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.

A league table of the 120 cryptocurrencies with the highest market cap reveals how diverse each crypto is and potentially how much risk is involved when investing in one. Bitcoin (BTC), for instance, had a so-called "high cap" - a market cap worth more than 10 billion U.S. dollars - indicating this crypto project has a certain track record or, at the very least, is considered a major player in the cryptocurrency space. This is different in Decentralize Finance (DeFi), where Bitcoin is only a relatively new player. A concentrated market The number of existing cryptocurrencies is several thousands, even if most have a limited significance. Indeed, Bitcoin and Ethereum account for nearly 75 percent of the entire crypto market capitalization. As crypto is relatively easy to create, the range of projects varies significantly - from improving payments to solving real-world issues, but also meme coins and more speculative investments. Crypto is not considered a payment method While often talked about as an investment vehicle, cryptocurrencies have not yet established a clear use case in day-to-day life. Central bankers found that usefulness of crypto in domestic payments or remittances to be negligible. A forecast for the world's main online payment methods took a similar stance: It predicts that cryptocurrency would only take up 0.2 percent of total transaction value by 2027.

A list containing 213 different stablecoins reveals that only two of them had a market cap of over 10 billion USD in 2025. The likes of Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) are tied (pegged) to a "real-world" asset - in their case, the USD - whereas a coin like DAI is connected to the development of other cryptocurrencies. Algorithmic stablecoins have nearly no backing, but use an algorithm that creates more of a particular (crypto) asset within the same blockchain. Stablecoins as a group hit the news frequently in 2022, although only a few featured in a ranking of top 120 cryptocurrencies based on market cap. They are meant to be less volatile than, say, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), or Shiba INU (SHIB), or other virtual currencies susceptible to significant price swings. The price of the most well-known stablecoin, Tether (USDT), however, consistently hovers around a single USD as is tied (pegged) to the “real-world” U.S. dollar. As stablecoins are connected to physical currencies, they are not the same as Central Bank-Issued Digital Currencies or CBDC like the digital euro or China's e-CNY - which outright digitalize those same currencies.

As of December 31, 2024, the largest bank in the world in terms of market capitalization was the U.S.-based JPMorgan Chase. The American banking giant's market cap exceeded 678 billion U.S. dollars, which was significantly higher than Bank of America's, which ranked second with a market cap of approximately 340.21 billion U.S. dollars. JPMorgan Chase was also the largest bank in the United States in terms of total assets but ranked only fifth globally, behind four Chinese banks. What is market capitalization? Market capitalization, also known as stock market value, is the total value of issued shares of a publicly traded company. It is equal to the share price multiplied by the number of shares outstanding. It applies only to publicly traded companies or companies that have made their stock market debut, also known as an initial public offering, or IPO. Due to the nature of the capitalist system and the practice of buying and selling stocks in public markets, market capitalization can be used as a proxy for the wider public’s opinion of a company’s net worth, making it therefore a determining factor in calculating other theoretical values of companies and their stocks, for example, stock valuation. How were banks affected by the coronavirus outbreak? The outbreak of the coronavirus left no industries unaffected and had a significant impact on the global financial markets. This can be seen in the banking industry, as the market capitalization of the largest banks worldwide dropped markedly between December 2019 and March 2020. For the largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, it was not until February 2021 that the market capitalization saw pre-pandemic figures again.

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.

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.

Fintech companies headquartered in the United States and China lead the ranking of the largest fintech companies worldwide by market capitalization. As of February 2025, the two largest companies were the payment companies Visa and Mastercard, both headquartered in the United States, with a market capitalization of roughly 696.6 and 521.8 billion U.S. dollars, respectively. Shopify ranked third, and Intuit ranked fourth with a market capitalization of 163 billion U.S. dollars. European-headquartered fintechs, such as Adyen and Checkout.com, were also among the top fintech companies by market capitalization. United States: the land of unicorns The fintech sector is famous for being filled with successful companies that have turned into unicorns. The term unicorn refers to a privately held startup company that has a valuation that exceeds one billion U.S. dollars. The United States had not only the largest fintech companies, but also the highest number of fintech unicorns. In addition, eight out of the ten most valuable fintech unicorns were headquartered in the United States. Mobile payment trends and market penetration Mobile payment solutions are gaining traction globally, with some services showing strong regional preferences. Venmo, a U.S.-based digital wallet owned by PayPal, demonstrated an eight percent year-on-year growth in total payment volume, reaching 69 billion U.S. dollars in the first quarter of 2024. While Venmo's market share is highest in the United States, it has also gained significant traction in Latin America, with nearly four percent of Venezuelan merchants integrating Venmo into their websites. This trend highlights the growing importance of mobile payment solutions in both developed and emerging markets.

