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.

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

As of May 23, 2025, Microsoft was the leading tech company by market capitalization globally at 3.38 trillion U.S. dollars. Nvidia ranked second at 3.24 trillion U.S. dollars. Tech company stocks were impacted through 2025 as a result of various global tariff threats by the United States government. Apple 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. 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.

The top medical technology companies globally include big name companies such as General Electric, Philips, and Medtronic. As of 2021, the leading medical technology company based on market share was Medtronic (U.S.). At that time, Medtronic held *** percent of the overall medical technology market. The company’s hold on medical technology is projected to increase slightly to *** percent by 2024. Medical technology industry The global medical technology industry includes different types of technology that are broadly categorized as medical devices, in vitro diagnostics and digital health solutions. The total medical technology revenue has been increasing in recent years and is expected to increase dramatically by the year 2024. Research and development in the industry is also gaining ground and has experienced some of the largest growth in spending from 2015 to 2016, with significant growth expected in the future. Company spotlight: Medtronic Among the various medical technology companies, Medtronic is among the top in many measures. Medtronic produces medical products and devices for cardiac and vascular disease, minimally invasive therapies, restorative therapies and diabetes. In 2017, Medtronic was the top medical technology company among those that produce cardiac devices. The company beat out other competitors such as Abbott and Boston Scientific by a significant percentage of the market share. Medtronic’s total revenue worldwide has been increasing significantly in recent years and in the company’s fiscal year 2022 had reached an all time high.

Based on the total number of companies listed, the Japan Exchange Group was the largest stock exchange operator in the world as of Janaury 2025, with 3,968 companies listed. Of these, only six were foreign companies, with the remaining being domestic. The stock exchange with the highest number of international companies at this time was the U.S. Nasdaq, with 871. However, despite only having the seventh-highest number of companies, the New York Stock Exchange has the highest market capitalization of any stock exchange operator.

************ was the leading domestic company in Japan based on market capitalization, which amounted to around **** trillion Japanese yen in May 2025. ****************************** ranked second with a market capitalization of about 24.4 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.

As of January 2025, the largest company by market capitalization listed on the Euronext stock exchange was the French luxury goods company LVMH, which consists of Louis Vuitton, Moët and Hennessy. At this time, the company's market capital value was around 352 billion euros and in second place was another French company, Hermes International, with 288 billion euros. Euronext overview Headquartered in Paris and Amsterdam, the exchange operator Euronext stands out as one of the age 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 Euronext 100 Index, characterized by a temporary drop during the Covid pandemic, a subsequent recovery was recorded, with the Index reaching its highest value as of May 2024. This performance highlights Euronext's resilience and dominance in

As of March 2025, Google represented 79.1 percent of the global online search engine market on desktop devices. Despite being much ahead of its competitors, this represents the lowest share ever recorded by the search engine in these devices for over two decades. Meanwhile, its long-time competitor Bing accounted for 12.21 percent, as tools like Yahoo and Yandex held shares of over 2.9 percent each. Google and the global search market Ever since the introduction of Google Search in 1997, the company has dominated the search engine market, while the shares of all other tools has been rather lopsided. The majority of Google revenues are generated through advertising. Its parent corporation, Alphabet, was one of the biggest internet companies worldwide as of 2024, with a market capitalization of 2.02 trillion U.S. dollars. The company has also expanded its services to mail, productivity tools, enterprise products, mobile devices, and other ventures. As a result, Google earned one of the highest tech company revenues in 2024 with roughly 348.16 billion U.S. dollars. Search engine usage in different countries Google is the most frequently used search engine worldwide. But in some countries, its alternatives are leading or competing with it to some extent. As of the last quarter of 2023, more than 63 percent of internet users in Russia used Yandex, whereas Google users represented little over 33 percent. Meanwhile, Baidu was the most used search engine in China, despite a strong decrease in the percentage of internet users in the country accessing it. In other countries, like Japan and Mexico, people tend to use Yahoo along with Google. By the end of 2024, nearly half of the respondents in Japan said that they had used Yahoo in the past four weeks. In the same year, over 21 percent of users in Mexico said they used Yahoo.

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 May 2025, Amazon was the biggest internet company worldwide with a market cap of over ************ U.S. dollars Second-ranked Alphabet had a market capitalization of **** 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. One of the largest internet companies worldwide is currently Alphabet, the parent company of Google, with a market capitalization of **** trillion U.S. dollars as of May 2025. 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 ** 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. 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.

