According to Forbes Asia's 200 Best Under a Billion 2019 list, the market value of the Chinese firm Zhejiang Dingli Machinery reached approximately 2.28 billion U.S. dollars in 2018. The company primarily engages in R&D, manufacturing, and sales of areal work platforms.

With a market capitalization of 3.12 trillion U.S. dollars as of May 2024, Microsoft was the world’s largest company that year. Rounding out the top five were some of the world’s most recognizable brands: Apple, NVIDIA, Google’s parent company Alphabet, and Amazon. Saudi Aramco led the ranking of the world's most profitable companies in 2023, with a pre-tax income of nearly 250 billion U.S. dollars. How are market value and market capitalization determined? Market value and market capitalization are two terms frequently used – and confused - when discussing the profitability and viability of companies. Strictly speaking, market capitalization (or market cap) is the worth of a company based on the total value of all their shares; an important metric when determining the comparative value of companies for trading opportunities. Accordingly, many stock exchanges such as the New York or London Stock Exchange release market capitalization data on their listed companies. On the other hand, market value technically refers to what a company is worth in a much broader context. It is determined by multiple factors, including profitability, corporate debt, and the market environment as a whole. In this sense it aims to estimate the overall value of a company, with share price only being one element. Market value is therefore useful for determining whether a company’s shares are over- or undervalued, and in arriving at a price if the company is to be sold. Such valuations are generally made on a case-by-case basis though, and not regularly reported. For this reason, market capitalization is often reported as market value. What are the top companies in the world? The answer to this question depends on the metric used. Although the largest company by market capitalization, Microsoft's global revenue did not manage to crack the top 20 companies. Rather, American multinational retailer Walmart was ranked as the largest company in the world by revenue. Walmart also had the highest number of employees in the world.

In 2022, Giovanni Ferrero, Executive Chairman of the Italian confectionary company Ferrero S.p.A., ranked first in the yearly ranking of Italian billionaires, published by the American business magazine Forbes. With a total net worth estimated at 34.1 billion U.S. dollars, Giovanni Ferrero ranked ahead another Italian entrepreneur - Giorgio Armani, the founder of luxury company, Armani, whose fortune amounted to 6.6 billion U.S. dollars.

A giant in the food industry

The name Ferrero is known worldwide for an enormous amount of branded chocolate and confectionery products. The company was founded in 1946 by Pietro Ferrero, father of Giovanni Ferrero. Ferrero S.p.A. has its headquarters in Piedmont, in the North of Italy, but their products have a strong presence all over the world. The estimated global market share of Ferrero is around 9.5 percent, fourth only to Mars, Mondalez International, and Nestlé.

Italian entrepreneur among the richest persons in the world

When compared to the global ranking of billionaires, the Italian businessman ranked 39th. In fact, Italy ranks among the countries with the largest number of billionaires in the world. In 2021, the title of the richest man on the planet went to Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon. The net worth of this Albuquerque-born entrepreneur was 189 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. The second place was achieved by one of the most visionary businessmen, Elon Musk, whose fortune was estimated at 182 billion U.S. dollars in 2021.

When looking at the leading hospitality and recreation chains by market value, as ranked by Forbes in its 2024 "Global 2000" list of the largest companies worldwide, McDonald's came out on top. The fast food chain accounted for a market value of roughly 196 billion U.S. dollars that year. Meanwhile, Chipotle Mexican Grill ranked second with a market value of 88.26 billion U.S. dollars.

As of June 2024, Elon Musk was estimated as the wealthiest person in the United States with a net worth of around 195 billion dollars. Richest people in the United States - additional information Every year since 1982, the American business magazine Forbes has been compiling lists of the 400 richest people in the United States, known as the “Forbes 400.” In addition to that, since 1987, the publication has also been compiling a ranking of the 500 richest people in the world (excluding royalty and dictators), as well as more specialized tops, such as “World's Most Powerful Women,” “America's Richest Families,” “Most Valuable Brands” or “30 Under 30,” which focuses on young entrepreneurs from various fields which have gained millions in the past year by the use of social media, technical innovations and generally new and fresh approaches to business.

