Markets

Ranked: The 100 Biggest Public Companies in the World

Published

11 months ago

December 26, 2022

Dorothy Neufeld

Graphics/Design:

Bhabna Banerjee

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The Biggest Companies in the World in 2022

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This year has been shaped by uncomfortable macroeconomic headwinds.

Trillions of dollars were erased in public company market capitalizations, investor confidence waned, and cost pressures squeezed consumer pocketbooks.

Taken together, many of the world’s largest companies experienced sharp declines in market share. Still, a few companies in key sectors had positive growth over the year.

As 2022 comes to a close, the above infographic shows the biggest companies in the world, using data from Companiesmarketcap.com.

The World’s Largest Public Companies in 2022

Today, Apple stands as the world’s most valuable company, towering at a $2.3 trillion valuation.

Despite the tech downturn of 2022—driven by rising interest rates and slower sales—Apple maintained its top spot. This was largely thanks to record revenues and healthy consumer demand for iPhones, which drive about half of its total revenue.

Following Apple is Microsoft. Unlike Apple, Microsoft has faced slower earnings over the year due to lower demand for personal computers and the weighing impact of a strong U.S. dollar. Overall, about 50% of the company’s sales take place overseas.

As we show below, there are now only four companies left in the trillion dollar market cap club.

2022 Rank	Company	Market Capitalization	Sector	Location
1	Apple	$2.3T	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
2	Microsoft	$1.9T	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
3	Saudi Aramco	$1.8T	Energy	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
4	Alphabet	$1.2T	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
5	Amazon	$924B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
6	Berkshire Hathaway	$686B	Financials	🇺🇸 U.S.
7	Tesla	$522B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
8	UnitedHealth Group	$510B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
9	Johnson & Johnson	$465B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
10	Visa	$454B	Industrials	🇺🇸 U.S.
11	NVIDIA	$437B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
12	Exxon Mobil	$437B	Energy	🇺🇸 U.S.
13	TSMC	$417B	Technology	🇹🇼 Taiwan
14	Walmart	$399B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
15	Tencent	$397B	Technology	🇨🇳 China
16	JPMorgan Chase	$394B	Financials	🇺🇸 U.S.
17	LVMH	$377B	Consumer Discretionary	🇫🇷 France
18	Procter & Gamble	$361B	Consumer Staples	🇺🇸 U.S.
19	Eli Lilly	$349B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
20	Mastercard	$344B	Industrials	🇺🇸 U.S.
21	Home Depot	$334B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
22	Chevron	$328B	Energy	🇺🇸 U.S.
23	Nestlé	$322B	Consumer Staples	🇨🇭 Switzerland
24	Kweichow Moutai	$313B	Consumer Staples	🇨🇳 China
25	Samsung	$306B	Technology	🇰🇷 South Korea
26	Meta (Facebook)	$304B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
27	Pfizer	$293B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
28	AbbVie	$292B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
29	Novo Nordisk	$292B	Health Care	🇩🇰 Denmark
30	Coca-Cola	$277B	Consumer Staples	🇺🇸 U.S.
31	Merck	$276B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
32	Roche	$267B	Health Care	🇨🇭 Switzerland
33	Bank of America	$263B	Financials	🇺🇸 U.S.
34	Pepsico	$253B	Consumer Staples	🇺🇸 U.S.
35	ASML	$247B	Technology	🇳🇱 Netherlands
36	Alibaba	$245B	Consumer Discretionary	🇨🇳 China
37	Broadcom	$225B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
38	Thermo Fisher Scientific	$223B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
39	Oracle	$219B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
40	Costco	$216B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
41	Astrazeneca	$215B	Health Care	🇬🇧 United Kingdom
42	Reliance Industries	$214B	Energy	🇮🇳 India
43	ICBC	$208B	Financials	🇨🇳 China
44	McDonald's	$203B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
45	Cisco	$203B	Telecommunications	🇺🇸 U.S.
46	Shell	$201B	Energy	🇳🇱 Netherlands
47	Danaher	$199B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
48	L'Oréal	$197B	Consumer Discretionary	🇫🇷 France
49	Toyota	$197B	Consumer Discretionary	🇯🇵 Japan
50	Novartis	$196B	Health Care	🇨🇭 Switzerland
51	Abbott Laboratories	$109B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
52	Accenture	$184B	Industrials	🇮🇪 Ireland
53	T-Mobile	$177B	Telecommunications	🇺🇸 U.S.
54	Nike	$175B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
55	Walt Disney	$173B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
56	Nextera Energy	$172B	Utilities	🇺🇸 U.S.
57	Hermès	$169B	Consumer Discretionary	🇫🇷 France
58	Bristol-Myers Squibb	$168B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
59	Linde	$166B	Basic Materials	🇬🇧 United Kingdom
60	Wells Fargo	$163B	Financials	🇺🇸 U.S.
61	Texas Instruments	$161B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
62	BHP Group	$160B	Basic Materials	🇦🇺 Australia
63	Verizon	$159B	Telecommunications	🇺🇸 U.S.
64	Philip Morris	$159B	Consumer Staples	🇺🇸 U.S.
65	Comcast	$158B	Telecommunications	🇺🇸 U.S.
66	UPS	$158B	Industrials	🇺🇸 U.S.
67	Adobe	$157B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
68	Morgan Stanley	$154B	Financials	🇺🇸 U.S.
69	China Construction Bank	$152B	Financials	🇨🇳 China
70	TotalEnergies	$152B	Energy	🇫🇷 France
71	Charles Schwab	$150B	Financials	🇺🇸 U.S.
72	Amgen	$148B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
73	Raytheon Technologies	$146B	Industrials	🇺🇸 U.S.
74	Tata Consultancy	$146B	Technology	🇮🇳 India
75	CATL	$145B	Consumer Discretionary	🇨🇳 China
76	China Mobile	$145B	Telecommunications	🇨🇳 China
77	Honeywell	$144B	Industrials	🇺🇸 U.S.
78	Agricultural Bank of China	$141B	Financials	🇨🇳 China
79	Netflix	$140B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.
80	Meituan	$140B	Technology	🇨🇳 China
81	ConocoPhillips	$139B	Energy	🇺🇸 U.S.
82	AT&T	$138B	Financials	🇺🇸 U.S.
83	CVS Health	$136B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
84	Dior	$136B	Consumer Discretionary	🇫🇷 France
85	Qualcomm	$136B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
86	Prosus	$135B	Technology	🇳🇱 Netherlands
87	RBC	$135B	Financials	🇨🇦 Canada
88	IBM	$134B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
89	Salesforce	$133B	Technology	🇺🇸 U.S.
90	Union Pacific	$133B	Industrials	🇺🇸 U.S.
91	Deere & Company	$132B	Industrials	🇺🇸 U.S.
92	Unilever	$130B	Consumer Staples	🇬🇧 United Kingdom
93	CM Bank	$130B	Financials	🇨🇳 China
94	HDFC Bank	$129B	Financials	🇮🇳 India
95	Elevance Health	$128B	Health Care	🇺🇸 U.S.
96	AIA	$128B	Financials	🇭🇰 Hong Kong
97	Lockheed Martin	$127B	Industrials	🇺🇸 U.S.
98	PetroChina	$127B	Energy	🇨🇳 China
99	SAP	$127B	Technology	🇩🇪 Germany
100	Lowe's	$124B	Consumer Discretionary	🇺🇸 U.S.

