In this article, we take a look at 25 companies that make the most money in the world. If you want to see more companies that make the most money in the world, go directly to 5 Companies That Make the Most Money in the World.
Company profits can change.
Some companies make a lot of money temporarily. Some companies could also face more competition that makes maintaining earnings harder.
Nevertheless, companies that make the most money in the world have a lot of financial resources to invest back into their operations. Given their financial resources, many of the world’s most profitable companies have huge businesses that hire a lot of people.
In terms of their industries, many of the world’s most profitable companies are technology companies. Some big technology companies have grown substantially over the past few decades thanks to the fast growth in internet usage as well as computer and smartphone adoption.
One example is Alphabet and search. Given Alphabet’s Google has dominated the search market to realize substantial margins and the global search market is huge, Alphabet has been very profitable as a result.
Given competition, however, Microsoft may be looking to use ChatGPT to improve its search offering. Alphabet isn’t standing still, however, and it’s working on its own AI offerings that could potentially help it against Microsoft’s offering.
Some of the world’s most profitable companies are also oil and gas companies. Oil and gas demand has rebounded from the pandemic. Given the Russia Ukraine war, supply from Russia has also decreased. Given the combination, oil and gas prices strengthened in 2022 and many oil and gas companies realized more profits than 2021 as a result.
Given bigger oil and gas companies have more economies of scale if done correctly, the oil and gas industry has favored consolidation historically and the industry is relatively concentrated at the top with state dominated oil companies and several major oil companies with substantial scale.
Some of the world’s most profitable companies are also banks. Considering larger banks can also have more economies of scale, governments like China have created huge state owned banks that have massive assets to gain more efficiency. Given those banks have huge businesses, they have substantial earnings power if done correctly. In years where the economy doesn’t weaken and their bad loans increase substantially, some of those banks can rank among the world’s most profitable.
In terms of the world’s most profitable companies, many are American given the United States has the world’s largest economy and also the most innovative. Considering it has the world’s largest economy, many American companies have huge markets that they can gain significant scale. With their scale, American companies can potentially generate higher margins than similar companies with less scale.
Like 2022, many economists think 2023 could be a economically volatile year. Considering the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates even further, many economists think there could be a recession this year. If there is a recession this year, the profits of many of the companies on our list might not be as strong in 2023.
Methodology
For our list of 25 Companies That Make the Most Money in the World, we used Statista.com’s Leading companies in the world in 2022, by net income list.
Statista.com’s time period for its list is from ‘Q4 2021 to Q3 2022’. As a result, it does not include Q4 2022.
We did not check Statista.com’s net income calculations but for some companies like Pampa Energia, Statista.com’s net income data is incorrect. This list just gives a relative idea on which companies make the most money in the world with occasional exceptions. Readers should check the data from the companies themselves for further analysis.
25 Companies That Make the Most Money in the World
25. Tencent
Net Income According to Statista.com: $31.54 billion
Tencent is China’s social media leader given its super app, WeChat, has almost 1.3 billion monthly active users with the majority in China. In addition to social media, Tencent is a leading maker of online games, which could help the company one day compete in the metaverse. According to Statista.com, Tencent earned $31.54 billion in its last four quarters from Q3 2022. Given headwinds, however, the company’s sales decreased 2% year over year in Q3 2022 and Tencent will need to continue to innovate given competition from ByteDance.
24. BHP Group (NYSE:BHP)
Net Income According to Statista.com: $33.63 billion
BHP Group (NYSE:BHP) is a leading Australian mining company that’s also the largest company by revenue in Australia. For those of you interested, check out 15 Largest Australian Companies by Revenue.
23. PetroChina
Net Income According to Statista.com: $33.64 billion
PetroChina is one of China’s largest oil and gas companies with substantial scale. Given higher oil and gas prices in 2022, PetroChina earned over $33 billion in the trailing four quarters from Q3 2022 according to Statista.com. Considering its net income, PetroChina ranks #23 on our list of 25 Companies That Make the Most Money in the World.
22. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM)
Net Income According to Statista.com: $33.81 billion
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (NYSE:TSM) is a leading maker of advanced semiconductor chips that is used in many of today’s most advanced industries. According to Statista.com, the company earned $33.81 billion in the four quarters from Q3 2022.
21. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)
Net Income According to Statista.com: $34.92 billion
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) is a leading maker of various biopharmaceutical products that the company sells across developed and emerging markets. The company’s products include a Covid 19 vaccine developed with BioNTech, Comirnaty which could generate $33.7 billion in sales for 2022. The company has also developed an antivirial pill, Paxlovid, that’s also high in demand.
20. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Net Income According to Statista.com: $35.13 billion
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is a social media giant given its popular apps such as Facebook and Instagram. With its substantial spending on the metaverse in the last few years and the company’s metaverse products not doing all that well, however, Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)’s stock has underperformed the market. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) nevertheless is still very profitable with earnings over $35 billion in the four quarters from Q3 2022 according to Statista.com.
19. Gazprom
Net Income According to Statista.com: $38.74 billion
Gazprom is a leading state owned Russian oil and gas company. Given Russia produces a lot of oil and gas each year, Gazprom has considerable profits and sales.
18. Maersk
Maersk is a leading integrated logistics company. Statista.com says the company made $42.67 billion in the four quarters from Q3 2022 although we couldn’t confirm that even though we don’t check the calculations. Nevertheless, Maersk has been a very profitable company. For FY2021 it had a net profit after tax of $18 billion.
17. Bank of China
Net Income According to Statista.com: $43.09 billion
Bank of China is one of China’s big four state owned banks. Given China has the second largest economy in the world, it has substantial scale and earnings power.
16. Samsung Electronics
Net Income According to Statista.com: $43.91 billion
Samsung Electronics is one of South Korea’s tech giants that’s also among the most profitable companies in the world. The company is one of the leaders in the premium smartphone market along with Apple.
15. Agricultural Bank of China
Net Income According to Statista.com: $45.19 billion
Agricultural Bank of China is another giant state owned Chinese bank with hundreds of millions of customers and substantial earnings power.
14. TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE)
Net Income According to Statista.com: $45.46 billion
TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) is a leading European energy company that has benefited from the rise in oil and gas prices in 2022. Given its net income, TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) ranks #14 on our list of 25 Companies That Make the Most Money in the World.
13. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)
Net Income According to Statista.com: $45.58 billion
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is one of America’s leading banks. Considering its scale, market share, and competitive advantages, the bank has substantial earnings power.
12. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX)
Net Income According to Statista.com: $47.39 billion
Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) is an oil and gas super major that has benefited from the increases in oil and gas prices in 2022. Given its scale, the company ranks among the world’s most profitable.
11. Pampa Energia
Net Income: Statista.com says $52.78 billion but that doesn’t make sense given market capitalization of under $4 billion
Pampa Energia is a leading energy company in Argentina. Statista.com says the company made $52.78 billion but we couldn’t confirm that number. Although we don’t check Statista.com’s calculations, Pampa Energia has a market capitalization of under $4 billion.
10. Petrobras
Net Income: Statista.com says $53.48 billion but the company has a market capitalization of $70.12 billion
Petrobras is a state owned oil and gas company in Brazil that has substantial offshore oil potential. Statista.com says the company made $53.48 billion but we couldn’t confirm that number even though we don’t check the calculations.
9. China Construction Bank
Net Income According to Statista.com: $57.15 billion
China Construction Bank is one of China’s big four state owned banks. Given the size of China’s economy, China Construction Bank has substantial earnings power.
8. Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)
Net Income According to Statista.com: $64.64 billion
Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) is the UK’s largest company by revenue. Given higher oil and gas prices, Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL)’s profits have also been higher.
7. ICBC
Net Income According to Statista.com: $65.01 billion
ICBC, or Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, is another Chinese state owned bank that has substantial earnings power given its scale. ICBC ranks #7 on our list of 25 Companies That Make the Most Money in the World.
6. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM)
Net Income According to Statista.com: $70.64 billion
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) is one of the largest oil and gas producers in the world that has benefited from higher energy prices in 2022.
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Disclosure: None. 25 Companies That Make the Most Money in the World is originally published on Insider Monkey.
