Key and top performing companies in the world (global) by market value in 2019; The world’s leading companies; The 50 most profitable and best companies worldwide
Key and top performing companies in the world by market value 2019
Apple led the ranking of the world’s largest companies in 2018 with a market value of US$ 961.3 billion. Some of the most recognizable companies in the world, Amazon, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, and Facebook followed closely behind, rounding out the top five. Apple also led the way in 2018 as the world’s most profitable company (see list and chart below), with a net income of US$59.4.
Determining value
Market value and market capitalization are two terms frequently heard when discussing the profitability and viability of companies. Put simply, market capitalization, or market cap, is the worth of a company based on stock price; an important metric when determining value for potential trading opportunities.
Market value, however, is what a company is worth in a much broader context and can change greatly depending on the business cycle. It is determined by multiple factors, including stockholder equity, corporate debt, and the market environment as a whole.
The world’s top and leading companies
In fiscal year 2018, Apple’s global revenue stood at US$265.6 billion, but somewhat surprisingly, did not manage to crack the top ten of companies with the largest revenue. The American multinational retailer Walmart led the way as the largest company in the world when considering revenue and employment.
Rank | Company Name | Market Value, in US$ billion |
1 | Apple | 961.3 |
2 | Microsoft | 946.5 |
3 | Amazon.com | 916.1 |
4 | Alphabet | 863.2 |
5 | Berkshire Hathaway | 516.4 |
6 | 512 | |
7 | Alibaba | 480.8 |
8 | Tencent Holdings | 472.1 |
9 | JPMorgan Chase | 368.5 |
10 | Johnson & Johnson | 366.2 |
11 | Visa | 351.9 |
12 | ExxonMobil | 343.4 |
13 | ICBC | 305.1 |
14 | Walmart | 296.1 |
15 | Bank of America | 287.3 |
16 | Nestlé | 281.3 |
17 | Samsung Electronics | 272.4 |
18 | Procter & Gamble | 265.3 |
19 | Royal Dutch Shell | 264.9 |
20 | Intel | 263.1 |
21 | Cisco Systems | 248.3 |
22 | Mastercard | 247.1 |
23 | Verizon Communications | 239.7 |
24 | Walt Disney | 238.1 |
25 | AT&T | 233.3 |
26 | Chevron | 228.3 |
27 | Home Depot | 226.8 |
28 | China Construction Bank | 225 |
29 | Nike | 224.3 |
30 | Taiwan Semiconductor | 222.4 |
31 | Roche Holding | 222 |
32 | Ping An Insurance Group | 220.2 |
33 | Pfizer | 218.6 |
34 | Wells Fargo | 214.7 |
35 | Boeing | 214.5 |
36 | UnitedHealth Group | 212.8 |
37 | Coca-Cola | 203 |
38 | PetroChina | 198.7 |
39 | China Mobile | 197.6 |
40 | Agricultural Bank of China | 197 |
41 | Comcast | 192 |
42 | Merck & Co. | 189.1 |
43 | Oracle | 186.3 |
44 | PepsiCo | 178.2 |
45 | Kweichow Moutai | 177.1 |
46 | Toyota Motor | 176.6 |
47 | Novartis | 175.6 |
48 | HSBC Holdings | 175.5 |
49 | Citigroup | 161.1 |
50 | Netflix | 157.3 |
Rank | Company Name | Market Value, in US$ billion |
51 | Unilever | 153.6 |
52 | L’Oréal Group | 153 |
53 | BP | 149.5 |
54 | Total | 149.5 |
55 | McDonald’s | 148.8 |
56 | Bank of China | 143 |
57 | BHP Billiton | 138.3 |
58 | SAP | 134.9 |
59 | Adobe Systems | 132 |
60 | Philip Morris International | 131.5 |
61 | China Merchants Bank | 130.4 |
62 | Abbott Laboratories | 129.8 |
63 | Reliance Industries | 126.4 |
64 | Broadcom | 126.1 |
65 | 3M | 126.1 |
66 | PayPal | 125.8 |
67 | Union Pacific | 125.6 |
