Between 2019 and 2023, oil and gas explorers and producers logged the highest total revenue worldwide, reaching 5.3 trillion U.S. dollars. Life and health insurance carriers followed behind.

With over 670 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 2.1 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 10,600 stores worldwide, out of which 4,600 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 60 billion U.S. dollars. Follow this link to get access to the top 500 companies from all industries list.

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 2024, Microsoft generated approximately, 2780 billion U.S. dollars in revenue, making it the largest IT services company in the world in terms of revenue. Other major firms in the IT services market include Alphabet Inc., with revenues of over 1780 billion U.S. dollars, followed by AWS and Meta. IT services market A key sub-sector of the larger information technology industry is the IT services market. This sub-sector brings in hundreds of millions of dollars each year, with forecasts suggesting that this number will reach 1.42 trillion U.S. dollars in spending in 2023 after eclipsing the one trillion dollar mark in 2019. Digitalization, along with constant technological advancement, means that businesses in nearly every industry rely on IT services which results in continuous market spending. What are IT services products? The term IT services refers to a large amount of services and solutions used by businesses to assess, manage, and deliver information. These services include cloud computing, database management, as well as hardware deployment and support. Notably, these IT solutions assist in a vast array of business functions and thereby empower companies to stay agile and adaptive in a quickly changing environment.

The German chemical company BASF was ranked number one in the ranking of the world's leading chemical companies based on revenue, generating a revenue of approximately 68.03 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. Revenue of the top chemical companies worldwide Chemical companies produce and develop industrial chemicals through the conversion of raw materials –organic and inorganic - into a wide variety of products. Chemical production is classified into two separate categories. There are specialty batch manufacturers that produce more expensive chemicals that are less commonly used within the chemical market. These performance chemicals are often produced by smaller manufacturers. On the other hand, commodity manufacturers tend to produce a large volume of basic and inexpensive compounds. The production of organic polymers for plastics, fibers, and elastomers is a rapidly growing sector of the chemical industry. Leading chemical manufacturing countries The chemical manufacturing industry in the United States is quite prominent, with companies such as Dow, DuPont, and LyondellBasell Industries. The chemical sector in Europe is also very prominent, as demonstrated by the fact that it represents a great proportion of their manufacturing trade surplus. Europe (and the European Union) is one of the largest chemical trading regions in the world. With Germany accounting for the largest share of total EU chemical revenue. Three of Germany’s chemical companies are considered some of the largest in the world. German companies BASF and Bayer are consistently among the largest earning chemical companies in the world. BASF operates on a global scale and maintains its segmental operations in chemicals, materials, surface technologies, nutrition and care, industrial solutions, and agricultural solutions. With headquarters around the world, Bayer is known for marketing heroin in the past and branding aspirin.

This statistic shows the ranking of the global top 10 biotech and pharmaceutical companies worldwide, based on revenue. The values are based on a 2024 database. U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer was ranked first, with a total revenue of around 87 billion U.S. dollars. Biotech and pharmaceutical companiesPharmaceutical companies are best known for manufacturing pharmaceutical drugs. These drugs have the aim to diagnose, to cure, to treat, or to prevent diseases. The pharmaceutical sector represents a huge industry, with the global pharmaceutical market being worth over 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars. The best known top global pharmaceutical players are Pfizer, Merck and Johnson & Johnson from the U.S., Novartis and Roche from Switzerland, Sanofi from France, etc. Most of these companies are involved not only in pure pharmaceutical business, but also manufacture medical technology and consumer health products, vaccines, etc. For example, Johnson & Johnson makes most of its revenues through medical devices, diagnostics and consumer health products. There are both pure play biotechnology companies as well as pharmaceutical companies which among other products also produce biotech products within their biotechnological divisions. Most of the leading global pharmaceutical companies have biopharmaceutical divisions. Although not a pure play biotech firm, Roche from Switzerland is among the companies with the largest revenues from biotechnology products worldwide. In contrast, California-based company Amgen was one of the world’s first large pure play biotech companies. Biotech companies use biotechnology to generate their products, most often medical drugs or agricultural genetic engineering. The latter segment is dominated by companies like Bayer CrpScience and Syngenta. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity defines biotechnology as follows: "Any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use." In fact, biotechnology is thousands of years old, used in agriculture, food manufacturing and medicine.

In 2024, the Saudi Arabian oil company Saudi Aramco posted the highest revenue of any company in the world before taxes, with an income of over 208 billion U.S. dollars. Apple, Alphabet, Berkshire Hathaway, and Microsoft rounded out the top five spots in the ranking of most profitable companies. What is net income? Net income, or net profit, which differs slightly from pre-tax income, is the figure that gives the most complete overview of a company’s profitability: It is calculated as the revenue of a company less all operating expenses, debt payments, interest paid, income from subsidiary holdings, taxes, etc. Different industries have different net profit margins. The Apple doesn’t fall far In terms of market value, Microsoft was the largest company in the world in 2024, with Apple following in second. Since the beginning of the new millennium, Apple has reported ever rising amounts of worldwide revenue, with iPhone sales leading the charge.

