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 Indonesia (DDAM02IDA156NWDB) from 1998 to 2017 about Indonesia, market cap, companies, and stock market.

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.

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Graph and download economic data for Market Capitalization Outside of Top 10 Largest Companies to Total Market Capitalization for Cyprus (DDAM02CYA156NWDB) from 2004 to 2020 about Cyprus, 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 Egypt (DDAM02EGA156NWDB) from 2004 to 2020 about Egypt, market cap, companies, and stock market.

Investor AB, was the leading company by market capitalization in Sweden as of October 10, 2024. The Swedish investment company had a market cap of approximately 89.59 billion U.S. dollars. Atlas Copco and Spotify were the other largest companies, with a market cap of 86.55 and 75.1 billion U.S. dollars, respectively.

Graph and download economic data for Market Capitalization Outside of Top 10 Largest Companies to Total Market Capitalization for Spain (DDAM02ESA156NWDB) from 1998 to 2020 about market cap, Spain, companies, and stock market.

Graph and download economic data for Market Capitalization Outside of Top 10 Largest Companies to Total Market Capitalization for Ireland (DDAM02IEA156NWDB) from 1998 to 2018 about Ireland, market cap, companies, and stock market.

The largest company in Switzerland, by market capitalization, as of October 10, 2024, was Nestlé, with a market capitalization amounting to approximately 250.63 billion U.S. dollars. Nestlé SA was founded in 1866 in Switzerland and is the largest food company in the world. The two pharmaceutical companies Roche and Novartis followed, with market capitalizations reaching 247.44 and 234.36 billion U.S. dollars, respectively.

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.

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.

Toyota Motor was the leading domestic company in Japan based on market capitalization, which amounted to close to 42.5 trillion Japanese yen in February 2025. Sony Group ranked second with a market capitalization of around 23 trillion yen. With an aggregate market capitalization of over 996 trillion yen in 2024, the Tokyo Stock Exchange is one of the largest stock exchanges in the world.

This horizontal bar chart displays market cap ($) by employee type and is filtered where the industry is Biotechnology. The data is about companies.

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.

This horizontal bar chart displays market cap ($) by city using the aggregation sum and is filtered where the company is Ichibanya. The data is about companies.

The NYSE U.S. 100 Index tracks the largest U.S. companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange. This statistic shows the leading 20 companies on the NYSE U.S. 100 Index by market capitalization. As of January 28, 2024 the multinational conglomerate company Berkshire Hathaway ranked as the first, with a market capitalization of over 900 billion euros. This was followed by Eli Lilly and JP Morgan Chase, with market capitalizations amounting to 695 billion and 678 billion euros respectively. NYSE U.S. 100 Index vs. Nasdaq 100 Index The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq are the largest two stock exchanges in the world, but they differ in the kinds of companies they list. The NYSE is known to list stable and long-lasting firms, commonly referred to as “blue-chip” companies. In contrast, the Nasdaq is renowned for listing the world’s biggest companies, mainly from the tech industry. Similar to the NYSE U.S. 100 Index, the Nasdaq 100 Index tracks the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq exchange, including both U.S. and non-U.S. companies. The leader of the NYSE U.S. 100 index: Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway, the leader of the NYSE U.S. 100 Index, was also among the world's largest companies by revenue in 2023. The company is a multinational conglomerate and holding company with insurance as its core business and interests in other sectors such as railroad, utilities and energy, finance. In fact, Berkshire was the world's biggest insurance company by revenue in 2023. As a holding company, it has significant stakes in some of the world’s largest companies, including Apple, Bank of America and Coca-Cola. With its diverse background in various businesses and industries, Berkshire Hathaway had a total revenue of 365 billion U.S. dollars in 2023.

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 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.