tech. Back in 2014, Exxon Mobil was the second largest company in the world by a solid margin, but today it’s been displaced by companies like Facebook, Amazon, Tencent, and Alibaba.
The Big Tech Era
Here is the current top 10 list of the world’s largest companies by market cap:
| Rank | Company | Industry | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 🇺🇸 Microsoft | Tech | $1,050 billion |
| #2 | 🇺🇸 Amazon | Tech | $943 billion |
| #3 | 🇺🇸 Apple | Tech | $920 billion |
| #4 | 🇺🇸 Alphabet | Tech | $778 billion |
| #5 | Tech | $546 billion | |
| #6 | 🇺🇸 Berkshire Hathaway | Diversified | $507 billion |
| #7 | 🇨🇳 Alibaba | Tech | $435 billion |
| #8 | 🇨🇳 Tencent | Tech | $431 billion |
| #9 | 🇺🇸 Visa | Financial | $379 billion |
| #10 | 🇺🇸 Johnson & Johnson | Consumer Goods | $376 billion |
In total, the five biggest tech giants brought in a combined $801.5 billion in revenue last year, and $139 billion in net income.
The Staying Power of Microsoft
With a valuation today of just over $1 trillion, Microsoft is again the world’s largest company by market capitalization.
In this way, the above lists come full circle, since Microsoft was also the biggest company in 1999.
While the software giant experienced short periods where it did drop out of favor, Microsoft was the only company to make the list in our five snapshots above.
Media
How Much the Most Followed Instagram Accounts Earn on Posts
Singers, athletes, actors and Kardashians—here are the most followed Instagram accounts and their estimated earnings per sponsored post.
Creator Program
Most Followed Instagram Accounts and Sponsored Post Costs
Instagram is not only one of the biggest social media platforms, it’s also one of the most profitable for high profile creators.
Despite having fewer users than platforms like Facebook and YouTube, Instagram’s higher engagement rate gives it one of the highest advertising costs. In 2023, average ad prices on Instagram were estimated at $3.56 cost per click, ahead of every platform except LinkedIn.
For the celebrities with the most followers on Instagram, and the brands trying to profit from their followers, that translates into million-dollar costs for some sponsored posts. Pablo Alvarez has visualized Instagram’s biggest accounts, and their estimated earnings per sponsored post, using HopperHQ data from September 2022.
Calculating The Earnings Per Sponsored Post
It’s easy to assume that the most followed Instagram accounts make the most money on sponsored posts, but that appears to be only partially true.
In conducting research for the dataset, HopperHQ utilized both publicly available data and reports and privately researched statistics to measure the impact of different factors:
- Number of followers
- Levels of engagement (legitimate views, likes & comments)
- Influencer’s category (sports, music, acting, etc.)
- Audience makeup
- Influencer status (previous endorsements, number of endorsements, etc.)
And though the number of followers was the biggest influencing factor, some stars earned more from followers than others.
Costs of the Most Followed Instagram Accounts in 2022
The most followed person on Facebook and Instagram, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo leads the list of the most expensive Instagram accounts in 2022 for sponsored content.
It’s estimated that the former Manchester United and Real Madrid star was able to charge an estimated $2.4 million per sponsored post in 2022. With 442 million followers at the time of calculation, Ronaldo was estimated to charge nearly half a million dollars per post more than the next person on the list.
| Name | Category | Followers | Earnings Per Post |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Sport | 442,267,575 | $2,397,000 |
| Kylie Jenner | Celebrity | 338,626,294 | $1,835,000 |
| Lionel Messi | Sport | 327,954,875 | $1,777,000 |
| Selena Gomez | Celebrity | 320,082,515 | $1,735,000 |
| Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson | Celebrity | 315,999,932 | $1,713,000 |
| Kim Kardashian | Celebrity | 311,685,198 | $1,689,000 |
| Ariana Grande | Celebrity | 311,302,908 | $1,687,000 |
| Beyoncé Knowles-Carter | Celebrity | 256,957,282 | $1,393,000 |
| Khloé Kardashian | Celebrity | 243,609,638 | $1,320,000 |
| Kendall Jenner | Celebrity | 237,977,121 | $1,290,000 |
| Justin Bieber | Celebrity | 236,391,845 | $1,281,000 |
| Taylor Swift | Celebrity | 210,659,702 | $1,142,000 |
| Jennifer Lopez | Celebrity | 208,469,193 | $1,130,000 |
| Virat Kohli | Sport | 200,703,169 | $1,088,000 |
| Nicki Minaj | Celebrity | 190,264,361 | $1,031,000 |
| Kourtney Kardashian | Celebrity | 177,874,659 | $964,000 |
| Neymar da Silva Santos Junior | Sport | 174,248,989 | $945,000 |
| Miley Cyrus | Celebrity | 171,147,090 | $928,000 |
| Katy Perry | Celebrity | 163,620,880 | $1,029,000 |
| Kevin Hart | Celebrity | 143,895,754 | $780,000 |
Kylie Jenner, the world’s “youngest self-made billionaire” according to Forbes, was second with earnings of $1.8 million per sponsored post on Instagram. Jenner, a member of the Kardashian–Jenner family with five of the top 20 most followed Instagram accounts, is also the youngest person among this cohort of big earners on Instagram.
But the most commonly followed celebrities in the top 20 were musicians with household names, including Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, and Taylor Swift. They accounted for 45% of the most followed accounts.
The Biggest Earners per Follower
Though almost all of the most followed accounts were estimated to cost more than those with lower follower counts, Katy Perry (Rank: 16th) stands out.
Perry was estimated to better utilize Instagram’s reach and earn more in total than #17-19, despite tens of millions fewer followers. In fact, she was calculated to earn more per follower than all of the top 20.
| Rank | Name | Earnings per Follower |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Katy Perry | $0.0062889 |
| 2 | Neymar da Silva Santos Junior | $0.0054233 |
| 3 | Miley Cyrus | $0.0054222 |
| 4 | Beyoncé Knowles-Carter | $0.0054211 |
| 5 | Taylor Swift | $0.0054211 |
| 6 | Virat Kohli | $0.0054209 |
| 7 | Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson | $0.0054209 |
| 8 | Kendall Jenner | $0.0054207 |
| 9 | Kevin Hart | $0.0054206 |
| 10 | Selena Gomez | $0.0054205 |
| 11 | Jennifer Lopez | $0.0054205 |
| 12 | Cristiano Ronaldo | $0.0054198 |
| 13 | Kourtney Kardashian | $0.0054195 |
| 14 | Ariana Grande | $0.0054192 |
| 15 | Justin Bieber | $0.005419 |
| 16 | Kylie Jenner | $0.005419 |
| 17 | Kim Kardashian | $0.0054189 |
| 18 | Nicki Minaj | $0.0054188 |
| 19 | Khloé Kardashian | $0.0054185 |
| 20 | Lionel Messi | $0.0054184 |
The earnings per follower round up to just under a cent each, but tens of millions of followers make a sizable impact. In addition to Perry, Neymar (Rank: 18th) and Miley Cyrus (Rank: 19th) had the highest earnings-per-follower, ahead of accounts with hundreds of millions more followers.
But a new year can bring a lot of changes. The most followed Instagram accounts have already been reshuffled, with Lionel Messi now the second-most followed and Selena Gomez overtaking Kylie Jenner as the most-followed woman. How will potential earnings be impacted this year?
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