By
Josh O'Sullivan
April 23rd, 2024
Over the last few years, global companies and conglomerates have become even bigger with the overall growth of the global economy. Here’s a look at the top 10 global companies by market cap.
Last week on Friday, January 17, Google‘s parent company Alphabet hit the trillion-dollar milestone. Alphabet became the fourth public listed tech company to achieve this feat.
Despite staying in controversy with the regulators over the issues of privacy concerns, Alphabet had a good show in 2019 in the stock market. The Alphabet stock surged nearly 50% in a single year thereby pushing the company’s growth.
Apple Inc. was the first company to achieve the trillion-dollar milestone in 2018, followed by Amazon later the same year. However, after some rejig at the eCommerce giant, Amazon has dropped below Alphabet. Amazon is currently in the fourth position (in tech listings) with its valuations at $924 billion.
Last year in 2019, computing giant Microsoft also wore the trillion-dollar crown. At the end of 2019, oil giant Saudi Aramco went for a public listing with the highest valuations at $2 trillion. After its public listing in December 2019, Saudi Aramco surpassed all to become the most-valued global organization. Let’s take a look at the top ten companies by market cap.
1. Saudi Aramco
This Saudi Arabia oil giant is one of the largest petroleum and natural gas companies in the globe. Undergoing its public listing just a month back, Saudi Aramco valuations currently stand at $1.84 trillion.
Currently, each stock of Saudi Aramco is trading at a price of 34.5 SAR.
2. Apple Inc.
The iPhone-maker is the second-most valued company and also the most-valued tech company in the world. With the market cap at over $1.40 Trillion, each Apple Inc. stock is currently trading at $318.73.
Also, in the last year, Apple has given 100% returns to its investors with its stock price surging from $150 to over $130 levels. Apple has been looking to explore new opportunities in the Augmented Reality and Financial Payments industry.
Recently, Apple also launched its video-streaming platform Apple TV+ to compete against the likes of Netflix, Disney, and Amazon.
3. Microsoft
This computing giant needs no introduction as it has been dominating the tech space for the last few decades. Microsoft is the third most-valued organizations with over $1.27 Trillion market cap. In the last one year, Microsoft’s stock price has surged over 60% and is currently trading at a price of $167.
4. Alphabet Inc.
Alphabet is the parent company of search giant Google and was born as part of the company restructuring process in 2015. Also, Alphabet recently became the fourth tech company to touch trillion-dollar valuations.
In 2019, Alphabet stock has given nearly 49% returns to investors. At press time, Alphabet is trading at a price of $1450. Last month in December 2019, company co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped down and appointed Sundar Pichai as the CEO of the Alphabet.
5. Amazon
The eCommerce giant has shown phenomenal growth over the last decade. The success of Amazon has led to its founder Jeff Bezos becoming the richest man on earth surpassing Bill Gates.
2019 turned out to be moderate for the company with its stock price surging around 10%. At press time, Amazon stock (AMZN) is trading at a price of $1864 with a market cap of $924 billion.
Amazon is working aggressively in expanding its global footprint. Jeff Bezos’ recent visit to India shows that he is actively seeing a massive potential in the Indian market. Bezos has committed to investing over $1 billion in Indian operations over the next few years.
6. Facebook
The social media giant has been in the midst of several controversies in the last two years. In 2018, Facebook named popped-out in the Cambridge Analytica scandal wherein massive chunks of Facebook user data were supposedly leaked compromising user privacy.
The U.S. lawmakers also grilled Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on this matter. Besides, Facebook’s own cryptocurrency project Libra has been at the center of controversies in 2019. Ever since Facebook announced its Libra cryptocurrency last year in June, the regulators have been heavily scrutinizing the company.
However, the Facebook stock has performed well in 2019 despite all the controversies. In 2019 the FB stock price surged over 50% and is currently trading at $222. Facebook’s market cap currently stands at $633.49 billion. Facebook is most likely the next company in line to hit the trillion-dollar valuations.
7. Alibaba
Also called the Amazon of China, Alibaba has grown to become a formidable giant over the last two decades. The Chinese giant went for an NYSE listing five years back in September 2014.
Besides eCommerce, Alibaba has its business in cloud computing, payments, financial technology, and other tech verticals. In 2019, the Alibaba stock price surged nearly 40%. At press time, Alibaba is trading at $227 on NYSE with a market cap of $610 billion.
8. Berkshire Hathway
The Omaha-based American financial multinational conglomerate needs no introduction. Berkshire Hathway is chaired by Warren Buffett, who is popularly called the Oracle of Omaha in the global financial space.
Berkshire Hathway has been the darling of investors known for its clean image in the market. With a market cap of $562 billion, Berkshire Hathway is the eight-most valued company in the globe. In 2019, the Berkshire Hathway stock nearly 40% returns to its investors.
This financial giant has its portfolio distributed across a multitude of different companies spread across different business sectors.
9. Visa
This payment processing giant is a California-based American multinational financial services giant. Visa has climbed to the top-ten ranks with its constant desire for digitizing the payments industry and connecting global trade and commerce.
In 2019, the Visa stock has given handsome returns around 40%, to its investors. The Visa stock is currently trading at $204 with a market cap of $441 billion. Visa was one of the early members of Facebook’s Libra Foundation. However, to avoid any conflict with the regulators, the company decided to pull out of Facebook’s ambitious project later in 2019.
The company has been constantly updating its services to deal with the new challenges and opportunities in the financial technology market.
10. JPMorgan Chase
Wall Street banking giant JPMorgan is the tenth-most valued global firm with a market cap of $433 billion. JPMorgan has been actively exploring new developments in the blockchain space and working on its new blockchain platform.
Early last year in 2019, JPMorgan also announced its new cryptocurrency JPMCoin to speed-up its global settlement process by leveraging the power of blockchain.
In 2019, the JPMorgan stock has given over 30% returns climbing above $138.