Today we are counting down the top 10 largest companies in the world by market cap in 2018.
The word of publicly traded companies is everything but boring. Prices of shares are going up and down every day, and even though some companies with a steady increase for years seem like a safe choice for your investment, you can never be sure. And, that makes it fun, right?
What about the top largest companies by their market capitalization over the years? Are they mainly the same, or?
According to PwC’s Global Top 100 Companies by Market Capitalisation 2018, 61 companies from 2009 Top 100 have made it to 2018 top 100. Meaning, more than half of the companies that were the biggest then, are the biggest now as well. But the order on that list can change in a short period. Before we move on to our list, which ranks the top largest companies by market cap today, let’s state the most interesting facts we got from the report.
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The collective market cap of all 100 companies has grown by 15% since last year, as the biggest of them all set the threshold to enter the top 100 to $97 billion for this year, compared to $88 billion in 2017. As for the countries that dominate the list, there haven’t been many changes, as the US is still the leader, with more than half US-located companies on the list, 54 to be precise. Among the largest companies by market cap 2017 there were 55 US-based companies, and in 2009 there were 42. Coming in second, again we have China with 12 companies, compared to 10 in 2017. China is slowly but steadily growing its businesses, and this list today is the perfect example of it.
When it comes to shareholders gain, a sum of $704 billion has been distributed by these 100 largest companies in the world by market cap in 2018. Naturally, with more than half US-based companies, they have accounted for more than a half of the distributed value, or more precisely for $476 billion. Expectedly, the Financial sector dominated in the return, bringing back $183 billion to shareholders, pursued by the Technology sector with $121 billion. Speaking of Financial sector don’t miss out list of 10 Biggest Investment Banks in the World.
Without further ado let’s check the top 10 largest companies in the world by market cap in 2018:
10. ICBC
Current Market Cap: $257B
Market Cap in March 2018: $336B
2017 Market Cap: $246B
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited is the largest bank in China and in the world by total assets, loan, deposits, number of employees and number of customers. It was founded back in 1984 as a limited company. It is the leading financial institution in the world, belonging to the group of China’s “Big Four” state-owned commercial banks. China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and the Bank of China are the other three.
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9. Bank of America (BAC)
Current Market Cap: $307B
Market Cap in March 2018: $307B
2017 Market Cap:$236B
Bank of America, our number nine among the top 10 largest companies in the world by market cap in 2018 is still from the Financial sector. It was formed back in 1998 through NationsBank’s acquisition of BankAmerica. It is US’ second biggest banking institution right after JPMorgan Chase & Co. Bank of America belongs to the US’ “Big Four”, the other three being Citigroup, Well Fargo, and mentioned JP Morgan Chase & Co.
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8. Tencent (TCEHY)
Current Market Cap: $393B
Market Cap in March 2018: $496B
2017 Market Cap: $272B
We are back to China, with its multinational investment holding conglomerate, Tencent. The company was founded back in 1998. It is mostly known by its subsidiaries that are engaged in various sectors such as entertainment, technology, artificial intelligence and internet-related services in China and around the world.
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7. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)
Current Market Cap: $395B
Market Cap in March 2018: $375B
2017 Market Cap: $314B
Another one from the US’ “Big Four”, JPMorgan Chase & Co is actually the biggest bank and financial services company in the world by market cap. That’s right no more banks further down our list. And, by assets, JPMorgan Chase &Co ranks first in the US and sixth in the world.
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6. Alibaba (BABA)
Current Market Cap: $415B
Market Cap in March 2018: $470B
2017 Market Cap: $269B
With our number six and Alibaba, we are again in China. This is a multinational conglomerate that covers various sectors such as e-commerce, internet, artificial intelligence, retail and technology in general. It was founded 19 years ago, and since then it has come a long way.
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5. Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRK-B)
Current Market Cap: $541B
Market Cap in March 2018: $492B
2017 Market Cap: $411B
This American holding giant has its quarters in Omaha, Nebraska. It is known for many big companies that it owns, such as BSNF Railway, Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom, and Geico to name a few. It also has important minority holdings in the big companies such as The Coca-Cola Company, American Express, Apple, Bank of America, etc. In recent years it has invested in the leading US airline carriers.
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4. Alphabet (GOOG)
Current Market Cap: $816B
Market Cap in March 2018: $719B
2017 Market Cap: $579B
The Internet giant, Alphabet, was formed through a corporate restructuring of Google three years ago. It is the parent company of Google and a few old Google subsidiaries. Industries that Alphabet covers include technology, investment capital, research and life science.
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3. Microsoft (MSFT)
Current Market Cap: $876B
Market Cap in March 2018: $703B
2017 Market Cap: $509B
Expectedly, among the top three is Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker by revenue. Its headquarters are in Redmond, Washington, and it was founded back in 1975. Their world known products include a line of Microsoft Windows operating systems, The Microsoft Office suite, and two web browsers – Edge and Internet Explorer.
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2. Amazon (AMZN)
Current Market Cap: $935B
Market Cap in March 2018: $701B
2017 Market Cap: $423B
Second among the top 10 largest companies in the world by market cap in 2018 is a highly popular electronic and cloud computing company. It is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and it was founded back in 1994. It is the biggest Internet retailer in the world by revenue and market cap. Amazon is the only company on our list that has more than doubled its market cap from the previous year.
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1. Apple (AAPL)
Current Market Cap: $1.062T
Market Cap in March 2018: $851B
2017 Market Cap: $754B
Once again, Apple is the biggest company in the world by market capitalization, currently hitting $1 trillion market cap (first time since its inception). Although Amazon is following close, Apple is still the only company with $1 trillion mark and the first publicly traded US company to reach that amount. This is an American multinational technology company with headquarters in Cupertino, California. It was founded back in 1976, and their number one world popular product is an iPhone smartphone.
That being said, these were the top 10 largest companies in the world by market cap in 2018.
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