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 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.

As of March 2025, **************************, a multinational beverage and retail company headquartered in Monterey, was the largest public company in Latin America, with a market capitalization of nearly *** billion U.S. dollars. ************ follows with a market cap of about ** billion U.S. dollars, while ********, a Brazilian energy company, takes the third spot with a market cap of ** billion U.S. dollars.

Apple retained its position as the world’s most valuable brand in 2025, with an estimated brand value of nearly *** trillion U.S. dollars. Google ranked second, having been valued at *** billion dollars. Overall, the brand ranking was dominated by U.S.-based tech companies. Apple’s brand is synonymous with simplicity and innovation Apple is a California-based technology titan specializing in consumer electronics, software, and online services. According to the company’s latest filings, Apple’s global revenue reached *** billion U.S. dollars in 2024, with the iPhone being its most profitable operating segment. In addition to its signature smartphone, Apple’s other breakthrough products include the Mac computer, iPad tablet, and Apple Watch, all of which are continuously updated to match consumer needs and preferences. Nvidia Climbs into the Top 5 as AI Boom Accelerates A leading force in artificial intelligence, Nvidia reached the top five most valuable global brands for the first time in 2025. Behind the chips driving many of today’s generative AI applications, Nvidia is among the leading tech companies in terms of market capitalization, with a valuation of over ***** trillion U.S. dollars.

As of July 16, 2025, Nvidia was the leading tech company by market capitalization globally at 4.16 trillion U.S. dollars. Nvidia became the first company to ever achieve the four trillion milestone, hitting this figure for the first time in July 2025. Microsoft ranked second at 3.76 trillion U.S. dollars. Nvidia's immense growth With a focus that began with origins in gaming, Nvidia's business strategy has been transformed by demand from data centers that sit at the heart of the AI boom. The company's chips have been favored to support in the training and running of a range of large language models, most notably in the development of OpenAI's ChatGPT. Apple is also among the leaders Since its foundation in a Californian garage in 1976, Apple has expanded massively, becoming one of the most valuable companies in the world. The company started its origins in the PC industry with the Macintosh, but soon entered other segments of the consumer electronics market. Today, the iPhone is the most popular Apple product, although Mac, iPad, wearables, and services also contribute to its high revenues. Aiming at innovation, Apple invests every year in research and development, spanning a wide array of technologies from AI through to extended reality.

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.

The most expensive internet company operating in Russia as of February 2025 was Yandex, whose value was measured at over ** billion U.S. dollars. Founded in 1997, it provides services such as search, maps, advertising, e-commerce, or taxi. The second-leading business on the list was Ozon, an online marketplace. The third-leading company was Wildberries, founded in 2004, the largest online retailer in Russia.

The acquisition of Whole Foods Market by Amazon in 2017 is the biggest company take-over by Bezos's corporation to date, with a whopping tag price of **** billion U.S. dollars. This acquisition was a move to expand the company's online grocery business. Since 2018, Amazon Prime subscribers can benefit from exclusive deals on their grocery orders from Whole Foods – although free delivery has been restricted since October 2021. From online to brick-and-mortar Amazon did not settle with Whole Foods – a grocery chain focusing on high-price and organic products – and launched its own-brand dollar supermarket Amazon Fresh, posing some risks as the two brands might have competed. Subsequent analyses comparing Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market showed that the two stores targeted quite different consumer bases. However, in terms of in-store footfall and dwell time, Amazon Fresh quantitatively outdid Whole Foods. Where is Amazon investing next? Out of the fast-moving consumer goods realm, Amazon’s last operation involved the healthcare company One Medical, acquired for *** billion U.S. dollars in July 2022. Behind the deal with the digital healthcare providermight be/may lie an already well-established subscription model very suitable for the e-commerce business.Lastly, in August 2022, Amazon announced the acquisition of iRobot, the manufacturer of the Roomba robot vacuum cleaners, as well as the undisputed global leader of this home appliances’ market niche. The deal was scrapped in January 2024.

In 2023, the finance industry occupied the most spots in the top 500 most valuable companies in China. The likes of Ping An Insurance and Alipay contributed ** percent of the total market cap of the pack. With ** companies being listed in the ranking, alcoholic beverage industry represented by Kweichow Moutai and Wuliangye made up over a quarter of the total market value.

Acquired in March 2022, cyber security company Mandiant is ranked as Google's second most expensive acquisition at 5.4 billion U.S. dollars. Motorola Mobility was the most expensive acquisition by Google, with 12.5 billion U.S. dollars. As of November 2022, Google has acquired 257 organizations.

As of January 2025, the largest company by market capitalization listed on the Euronext stock exchange was the French luxury goods company ****, which consists of ********************************. At this time, the company's market capital value was around *** billion euros and in second place was another French company, ********************, with *** billion euros. Euronext overview Headquartered in Paris and Amsterdam, the exchange operator Euronext stands out as one of the rest of the worldwide exchanges, Euronext has only been in operation for 25 years and was initially created through the merger of the Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris stock exchanges. Nevertheless, it has swiftly gained global recognition. Market performance monthly market capitalization values across European stock exchanges from 2019 to 2024, reflecting sustained growth over this period.

Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) was the leading company in France by market capitalization as of October 2024, with a valuation of approximately ***** billion U.S. dollars. Hermès and L'Oréal followed, with market capitalizations of ****** billion and ****** billion U.S. dollars, respectively. Luxury goods market in France France is globally renowned for its rich history and numerous high-end fashion brands in the luxury goods market. For example, Chanel was among the world’s most recognized luxury brands in 2022, among other French brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Hermes. Moreover, France ranks among the biggest five markets for luxury goods in the world, and the sector’s revenue in the country is expected to exceed ** billion U.S. dollars by 2025. LVMH: the world’s leading luxury company LVMH is a French luxury goods conglomerate operating across various sectors, including fashion and leather goods, perfumes and cosmetics, jewelry and watches, and wines and spirits. As the largest French company in the world, LVMH group's total revenue was over ** billion euros in 2023. Almost half of the revenue came from their business in the fashion and leather segment, which amounted to 42.16 billion euros in 2023.