In 2025, according to the source's ranking, Apple was the most valuable brand in the world. The technology giant had an estimated brand value of about 574.5 billion U.S. dollars, followed by Microsoft that was worth 461.1 billion dollars. The global dominance of technology companies   A closer look at the 2024 brand ranking reveals that U.S. tech brands once again dominated the top-10 list. As a case in point, the business technology and services platforms industry was the highest-valued sector worldwide among the 100 most valuable brands in 2023. Meanwhile, consumer technology and services platforms ranked second on the list. The importance of brand value Brand value, not to be mistaken with brand equity, is a term used in the marketing industry to describe the value of brands. The term is based on the implication that products with a well-known brand name can generate more money than those with a less well-known name. Strong brands enhance business performance primarily through their influence on three key stakeholder groups: customers, employees, and investors. They influence customer choice and create loyalty; attract, retain, and motivate talent; and lower the cost of financing for the companies.

Shell had the highest annual revenue of all companies based in the United Kingdom in 2024, at approximately 289.7 billion U.S. dollars. BP had the second-highest annual revenue at 202.8 billion dollars, followed by HSBC Holdings, which had a revenue of 144.9 billion U.S. dollars. In terms of global employee numbers, however, Compass Group had the highest number among UK-based businesses, at approximately half a million in 2024, followed by Tesco at 345,000 and HSBC at almost 214,000. Big Oil, a banking giant, and Britain's top supermarket chain The two companies listed as having the most revenue in the UK this year also two of the biggest oil and gas companies in the world, alongside Chevron, Eni, ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies. After a huge surge in energy prices in 2022, these companies saw their profits recede slightly in 2023, but clearly remain in strong financial positions. HSBC Holdings, meanwhile, was the largest bank in Europe in terms of market capitalization, and was estimated to have the third-highest number of UK-based customers in 2023. The company with the fourth-highest revenue in this year, Tesco has by some distance the largest grocery-market share in Great Britain, a position it has maintained despite growing competition from discounters like Lidl and Aldi. UK economy health check In the first two quarters of 2024, the UK economy grew by 0.7 percent, and 0.6 percent, emerging from a brief recession at the end of 2023. Consumer Price inflation, which reached a peak of 11.1 percent in October 2022, fell below two percent in September 2024, for the first time since April 2021, potentially leading to further interest rate cuts. Despite these generally positive signs, business confidence in the UK in September 2024 was lower than at any point since early 2021. Company insolvencies in England and Wales have also reached levels not seen since the global financial crisis in the late 2000s. This generally mixed picture will be influenced by the next government budget set for the end of October 2024, which may see certain taxes increase due to the UK's tricky fiscal situation.

Compass Group had by far the highest number of global employees among companies based in the United Kingdom as of 2024, at approximately 500,000 employees. Tesco had the second-highest number of employees at 345,000, followed by HSBC Holdings which had 213,978 employees. As of the same year, HSBC Holdings had an annual revenue of 144.9 billion U.S. dollars, the third-highest among UK-based companies. The oil and gas giant Shell had the highest annual revenue at 289.7 billion dollars, ahead of BP at 202.8 billion dollars. How many businesses are there in the UK? In 2024, there were approximately 5.5 million business enterprises in the UK, down from a peak of 5.98 million in 2020. Although there were just 1,930 large firms that employed 1,000 people or more, these firms employed more than a quarter of the UK's private sector workforce, and made a combined turnover of approximately 1.69 trillion British pounds. As of this year, the construction industry had the highest number of enterprises by sector, at over 870,000. The sector with the most workers was that of wholesale and retail, which collectively employed just under 4.9 million people in 2024, and also had the highest turnover compared to other sectors, at over 1.8 trillion pounds. Current UK economic climate In some ways, the UK economy is in a reasonably good position in 2024. There was moderate economic growth in the first half of the year, inflation has returned to more usual levels, and unemployment has remained low. According to the business confidence index, however, the current sentiment among businesses in September 2024 was lower than it has been since early 2021. Furthermore, the number of company insolvencies in England and Wales has steadily been increasing, with 25,000 taking place in 2023, and 22,000 in 2022, compared with just 14,000 in 2021. When SME leaders were asked in 2023, what the main obstacles to running their business were, 36 percent said increasing costs. The precarious state of the UK's government finances, and potential tax rises in the next budget, are also likely feeding into this pessimistic mood.