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.

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.

Based in Toronto, the TMX Canada was the largest stock exchange in the Americas as of December 2024 in terms of companies listed, with 3,569. The B3 - Brasil Bolsa Balcao was the largest in South America, with 339 companies. Stock exchange size The number of companies is a straightforward way to measure the size of a stock exchange, but there are others. For example, market capitalization, or market cap, refers to the number of shares available on the exchange multiplied by the price per share. This paints a picture of the financial size of the exchange. Another metric is the measure of capital raised, which gives an idea of the profitability of the exchange for the companies listed. Why measure stock exchanges? A stock exchange is essentially a place where people can buy shares in a company. In principle, one can go online and buy from any of the exchanges in this statistic. However, companies choose where to offer their stock for a variety of reasons. These initial public offerings (IPOs) take place in the countries chosen by the company as the place in which that company can best earn money. This affects the inflow of money into the market, and a vibrant exchange will help established firms as well. On the supply side, an economy can profit from the securities industry as well. For these reasons and others, analysts pay close attention to the size of exchanges.

As of July 2024, the market capitalization of Royal Bank of Canada amounted to 154 billion Canadian dollars, which placed the company at the top of the ranking. What is market capitalization? Market capitalization is one of the measures of the financial strength of a company. It shows the value of shares outstanding of a publicly traded company. It is basically calculated by multiplying the number of shares traded on a stock exchange by the price of a single share. Worldwide rankings In the United States, JP Morgan Chase bank had the largest market cap among the U.S. banks, amounting to 688.68 billion U.S. dollars as of January 2025. The bank was also the leader in the global ranking, followed by Bank of America, and ICBC (Industrial and Commercial Bank of China).

In 2023, Attijariwafa Bank was the largest company and financial institution in Morocco based on market capitalization. Its outstanding shares had a market value of around 8.34 billion U.S. dollars. The following leading enterprises in Morocco were telecommunication companies and financial institutions. Maroc Telecom had a market capitalization of roughly 7.31 billion U.S. dollars, while the Banque Centrale Populaire was valued at 4.5 billion U.S. dollars.

Morocco’s titans of industry: Attijariwafa Bank and Maroc Telecom

Attijariwafa Bank was the largest company in Morocco in 2023. The financial institution showed a remarkable increase in net income from 2020 to 2022. Furthermore, Attijariwafa Bank had 3,614 bank branches in Morocco and numerous branches in several African regions. In its turn, Maroc Telecom was the second largest company and preeminent telecommunications firm in Morocco and holds most telecommunication towers in the nation. In 2021, the annual revenue of Maroc Telecom stood at 35.8 billion Moroccan dirhams (around 3.55 billion U.S. dollars). However, it represented a decrease from the previous year when the company recorded a peak revenue of 36.7 billion Moroccan dirhams (3.64 billion U.S. dollars).

Expanding the perspective to the African continent

Taking a step back to compare Africa’s leading companies of 2023, both Attijariwafa Bank and Maroc Telecom made it to the list, ranking 14th and 19th, respectively. In 2020, as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, large companies in Africa primarily sought financial solutions from commercial banks. According to a survey, 60 percent of the companies surveyed reported using commercial banks as their primary funding source.

In 2025, stock markets in the United States accounted for roughly ** percent of world stocks. The next largest country by stock market share was China, followed by the European Union as a whole. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ are the largest stock exchange operators worldwide. What is a stock exchange? The first modern publicly traded company was the Dutch East Industry Company, which sold shares to the general public to fund expeditions to Asia. Since then, groups of companies have formed exchanges in which brokers and dealers can come together and make transactions in one space. Stock market indices group companies trading on a given exchange, giving an idea of how they evolve in real time. Appeal of stock ownership Over half of adults in the United States are investing money in the stock market. Stocks are an attractive investment because the possible return is higher than offered by other financial instruments.

The stock of the Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent had the highest market capitalization on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Tencent was worth over 2.61 trillion Hong Kong dollars in 2024. In addition to that, Tencent's share also had a high turnover, making it the most active stock on the bourse.