*As of Dec 12, 2022.

Oil giant Saudi Aramco is the third largest publicly-traded company globally, at $1.8 trillion. It’s also the only non-U.S. company in the top 10.

In May, the state-run company briefly became the most valuable company on the planet as soaring energy prices boosted earnings. Saudia Arabia is the largest exporter of oil in the world, and the country’s economy is forecast to grow 7.6% in 2022—one of the fastest globally.

Overall, 62 companies of the 100 largest are headquartered in the U.S., 11 are based in China, and five are located in France.

Top 10 Performance in 2022

For many of the world’s largest companies, 2022 was a brutal year for performance.

Chat showing 10 Biggest Companies in the World 2022 Performance

As the above graphic shows, the vast majority of the world’s titans saw their market values decline. Half of these companies saw double-digit drops.

Tesla has witnessed nearly 70% of its market cap being erased this year. Two main factors are behind this drop: falling demand, especially in China, and CEO Elon Musk’s volatile and risky acquisition of Twitter.

On the other hand, UnitedHealth Group has seen the strongest performance among the top 10.

The company, which rakes in a large share of its earnings from employer-backed insurance plans, said that recessionary impacts had not yet begun materializing in 2022.

Biggest Companies in the World, by Sector

Even with sinking market values across the sector in 2022, tech remains dominant.

Among the world’s biggest companies, 20 are in tech, spanning a combined market value of $9.2 trillion. For perspective, that’s about 31% of the market value of the 100 largest companies.