As of January 14, 2025, the market capitalization of JPMorgan Chase amounted to 688.68 billion U.S. dollars, making it the largest bank in the United States. By this measure, the second-largest bank was Bank of America, followed by Wells Fargo. JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America were also the two largest banks in the world by market capitalization. What is market capitalization? Market capitalization, or stock market value, is the total value of shares issued by a publicly traded company. It reflects the equity value of a company. Market cap is calculated by multiplying the market price of one share by the number of shares outstanding. For example, the market cap of Bank of America can be calculated by multiplying its share price by the number of shares it has issued. Other measures of company size Total assets also allow to determine the size of a bank. Instead of focusing on the stock price, this metric measures the size of the bank’s operations by counting the size of its balance sheet. Bank revenue and income are also common indicators used to compare banks and their performance.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the largest stock exchange in the world, with an equity market capitalization of just below 32 trillion U.S. dollars as of January 2025. The following three exchanges were the NASDAQ, Shanghai Stock Exchange, and the Japan Exchange Group. 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.

As of October 2024, Alphabet was the biggest internet company worldwide with a market cap of over two trillion U.S. dollars Second-ranked Amazon had a market capitalization of 1.97 trillion U.S. dollars. The end of the 1990s in the United States saw the rise of a great number of internet companies, also called online companies or a variety of the name “dot com,” where the “.com” domain is derived from the word commercial. At the time, such startups were merely riding the wave of early internet business, but had little capital and perhaps one good idea. Few companies have survived the burst of the dot com bubble and even fewer have managed to become internationally successful. A few notable exceptions are American companies such as Google (founded in 1998), Amazon (founded in 1994) or eBay Inc. (founded in 1995), and the Chinese online giant Alibaba (founded in 1998), which have come to be some of the largest internet companies in the world. Topping the ranking of largest internet companies worldwide is currently Alphabet, the parent company of Google, with a market capitalization of 2 trillion U.S. dollars as of October 2024. Having started as a PhD project at Stanford University, the Google project slowly gained traction and is now the number one search engine in the world, with a market share of 86 percent on the search engine market. Due to a number of high profile acquisitions, Google has expanded its portfolio beyond search, to include the video content sharing site YouTube, the digital app platform Google Play Store, the webmail service Gmail and the web browser Google Chrome, to only name a few. As of May 2024, it is also the most visited multi-platform website in the United States, with almost 274 million U.S. unique visitors during that month alone. In October 2015, Google reorganized itself into a newly created parent company, the multinational conglomerate Alphabet Inc. The biggest internet companies in terms of their workforce are currently Amazon, Alphabet and Meta.

It is estimated that the cumulative market cap of cryptocurrencies increased in early 2023 after the downfall in November 2022 due to FTX. That value declined in the summer of 2023, however, as international uncertainty grew over a potential recession. Bitcoin's market cap made up the majority of the overall market capitalization.

What is market cap?

Market capitalization is a financial measure typically used for publicly traded firms, computed by multiplying the share price by the number of outstanding shares. However, cryptocurrency analysts calculate it as the price of the virtual currencies times the number of coins in the market. This gives cryptocurrency investors an idea of the overall market size, and watching the evolution of the measure tells how much money is flowing in or out of each cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency as an investment

The price of Bitcoin has been erratic, and most other cryptocurrencies follow its larger price swings. This volatility attracts investors who hope to buy when the price is low and sell at its peak, turning a profit. However, this does little for price stability. As such, few firms accept payment in cryptocurrencies.