As of January 2024, the most profitable industry in the United States was money center banking, with a profit margin of 30.89 percent. The profit margin of the regional banking was not too far off, with a net profit margin of 29.67.

In 2023, with a revenue of approximately 32.4 billion U.S. dollars, Medtronic was the leading medical technology company in the world. The largest segment within the company was for cardiovascular care, followed by the neuroscience segment. The United States was by far the most important geographical region for Medtronic. Medtronic in numbers Medtronic was founded in Minnesota in 1949, and since then, the company has had its operational headquarters located there. However, in 2015 the legal base of Medtronic was moved to Ireland for tax reasons. Over the past 15 years, Medtronic has undergone significant increases in revenue, increasing almost year-on-year. As of 2020, almost 105 thousand people were employed worldwide. Johnson & Johnson In 2023, U.S. based medical device company Johnson & Johnson generated 30.4 billion U.S. dollars in revenue. The company had around 132 thousand employees in 2022. Johnson & Johnson’s largest segment within medical devices was surgical, which earned about 10 billion U.S. dollars. The orthopedics franchise was the segment’s second-largest field, generating roughly 8.9 billion U.S. dollars that year.

The leading pharmaceutical company worldwide in 2023 was Johnson & Johnson, however, also including non-pharmaceutical sales. A global view on the industryThe total global pharmaceutical market was worth around 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. North America remains the strongest regional market worldwide, responsible for nearly half of the global market size. The largest national pharmaceutical market is the United States, making up almost half of global medicine spending. Thus, five of the ten largest pharmaceutical companies worldwide were from the United States in 2023. One reason for this is that the U.S. is still the world’s largest hub for life sciences and medical research and knowledge. The importance of innovationPharmaceutical companies are to a considerable part – more than in most other industries – driven by the imperative to produce innovative products and to invest in research and development. Once a new drug, for example, is launched, the clock is already ticking towards the loss of patent protection. In particular, companies that depend on a small number of blockbuster drugs, are under threat of heavy revenue loss. Two effects of patent expirations for the pharma industry are high R&D concentration and a growing focus on specialty drugs.

Walmart had about 2.1 million employees in 2023, the highest of all companies worldwide that year. Walmart also led ranking of companies by revenue in 2022, with a total revenue of about 640 billion U.S. dollars. Amazon followed in second with 1.5 million employees worldwide, with Hoi Han Precision Industry in third.

Walmart

In the United States, where Walmart has its highest number of employees, there are 4,700 stores as of 2023, and some 3,570 of these stores are Walmart’s Supercenters . The company has expanded all around the world, especially having a high number of stores in Central America.

Amazon

The number of people employed by Amazon has increased rapidly in recent years. In 2019, less than 800,000 people worked at the technology company, whereas in it employed more than 1.5 million in 2023. As with the number of employees, its net revenue has also increased over the last years.

From 2000 to 2019, the United States had more Fortune 500 companies than any other country. In 2020, the U.S. was surpassed by China, where 124 companies were reported, compared to 121 U.S. companies. This is an impressive increase, as there were only 10 Fortune 500 companies in China in 2000. In 2023, the number of top world companies ranked by revenue grew by six in China, while in the U.S. there were 12 more companies than in 2022.

This statistic shows the ranking of the global top 10 health care equipment and services companies based on revenue, as of March 21, 2025. U.S. health care equipment and service company Centene was ranked fourth, with a total revenue of some 150 billion U.S. dollars.

Sinopec (China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation) is the leading global oil and gas company by revenues generated. In the 12-month period leading up to July 2024, the Chinese state-owned enterprise generated 441.79 billion U.S. dollars in revenues. State-owned enterprises are largest producers State-owned businesses are among the largest within the oil and gas industry. Saudi Arabia's Saudi Aramco is the leading oil company worldwide based on daily oil production, at over 11 million barrels per day. This is significantly more than the daily output of ExxonMobil. At 2.5 million barrels of crude oil per day, it is the largest producer among public companies not majority owned by any state. The United States-based oil and gas giant ExxonMobil generated 331.46 billion U.S. dollars in revenues in the 12 months leading up to July 2024, coming in third in this list. Diversification of oil & gas portfolios Due to growing investor pressure and judicial court rulings, some oil and gas companies have been incentivized to increase the share of non-fossil fuel assets in their portfolio. Their efforts have been supported by an increasing number of investment funds and asset managers, with more diverse companies also often ranking higher in terms of brand value. Many European oil majors have already begun looking for clean energy ventures where their expertise may help them gain footing fast, such as offshore wind and blue hydrogen. This is also reflected in a growing share of low-carbon investments in overall capex.

This statistic shows the 2024 ranking of the top 10 biotech and pharmaceutical companies worldwide, based on net income. U.S.-based company Johnson & Johnson was ranked first with a net income of 16.4 billion U.S. dollars. Biotech and pharmaceutical companiesJohnson & Johnson and Merck & Co., both based in the United States, are among the world’s largest biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies based on their net incomes of approximately 16.4 billion U.S. dollars and 13.7 billion U.S. dollars, respectively, as of 2024. Johnson & Johnson generated some 86 billion U.S. dollars of revenue in 2023. Pfizer had record-high annual revenues during the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, reaching 100 billion U.S. dollars in 2022.

