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 1989, the Industrial Bank of Japan had a market capitalization of approximately 104.29 billion U.S dollars, making it the largest company in the world at the time. Six of the ten largest companies worldwide in 1989 were based in Japan while the remaining four were American, highlighting the economic dominance of these two countries in the late 1980s.

Graph and download economic data for Market Capitalization Outside of Top 10 Largest Companies to Total Market Capitalization for Peru (DDAM02PEA156NWDB) from 1998 to 2020 about Peru, market cap, companies, and stock market.

In 2009, Ecxxon Mobil Corp had a market capitalization of approximately 327.71 billion U.S dollars, making it the largest company in the world at the time. Five of the ten largest companies worldwide in 2009 were based in the United States, with three from Europe and two from China.

Graph and download economic data for Market Capitalization Outside of Top 10 Largest Companies to Total Market Capitalization for Brazil (DDAM02BRA156NWDB) from 1998 to 2019 about market cap, Brazil, companies, and stock market.

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Graph and download economic data for Market Capitalization Outside of Top 10 Largest Companies to Total Market Capitalization for New Zealand (DDAM02NZA156NWDB) from 1998 to 2020 about New Zealand, market cap, companies, and stock market.

Market capitalization, commonly called market cap, is the market value of a publicly traded company's outstanding shares. Market capitalization is equal to the share price multiplied by the number of shares outstanding. Wikipedia

******* was the leading company in Spain by market capitalization as of October 10, 2024. Their market cap amounted to approximately ****** billion U.S. dollars at that time. ******* was founded in 1985 and emerged as one of the biggest textile companies in the world. On the other hand, Iberdrola was the second largest company by market cap in the country, reaching ***** billion U.S. dollars.

Analysis of ‘6,000 Largest Companies Ranked by Market Cap’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://www.kaggle.com/prasertk/6000-largest-companies-ranked-by-market-cap on 13 February 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

Context

Largest Companies by Market Cap.

Acknowledgements

Data source: https://companiesmarketcap.com/ Cover image credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/high-rise-buildings-443383/

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the largest stock exchange in the world, with an equity market capitalization of almost ** trillion U.S. dollars as of June 2025. The following three exchanges were the NASDAQ, PINK Exchange, and the Frankfurt Exchange. What is a stock exchange? A stock exchange is a marketplace where stockbrokers, traders, buyers, and sellers can trade in equities products. The largest exchanges have thousands of listed companies. These companies sell shares of their business, giving the general public the opportunity to invest in them. The oldest stock exchange worldwide is the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, founded in the late sixteenth century. Other functions of a stock exchange Since these are publicly traded companies, every firm listed on a stock exchange has had an initial public offering (IPO). The largest IPOs can raise billions of dollars in equity for the firm involved. Related to stock exchanges are derivatives exchanges, where stock options, futures contracts, and other derivatives can be traded.

United States US: Market Capitalization: Listed Domestic Companies data was reported at 32,120.703 USD bn in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 27,352.201 USD bn for 2016. United States US: Market Capitalization: Listed Domestic Companies data is updated yearly, averaging 11,322.354 USD bn from Dec 1980 (Median) to 2017, with 38 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 32,120.703 USD bn in 2017 and a record low of 1,263.561 USD bn in 1981. United States US: Market Capitalization: Listed Domestic Companies data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Financial Sector. Market capitalization (also known as market value) is the share price times the number of shares outstanding (including their several classes) for listed domestic companies. Investment funds, unit trusts, and companies whose only business goal is to hold shares of other listed companies are excluded. Data are end of year values converted to U.S. dollars using corresponding year-end foreign exchange rates.; ; World Federation of Exchanges database.; Sum; Stock market data were previously sourced from Standard & Poor's until they discontinued their 'Global Stock Markets Factbook' and database in April 2013. Time series have been replaced in December 2015 with data from the World Federation of Exchanges and may differ from the previous S&P definitions and methodology.

The market capitalization of companies in the United States was almost nine times than that of China in 2024, making up a large share of the world's total market capitalization. Listed companies in the U.S. had a total market capitalization of over 61 trillion U.S. dollars - against seven trillion U.S. dollars recorded by second-placed China in 2024. Japan ranked third with a total market capitalization of just over 4.7 trillion U.S. dollars.

In 2024, Netflix was the second-largest media company ranked by market capitalization - at ***** billion U.S. dollars. At the same time, Apple outperformed the top media companies by a large margin, with a market cap of over *** trillion U.S. dollars that year. Disney closed the top three with *** billion U.S. dollars in market capitalization.

Key information about United States Market Capitalization: % of GDP

• United States Market Capitalization accounted for 155.0 % of its Nominal GDP in Dec 2022, compared with a percentage of 205.0 % in the previous year
• US Market Capitalization: % Nominal GDP is updated yearly, available from Dec 1975 to Dec 2022
• The data reached an all-time high of 205.0 % in Dec 2021 and a record low of 36.7 % in Dec 1978

Bermuda BM: Market Capitalization: Listed Domestic Companies data was reported at 207.000 USD mn in 2022. This records a decrease from the previous number of 245.000 USD mn for 2021. Bermuda BM: Market Capitalization: Listed Domestic Companies data is updated yearly, averaging 1.912 USD bn from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2022, with 23 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2.965 USD bn in 2019 and a record low of 207.000 USD mn in 2022. Bermuda BM: Market Capitalization: Listed Domestic Companies data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Bermuda – Table BM.World Bank.WDI: Financial Sector. Market capitalization (also known as market value) is the share price times the number of shares outstanding (including their several classes) for listed domestic companies. Investment funds, unit trusts, and companies whose only business goal is to hold shares of other listed companies are excluded. Data are end of year values converted to U.S. dollars using corresponding year-end foreign exchange rates.;World Federation of Exchanges database.;Sum;Stock market data were previously sourced from Standard & Poor's until they discontinued their 'Global Stock Markets Factbook' and database in April 2013. Time series have been replaced in December 2015 with data from the World Federation of Exchanges and may differ from the previous S&P definitions and methodology.