In 2024, tech companies ranked as the most valuable brands in the world, covering the five top spots in the source’s ranking. Apple led the list with a brand value of nearly 489 billion U.S. dollars, followed by Microsoft, Amazon, and Google – each with brand values of over 290 billion dollars. Samsung closed the top five, at over 100 billion dollars in brand value. Big techs are also huge in terms of market value The source determined brand value by combining financial information, the role the brand plays in determining consumer choice (independent of other factors such as price and convenience), and a qualitative assessment of the brand’s overall strength. Considering only financial data, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet (Google’s parent company) and Microsoft would be still on the top, as they have some of the highest global market capitalizations. However, when considering only qualitative factors regarding brand strength, the list would look very different, with Chinese app WeChat being the strongest brand worldwide in 2024. Brand value vs. profitability Brand value does not always translate into profitability. While Apple also happens to be the second most profitable company in the world, other companies with strong brands such as Google and Amazon rank lower in terms of net income. This phenomenon does not only apply to tech companies – Coca-Cola did not feature on the list of the most profitable companies worldwide. This is likely due to their franchised distribution structure, whereby manufacturing operations are handled by separate companies, each of which operates independently with an exclusive license to manufacture Coca-Cola beverages in their territory.

The value of global domestic equity market increased from ***** trillion U.S. dollars in 2013 to ****** trillion U.S. dollars in 2024. 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 ** 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 ** 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 a market cap of *** billion U.S. dollars as of March 2025.

Astrazeneca was the leading pharmaceutical company in the United Kingdom as of March 7, 2024, with a market capitalization amounting to approximately ***** billion U.S. dollars. GlaxoSmithKline followed as the second largest pharma company in the country, with market capitalization of nearly **** billion U.S. dollars. Examining the development of the FTSE 100 Index, which was launched in January 1984 with a base level of 1,000, increased by more than sevenfold to date. What is the FTSE 100 index? The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, commonly known as the "Footsie", is the most widely recognized stock market index in the United Kingdom. It is made up of the 100 largest blue-chip companies on the London Stock Exchange. Companies from various sectors, such as healthcare, consumer goods, and energy, are included in the index, as are leading banks of the United Kingdom, such as HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, and Barclays. Moreover, it can be seen as a reflection of the investment climate in the United Kingdom. What is not included in the FTSE 100 Index? Most notably, the FTSE 100 Index, like most indices, is not adjusted for inflation. While inflation in the United Kingdom has gone down dramatically since 2023, it might be useful to adjust the historic figures on the index when comparing historic data to current levels. This is especially important when the index seems to have increased by a few percentage points because inflation may have increased at a faster rate than stock prices.

In 2024, ** enterprises in the media and entertainment industry, such as Tencent Holding and ByteDance, contributed **** percent of the total market cap of the top 500 most valuable non-state-owned companies in the Greater China region. Retail industry, represented by the Alibaba Group and Meituan, made up *** percent of the total market value.

In 2021, Apple was the largest publicly traded company in California based on revenue. That year, they had a revenue of ****** billion U.S. dollars. Alphabet, Chevron, Wells Fargo and Meta rounded out the top five publicly traded companies in California. Apple Apple is a multinational company headquartered in California. It was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. Known for their popular iPhones and Mac computers, they have further expanded into other products such as iPods, Apple Watch, Apple TV, Air Pods, and Apple Pay. It is now one of the world’s largest and most valuable companies. Their worldwide revenue has increased dramatically since 2004, with the largest share of their sales since 2012 coming from the Americas. Despite being one of the most successful technology companies, it has faced a lot of criticism from consumers. Some of the criticisms include tax avoidance, sweatshop use, and environmental destruction. Fortune 500 Companies In 2021, New York and California had the highest number of Fortune 500 companies, followed by Texas, Illinois, and Ohio. For New York, this can be attributed to its being the financial and cultural hub of the country. Fortune 500 Companies are ranked by Fortune magazine, which ranks the the top 500 companies in the United States based on revenue. Companies on this list are both publicly and privately held. The companies that get listed have changed over the years, for a variety of reasons such as company acquisitions, bankruptcies, and changes in the economy.

In 2009, Ecxxon Mobil Corp had a market capitalization of approximately ****** 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.

The Chinese entrepreneur Ma Yun had established or held three brands listed in the top 500 Chinese private companies with a combined market cap of almost 2.4 trillion yuan as of November 2022. Apart from Alibaba, Ma also had significant holdings in financial technology companies Ant Group and Hundsun Technologies.

With over *** billion U.S. dollars in revenue, Walmart topped the ranking of the hundred largest companies globally, followed by Amazon. Walmart was also the largest company in the world based on its number of employees, with some *** million all over the world. Largest corporations based on revenue - additional information The concept of revenue itself might slightly differ depending on country or even from one company to another. It usually refers to the income resulted from normal business activities, such as the sale of goods and services to customers. Walmart The American-based multinational corporation Walmart was founded in 1962 and currently operates over ****** stores worldwide, out of which ***** are in the United States alone. In 2024, Walmart was ranked the third most valuable retail brand in the world, with a brand value of about ** billion U.S. dollars. Follow this link to get access to the top 500 companies from all industries list.