The World's Biggest Companies
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Worried about the global economy? It’s easy to see why. Europe shovels stimulus and America grapples for growth. Asia, long a bright spot, is dimming. Apple alone accounts for much of the S&P’s boom. Yet the world’s largest companies still thrive, with double-digit growth in sales and earnings last year.
In total, the Global 2000 companies now account for $36 trillion in revenues (up 12%), $2.64 trillion in profits (up 11%), $149 trillion in assets (up 8%) and $37 trillion in market value (down 0.5%). These firms also employ 83 million people worldwide. All metrics, except for the firms’ values are up from a year ago due to slumping international markets dragging down the aggregate growth.
Forbes annual ranking of the world’s biggest companies departs from lopsided lists based on a single metric, like sales. Instead we use an equal weighting of sales, profits, assets and market value to rank companies according to size. This year’s list again reveals the dynamism of global business. This year’s rankings span 66 countries, adding four countries this year. The U.S. (524 members) and Japan (258 members) still dominate the list, but with a combined 14 fewer entries. Mainland China is closing the gap on the two leaders and sits as the third largest country in terms of membership with 15 more members this year. Other countries adding to their total this year are South Korea (68 firms), India (61) and the U.K. (93). Countries standing out in terms of growth across all four metrics are Thailand, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
In our ninth annual ranking, Exxon Mobil , the world’s most profitable company this year, takes the number one spot as the biggest Global 2000 company for the first time. JPMorgan Chase , last year’s biggest company, takes a back seat to Exxon this year followed by GE , the Netherlands’ Royal Dutch Shell and Chinese bank ICBC . Looking further down the list of Top 25, there are some standouts this year. Apple took over the title as the “most valuable” company on the list, jumping 25 places to number 22 overall this year. BP (No. 11) returned to the top 25 this year, up from 390 last year. Key to the climb is a return to profitability in 2011, reversing 2010?s $3.3 billion net loss to posting $26 billion in net income. Japan’s Toyota Motor (No. 25) also broke into the elite 25, up from number 55 a year ago.
An analysis of the Global 2000 shows that despite the turmoil in the financial sector, banks and diversified financials still dominate the list, with a combined 478 companies in the 2000 lineup, thanks in large measure to their asset totals. The oil and gas industry, with 131 companies, scores high in sales and profits, yet these sectors were not the leaders in growth over the past year. Materials, led by metals and mining companies, led all sectors in sales (up 41%). Big profit growth for automakers propelled the consumer durables industry to lead all others in profit growth (up 95%). Asset growth of Asia’s heavy equipment firms account for the capital goods industry lead in asset growth (up 25%). Investors rushed into restaurant stocks as the consumer recovery took shape in 2011 to lead all sectors in market value growth (up 24%).
We broke down our list into four regions this year: Asia-Pacific, (733 total members), followed by Europe, Middle East & Africa-EMEA (605), the U.S. (524) and the Americas (145). Only the U.S. grew across all four metrics from a year ago. Asia-Pacific, the biggest region in terms of members, led in sales growth (up 26%), profit growth (up 29%) and asset growth (up 19%). The U.S. was the only region to show a gain in market value from a year ago with 6% growth to an aggregate value of $13 trillion, tops among all regions.