68 | IBM | 124.9 |
69 | Honeywell International | 123.1 |
70 | AIA Group | 122.2 |
71 | Salesforce.com | 120.9 |
72 | Eli Lilly | 119.3 |
73 | United Technologies | 118.1 |
74 | Novo Nordisk | 116.3 |
75 | Tata Consultancy Services | 116.1 |
76 | Royal Bank of Canada | 114.9 |
77 | AbbVie | 114.7 |
78 | China Life Insurance | 114.2 |
79 | Accenture | 113.9 |
80 | NVIDIA | 113.4 |
81 | Medtronic | 113 |
82 | Softbank | 112.4 |
83 | Naspers | 111.3 |
84 | Amgen | 109.3 |
85 | Texas Instruments | 108.4 |
86 | Costco Wholesale | 108.1 |
87 | Sinopec | 105.6 |
88 | AIRBUS | 104.9 |
89 | Thermo Fisher Scientific | 103.9 |
90 | TD Bank Group | 103.8 |
91 | Allianz | 102.3 |
92 | Sanofi | 102 |
93 | Altria Group | 101.8 |
94 | Rio Tinto | 100 |
95 | Saudi Basic Industries | 100 |
96 | AstraZeneca | 99.2 |
97 | United Parcel Service | 98.3 |
98 | Linde | 98.3 |
99 | Inditex | 98 |
100 | Anheuser-Busch InBev | 0.7 |
Sources: Statista
The 50 most profitable and best companies worldwide
In 2018, Saudi Aramco, the Saudi Arabian petroleum and natural gas company, was the most profitable company in the world by net income, with 110.97 billion U.S. dollars. Apple, the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Samsung Electronics, and China Construction Bank rounded out the top five spots in the ranking of most profitable companies.

What is net income?
Net income, or net profit, is the figure that gives the most complete overview of a company’s profitability: Net income accounts for all money that flows in and out of a company, and is calculated as the revenue of a company less all operating expenses, debt payments, interest paid, income from subsidiary holdings, taxes, etc. Different industries have different net profit margins, with corporations in the financial industry reporting about 380 billion U.S. dollars of profit in 2018.
The Apple doesn’t fall far
In terms of market value, Apple was the leading company in the world in 2018. Since the beginning of the new millennium, Apple has reported ever rising amounts of worldwide revenue, with iPhone sales leading the charge.
Company Name | Revenue; $ billion in 2018 |
Saudi Aramco | 110.97 |
Apple | 59.53 |
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China | 45 |
Samsung Electronics | 39.9 |
China Construction Bank | 38.5 |
JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 32.47 |
Alphabet | 30.74 |
Agricultural Bank of China | 30.66 |
Bank of America Corp. | 28.15 |
Bank of China | 27.23 |
Royal Dutch Shell | 23.35 |
Gazprom | 23.2 |
Wells Fargo | 22.39 |
22.11 | |
Intel | 21.05 |
Exxon Mobil | 20.84 |
AT&T | 19.37 |
Citigroup | 18.05 |
Toyota Motor | 16.98 |
China Development Bank | 16.74 |
Microsoft | 16.57 |
Ping An Insurance | 16.24 |
Fannie Mae | 15.96 |
Verizon | 15.53 |
Johnson & Johnson | 15.3 |
Chevron | 14.82 |
Volkswagen | 14.32 |
Micron Technology | 14.14 |
SK Hynix | 14.13 |
HSBC Holdings | 13.73 |
Rio Tinto Group | 13.64 |
Sberbank | 13.27 |
Alibaba Group Holding | 13.09 |
SoftBank Group | 12.73 |
Novartis | 12.61 |
Disney | 12.6 |
PepsiCo | 12.52 |
China Merchants Bank | 12.18 |
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing | 12.04 |
UnitedHealth Group | 11.99 |
Tencent Holdings | 11.9 |
Petronas | 11.87 |
China Mobile Communications | 11.75 |
Comcast | 11.73 |
Total | 11.45 |
Pfizer | 11.15 |
Bank of Communications | 11.13 |
Home Depot | 11.12 |
Unilever | 11.08 |
Roche Group | 10.74 |
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