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.

As of April 10, 2025, tech giants Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet (Google), and Amazon dominated the S&P 500 index and were among only eight companies with a market capitalization exceeding one trillion U.S. dollars in the U.S.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the largest stock exchange in the world, with an equity market capitalization of almost 36 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.

Graph and download economic data for Market Capitalization Outside of Top 10 Largest Companies to Total Market Capitalization for India (DDAM02INA156NWDB) from 2001 to 2018 about market cap, companies, India, and stock market.

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 Greece (DDAM02GRA156NWDB) from 1998 to 2020 about Greece, market cap, companies, and stock market.

Graph and download economic data for Market Capitalization Outside of Top 10 Largest Companies to Total Market Capitalization for Slovenia (DDAM02SIA156NWDB) from 1998 to 2014 about Slovenia, market cap, companies, and stock market.

As of January 2025, Amazon's market capitalization surpassed 2.4 trillion U.S. dollars, making it the most valuable internet company by market capitalization worldwide. Second-ranked Alphabet had a market capitalization of approximately 2.2 trillion U.S. dollars. Social networking company Meta Platforms (née Facebook Inc.) ranked third. Facebook is the leading social network worldwide and has successfully taken advantage of the increasingly mobile online environment. Amazon's position in the market Amazon is one of the biggest internet companies worldwide by revenue. It generates profit from its position as the world's largest online retailer. In 2023, the company's net sales revenue amounted to 574.78 billion U.S. dollars. The e-commerce giant's net revenue, generated through online stores, was 231.87 billion U.S. dollars. Google and its most profitable services Google, with the parent company Alphabet inc, generates its revenue mainly from advertising. The company uses its advertisement services, such as Google AdWords – which takes advantage of Google searches and appears as small advertisements next to search results – and Google AdSense, which generates advertisements based on a user's search history and location, among others. Advertisements based on AdSense appear across Google-owned sites, including YouTube and Google Finance. The online company also profits from the development of Android OS, licensing, and mobile apps. In 2024, Google’s total revenue amounted to 348.16 billion U.S. dollars.

As of February 2022, Finland based UPM Kymmene had a market capitalization of 19.07 billion U.S. dollars. This was the largest market cap of the leading forestry and paper companies worldwide. U.S. based International Paper had the second highest market cap, at 12.75 billion U.S. dollars.

The average for 2020 based on 28 countries was 47.89 percent. The highest value was in Japan: 82.65 percent and the lowest value was in Zambia: 5 percent. The indicator is available from 1998 to 2020. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Microsoft market cap as of May 27, 2025 is $2.734T. Microsoft market cap history and chart from 2010 to 2025. Market capitalization (or market value) is the most commonly used method of measuring the size of a publicly traded company and is calculated by multiplying the current stock price by the number of shares outstanding.

Croda International had the highest market capitalization in the UK chemicals sector as of February 4th 2025, amounting to 4.5 billion British pounds. Johnson Matthey was ranked second, with a market cap of 2.37 billion British pounds at that time.

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.

As of September 11, 2024, the largest company in Singapore is the DBS Group, with a market capitalization of 81.33 billion Singapore dollars. The largest three companies in Singapore by market capitalization were two of its largest banks, followed by consumer internet company Sea Limited. DBS, OCBC, and UOB - stalwarts of Singapore’s financial sector Singapore’s three largest banking groups – DBS Group, OCBC, and UOB, are seen as stable stock market investments. They routinely make up the top three leading companies by market capitalization and rank consistently among the most valuable brands in Singapore. Despite the global economic turmoil, these three banks were forecast to turn profits in 2023, being among the biggest beneficiaries of rising interest rates in the Asia-Pacific region. Singapore is a leading financial hub in the Asia-Pacific region, and its financial sector makes up the third-largest sector of its economy. Sea Limited and Grab - volatility of tech companies in the stock market Among the largest companies in Singapore are two of its biggest tech companies, Sea Limited and Grab Holdings. Sea Limited operates the e-commerce marketplace Shopee and online gaming company Garena, while Grab Holdings is a super-app that provides ride-hailing, food delivery, and digital payment services. Despite the popularity of their services, both companies have faced a turbulent year, with Grab Holdings seeing their share prices drop during the first day of trading. Once valued more than DBS, OCBC, and UOB combined, Sea Limited saw its valuation drop in 2022 amidst net losses of around two billion U.S. dollars in 2021.