Story of a former blockbuster Lyrica was once one of Pfizer’s most successful products. It is an anticonvulsant for neuropathic pain and is also used as therapy for partial seizures. In the EU and in Russia, Lyrica has also been approved to treat general anxiety disorder. In 2017, this prescription medication generated some five billion U.S. dollars in revenue.

Mining company Glencore was ranked as the number one mining company in the world as of 2024, with an annual revenue in 2023 of approximately 218 billion U.S. dollars. In third place was BHP. BHP’s revenue has recovered in the past few years from a slump in revenues in 2016 and 2017. Their primary focus is on metals and mining.

Top mining companies worldwide based on revenue

The mining industry operates on a global scale. London is headquarters to some of the world's most prominent mining companies, including Glencore, BHP, and Rio Tinto. Coal and nonmetallic minerals dominate the U.S. mining industry, while China controls most of the world’s rare earth minerals. Oil and gas extraction remains one of the most economically important sectors within mining operations, although oil and gas is often viewed as a separate industry. As of May 2024, BHP, Rio Tinto, and Southern Copper Corp were the world's three leading mining companies based on market capitalization. Rio Tinto deals primarily with aluminum, iron ore, copper, uranium, coal, and diamonds.

What makes the mining industry tick?

Volatile prices of commodity minerals impact the profitability and propensity of the mining industry. Smaller companies and individuals are typically involved in the exploration aspects of the industry, while large companies, such as the top mining companies in the world, tend to focus on mining production and operations to generate profit.

In 2023, the leading market research company in terms of global research revenue was Gartner, generating approximately 5.9 billion U.S. dollars. In the same year, American company IQVIA accrued roughly 5.6 billion U.S. dollars. Market research companies - global players Market research is an important business strategy involving the gathering of information about an organization’s target market. In terms of global research revenue, American company Gartner was the leading market research company worldwide. Headquartered in the United States, the number of employees working for the company totaled 20,237 people in 2023. The sixth largest market research company in terms of global research revenue was Kantar. Kantar Group is a UK-based international network of 12 companies, including Millward Brown and IMRB International. In 2022, the research revenue of Kantar amounted to approximately three billion U.S. dollars. Another European leader, and ranked seventh in the global ranking, was Ipsos. The company had a research revenue of over 2.5 billion U.S. dollars. The largest share of market research revenue made by Ipsos was generated in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2023. United States dominant in a global market The global revenue of the market research industry reached over 75 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, over half of which came from the United States. The number of full-time employees working for the top ten market research companies in the United States totaled almost 40,000 in 2020.

Kimberly-Clark was the world's largest forestry and paper company in 2023, with revenue of more than 20.43 billion U.S. dollars. In second place that year was West Rock, which reported revenue of 20.3 billion U.S. dollars.

In 2023, the total revenue of the recorded music industry amounted to 28.6 billion U.S. dollars. Global streaming revenues reached 19.3 billion U.S. dollars in the same year. Overall, recorded music increased by 10 percent, representing a steady growth rate compared to the previous year. Music streaming – the motor of the industry Data on the revenue generated by the different segments of the music industry worldwide show that music streaming is responsible for by far the biggest share in the industry in recent years. The streaming revenue has been growing year by year since the late 2000s and early 2010s and overtook the revenue from physical sales as of 2017. While two thirds of the global music revenue in 2023 came from streaming, making it undoubtedly the backbone of the industry, the physical segment recorded a higher growth rate than streaming compared to the year before. This is based on a resurging interest in CD and vinyl purchases. Smaller regional markets are catching up While the global music market rose by around 10 percent in 2023, this growth rate varied significantly when broken down regionally. Whereas growth in the two biggest regional music markets, North America and Europe, remained in single digits, the music markets in Africa, Latin America, and Asia grew at a fairly higher rate. Sub-Saharan Africa showed the fastest regional growth, at almost 25 percent. At country level, China recorded the highest growth rate within the global top 10 markets, at nearly 26 percent.

In 2024, Microsoft generated revenue of 33.7 billion U.S. dollars, positioning the tech giant as the leader among cloud vendors in terms of revenue. Azure —Microsoft’s cloud computing platform — offers customers services for running and managing applications in different cloud environments. Leading cloud vendors Amazon Web Services (AWS), IBM, Salesforce, and Google Cloud are all among the top five cloud vendors. These companies offer different services via the cloud to customers, which includes a wide variety of applications and other resources businesses need for their IT and operations. While AWS and Google offer products and services to customers that are similar to Azure’s, Salesforce is mainly a software as a service (SaaS) provider and the leading customer relationship management (CRM) platform. What does the future of cloud vendors’ offerings look like? Many cloud vendors are seeking to transform from being simply IT infrastructure providers to becoming business partners, by offering consulting for customers on how to improve their business operations by leveraging cloud services. In addition, cloud providers are busy developing vertical clouds, also known as industry clouds, that are optimized for particular industries. This includes industry-specific features such as security measures that are in line with regulatory requirements in the healthcare industry, for example.