An acceptable compromise

The Hong Kong Exchange has a unique position in the global financial landscape that makes it a popular destination for companies from mainland China. Because the city is a special administrative region under the PRC but has a very liberal financial system with a large market capitalization, it enjoys certain privileges that remain unobtainable to the rest of the overseas financial markets. As a result, Hong Kong becomes a popular destination for mainland Chinese companies that want to gain access to global financial markets while maintaining proximity to home markets.

Closer to home

In an environment of rising tensions between the PRC and the United States, many Chinese companies listed on overseas stock exchanges feel pressure from both sides. After China’s cybersecurity watchdog CAC delisted the ride-hailing company DIDI’s application from app stores in mainland China shortly after its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, it sent the stock into turmoil. Ultimately, the company leadership decided to transfer its shares to the Hong Kong Exchange. DIDI might not be the only Chinese enterprise that will come closer to the mainland as the SEC recently announced stricter auditing requirements while Beijing also amends its rules for overseas IPOs.

As of May 2025, the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca was the leading company listed on the London Exchange (LSE), with a market capitalization of 159 billion British pounds. This made them the largest of all companies listed on the LSE. Seen as the heart of the global financial community, the London Stock Exchange is the second-largest stock market in Europe and ranks eighth globally. Key information The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is among the largest stock market operators globally and ranks 11th in terms of the oldest stock exchanges in existence, with 224 years of operation as of 2025. Performance after Covid The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound effect on the global economy, causing considerable volatility on the stock market. The London Stock Exchange (LSE) saw a notable decline in the market capitalization value of its listed companies, reaching its lowest value in March 2020 at approximately three trillion British pounds in correlation with a surge in the average daily number of trades, which peaked at over two billion. Following this initial reaction, the LSE observed a decrease in the average daily active traders, alongside a gradual recovery in the market capitalization of the listed companies.

With a market capitalization of approximately 54 billion euros as of the end of Februrary 2023, the largest company on the Milan Stock Exchange was Enel, the world’s second largest electricity company. This is followed by Stellantis, with a market capitalization of over 53 billion euros. Italy’s most recognizable companies Italy is home to some of the most recognizable brands in the world. One of the largest companies on the Milan Stock Exchange is the luxury carmaker Ferrari – although high share price is perhaps based more on their brand identity than their underlying sales, given Ferrari’s global revenue is many times lower than the revenue of the world’s largest car manufacturers. Also among Italy’s largest companies is drinks manufacturer Campari. Aside from their titular liqueur, Campari’s brands also include well-known alcoholic drinks like Frangelico, Grand Marnier and Wild Turkey. The Milan Stock Exchange Otherwise known as the Borsa Italiana, the Milan Stock Exchange was recently acquired by Euronext, who are the fourth largest stock exchange operator in the world. Taken alone, the listed companies on the Borsa Italiana have a total market capitalization of around 607.3 billion euros. Two main markets comprise the Borsa Italiana:

the Mercato Telematico Azionario (MTA), which is the segment for mid- and large-size companies; and the AIM Italia, which was established in 2009 to cater for high growth small and medium enterprises needing more flexibility around the reporting and governance requirements.

The software-as-a-service (SaaS) industry continues to dominate the tech landscape, with Salesforce leading the pack among public SaaS companies on U.S. stock exchanges. As of November 2024, Salesforce boasts a market capitalization of over 310 billion U.S. dollars, highlighting the immense value investors place on subscription-based software models. This trend reflects the growing preference of businesses worldwide for flexible, scalable solutions over traditional upfront software investments. Global growth and regional disparities The SaaS market is poised for significant expansion across all regions, with Latin America emerging as the fastest-growing market. Projections indicate that Latin America's cloud and SaaS revenue will surge from six billion U.S. dollars in 2021 to 20 billion U.S. dollars by 2026, representing a compound annual growth rate of 28 percent. This rapid growth underscores the increasing global adoption of SaaS solutions, particularly in emerging markets. Adoption trends and security concerns SaaS adoption varies by company size, with smaller firms leading the charge. In 2023, companies with 1–500 employees reported a nearly 70 percent adoption rate, compared to just over 50 percent for large enterprises with more than 10,000 staff. However, as SaaS usage grows, so do security concerns. Identity and access governance topped the list of security worries with 43 percent of respondents in 2023, followed closely by third-party application access and permissions at 40 percent. These concerns highlight the need for robust security measures as businesses increasingly rely on SaaS solutions.