The value of global domestic equity market increased from 65.04 trillion U.S. dollars in 2013 to 124.63 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. The United States was by far the leading country with the largest share of total world stocks as of 2024. Global market capitalization in different regions The market capitalization of domestic companies listed varied across different regions of the world. As of Decmber 2024, the Americas region had the largest domestic equity market, totaling 62 trillion U.S. dollars. This region is home to the NYSE and Nasdaq, which are the two largest stock exchange operators in the world. The market capitalization of these two exchanges alone exceeded 60 billion U.S. dollars as of January 2025, larger than the total market capitalization in the Asia-Pacific, and in the EMEA regions in the same period. Largest Stock Exchanges in Latin America As of December 2024, the B3 (Brasil Bolsa Balcao) was the biggest stock exchange in Latin America in terms of market capitalization and the second-largest in terms of number of listed companies. Following the B3 were the Mexican Stock Exchange and the Santiago Stock Exchange in Chile. The most valuable company in Latin America is listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange: Fomento Económico Mexicano, a multinational beverage and retail company headquartered in Monterrey, had market cap of 177 billion U.S. dollars as of March 2025.

Graph and download economic data for Market Capitalization Outside of Top 10 Largest Companies to Total Market Capitalization for Austria (DDAM02ATA156NWDB) from 1998 to 2014 about Austria, market cap, companies, and stock market.

Banco Santander was the largest bank in Spain as of March 2025 based on market capitalization. The bank had a market cap of over 93 billion euros. It was followed by BBVA, with a market cap of 72.3 billion euros. CaixaBank ranked third, with a market cap of close to 51.5 billion euros. Sabadell, Bankinter, and Unicaja followed in the ranking from a distance.

In 2024, Netflix was the second-largest media company ranked by market capitalization - at 290.8 billion U.S. dollars. At the same time, Apple outperformed the top media companies by a large margin, with a market cap of over 3.2 trillion U.S. dollars that year. Disney closed the top three with 181 billion U.S. dollars in market capitalization.

This statistic presents a ranking of the market capitalization of selected U.S. tech and internet companies in 2006, and from 2014 to 2020. Apple's market cap soared from 461.41 billion U.S. dollars in 2014 to 1.53 trillion dollars in 2020. Apple's market cap pushed the company ahead of last year's leader Microsoft.

Public offerings of tech and internet companies

A public offering is the offering of securities of a company or a similar corporation to the public. Generally, the securities are to be listed on a stock exchange. The initial public offering (IPO) of a company occurs when a company offers its shares for the first time for public ownership and trading.

Hardware companies such as Apple or IBM have been traded publicly for a while but younger, online-based companies such as Google or most notably Facebook and most recently, Snap Inc. have been generating a lot of buzz surrounding their IPOs and subsequent stock prices. Facebook’s initial public offering was intensely hyped over months with projections of a 100 billion US dollar valuation but it dwindled down to a range of 60 to 75 billion US dollars prior to the listing.

Other tech stock performances have been more stable – both online retailer Amazon and search and digital advertising giant Google’s - now Alphabet's - shares have been on a more upwards trend. The most impressive development however came from Apple which totally changed its stock performance after the 2008 introduction of the iPhone. Since then, the company has been catapulted to the top of the smartphone market, multiplying its market capitalization as well as regularly being ranked as one of the most valuable brands worldwide.

A list of the top 20 companies on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), ranked by market capitalization.