Rank	Sector	Combined Market Value	Number of Companies	Biggest Company in Sector
1	👩‍💻 Technology	$9.2T	20	Apple
2	🚗 Consumer Discretionary	$4.7T	17	Amazon
3	🩺 Health Care	$4.3T	17	UnitedHealth Group
4	🛢️ Energy	$3.4T	8	Saudi Aramco
5	💵 Financials	$3.0T	14	Berkshire Hathaway
6	🏭 Industrials	$1.8T	9	Visa
7	🥫 Consumer Staples	$1.8T	7	Procter & Gamble
8	📞 Telecommunications	$841B	5	Cisco
9	⛏️ Basic Materials	$326B	2	Linde
10	🔌 Utilities	$127B	1	Nextera Energy

Companies are classified according to the FTSE Russell Industry Classification Benchmark. *As of Dec 12, 2022.

Consumer discretionary and health care sectors fall next in line, with big players such as Amazon and Johnson & Johnson among their ranks.

At the other end of the spectrum is utilities, the smallest sector overall at least pertaining to the largest companies list. NextEra Energy, the sole utilities company among the rankings is one of the world’s largest developers of wind and solar energy. Over the next three years, it plans to invest up to $95 billion in greening its power operations.

Change of Fortune

It comes as no surprise that many of the biggest companies in the world are long-established players in global markets.

Yet within the rankings, some of the notable risers compared to 2021 are UnitedHealth Group, which launched from #19 in 2021 to #8 this year and NVIDIA which has climbed to become the 11th largest company globally, up from #24 last year.

By contrast, some of the biggest losers are Meta (Facebook’s parent company) and Alibaba. Meta has fallen across the rankings to #26 in 2022 from #6 in 2021. Meanwhile, Alibaba was once the ninth largest globally but has tumbled to #36. Both companies have seen considerable value wiped from their market caps—roughly 66% and 28%, respectively—amid lagging earnings.

With the year coming to a close, it remains to be seen whether the world’s biggest companies stage a comeback in 2023, or face more challenging conditions ahead.

Related Topics:inflation microsoft alibaba healthcare tech sector saudi aramco biggest companies rising interest rates nextera energy market valuations tesla apple china

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Markets

Visualizing the Rise of the U.S. Dollar Since the 19th Century

This animated graphic shows the U.S. dollar, the world’s primary reserve currency, as a share of foreign reserves since 1900.

Creator Program

Published

10 hours ago

December 4, 2023

Dorothy Neufeld

Visualizing the Rise and Fall) of the U.S. Dollar

Visualizing the Rise of the U.S. Dollar Since the 19th Century

As the world’s reserve currency, the U.S. dollar made up 58.4% of foreign reserves held by central banks in 2022, falling near 25-year lows.

Today, emerging countries are slowly decoupling from the greenback, with foreign reserves shifting to currencies like the Chinese yuan.

At the same time, the steep appreciation of the U.S. dollar is leading countries to sell their U.S. foreign reserves to help prop up their currencies, in turn buying currencies such as the Australian and Canadian dollars to help generate higher yields.

The above animated graphic from James Eagle shows the rapid ascent of the U.S. dollar over the last century, and its gradual decline in recent years.

Dollar Dominance: A Brief History

In 1944, the U.S. dollar became the world’s reserve currency under the Bretton Woods Agreement. Over the first half of the century, the U.S. ran budget surpluses while increasing trade and economic ties with war-torn countries, expanding its influence as the world’s store of value.

Later through the 1960s, the U.S. dollar share of global foreign reserves rapidly increased as political allies stockpiled the dollar.

By 2000, dollar dominance hit a peak of 71% of global reserves. With the creation of the European Union a year earlier, countries such as China began increasing the share of euros in reserves. Between 2000 and 2005, the share of the dollar in China’s foreign exchange reserves fell by an estimated 15 percentage points.

The dollar began a long rally after the global financial crisis, which drove central banks to cut their dollar reserves to help bolster their currencies.

Fast-forward to today, and dollar reserves have fallen roughly 13 percentage points from their historical peak.

The State of the World’s Reserve Currency

In 2022, 16% of Russia’s export transactions were in yuan, up from almost nothing before the war. Brazil and Argentina have also begun adopting the Chinese currency for trade or reserve purposes. Still, the U.S. dollar makes up 80% of Brazil’s reserves.

Yet while the U.S. dollar has decreased in share of foreign reserves, it still has an immense influence in the world economy.

The majority of trade is invoiced in the U.S. dollar globally, a trend that has stayed fairly consistent over many decades. Between 1999-2019, 74% of trade in Asia was invoiced in dollars and in the Americas, it made up 96% of all invoicing.

Furthermore, almost 90% of foreign exchange transactions involve the U.S. dollar thanks to its liquidity.

However, countries are increasingly finding alternative options than the dollar. Today, Western businesses have begun settling trade with China in renminbi. Looking further ahead, digital currencies could provide options that don’t include the U.S. dollar.

Even more so, if the U.S. share of global GDP continues to shrink, the shift to a multipolar system could progress over this century.