As of June 2023, Tesla was the leading company in the global energy storage sector based on market capitalization. The United States-based company generated over six billions from its energy generation and storage sector in 2023.

With a market cap of over 87 billion U.S. dollars, Uber ranks first among the world's leading online marketplaces. According to June 2023 data, the U.S.-based company stands ahead of other marketplace heavyweights such as Mercado Libre and DoorDash. Second-ranked Mercado Libre's market cap amounted to roughly 59.5 billion dollars.

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.

As of May, 2023, Wanhua Chemical Group Co Ltd. was the leading Chinese chemical company based on market capitalization, with a market cap of nearly 32 billion U.S. dollars. In second place as of that time was Hengli Petrochemical Co Ltd, with a market cap worth 12.32 billion U.S. dollars.

As of March 2025, mining company BHP reached a market capitalization of nearly 122.67 billion U.S. dollars. The company specializes in mining and selling iron ore, copper and coal. Top mining companies worldwide Based on market capitalization in 2025, BHP, Rio Tinto, and China Shenhua Energy were the three leading mining companies in the world. Headquartered in Australia, BHP’s revenue more than doubled between 2004 and 2014, growing from 24.9 billion to 52.1 billion U.S. dollars, and reached a peak of 65.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. In 2024, BHP's revenue decreased again to 55.6 billion U.S. dollars. On the other side of the world from Australia, London is also the headquarters of some of the world's most prominent mining companies, including Rio Tinto, Anglo American, and Antofagasta. Rio Tinto's main segments are categorized based on the company's main mineral products produced: aluminum, iron ore, copper, and other minerals. Where gold mining companies are based Several of the world's largest gold mining companies are headquartered in Canada. Barrick Gold and Agnico Eagle Mines are both based in Canada and are among the largest mining companies in the world. However, gold producers from South Africa, the United States, Australia, and other countries are also among the global leaders in gold production. Regulations have been formed in order to harmonize and stabilize the mining sector, especially within mineral-rich countries.

HSBC stood as Europe's only bank with a market capitalization exceeding 100 billion U.S. dollars as of December 31, 2024. The UK-based financial institution reached a market value of approximately 176.71 billion U.S. dollars, significantly ahead of its closest European competitor, UBS, which was valued at 97.76 billion U.S. dollars. Throughout the past decade, despite market fluctuations, HSBC has consistently maintained its position as Europe's most valuable bank by market capitalization. European banking: single representative in global elite Among the world's 15 largest banks by market capitalization in December 2024, HSBC was Europe's sole representative. JPMorgan Chase, headquartered in the United States, led the global rankings with a market value exceeding 678 billion U.S. dollars. What is market capitalization? Market capitalization - calculated by multiplying a company's outstanding shares by its share price -serves as a widely used measure of company size. While this metric provides investors with an easily calculated indicator for risk assessment, it represents just one way to evaluate banks' performance. European banks can also be measured by other important metrics, including total assets, revenue, and cost-to-income ratio (CIR). These alternative measurements may paint a different picture of their relative strength and market position.

As of a December 2023 ranking of the ten leading United States-based mining companies based on market capitalization, Southern Copper Corp was the largest U.S. mining company based on market cap. As of that time, Southern Copper Corp had a market capitalization of some 66 billion U.S. dollars. Freeport McMoRan, headquartered in Arizona, was second in this ranking, with a market cap of nearly 61 billion U.S. dollars at that time.

The Nasdaq 100 Index tracks the largest domestic and international non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange. This statistic shows the leading 20 companies on the Nasdaq 100 Index by market capitalization. As of January 2025, the American technology company Apple ranked first, with a market capitalization of over three trillion euros. This was followed by Amazon, with a market capitalization amounting to 2.2 trillion euros.

As of January 1, 2025, tech giants Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft , Amazon, and Alphabet (Google) dominated the S&P 500 index and were the among only nine companies with a market capitalization exceeding one trillion U.S. dollars in the U.S.