Big companies around the world are reaping the benefits of a strong global economy, with many raking in hundreds of billions of dollars. Every year, Fortune Magazine publishes a ranking of the world’s largest companies by revenue. Our new visualization presents the top 100 companies to make the cut in 2019, including where the companies are located and which industries they represent.
- Combined, the world’s top 100 companies generated more than $15 trillion in revenue.
- There are 17 countries represented in the top 100 companies.
- More than half of the world’s 100 most valuable companies are located in the U.S. (35 companies) or China (23 companies).
- The world’s 100 most valuable companies are spread across a variety of industries, with particularly strong representation in energy, motor vehicles, and financial services.
The information for this visualization comes from the Fortune list of Global 500 companies, as ranked by revenue (see the full methodology here). We illustrated the top 100 of these companies in the chart above, with each octagon representing one company. Within each octagon, we included the company’s logo, its revenue, and the country where it is located. The size of each octagon in the visualization is proportional to the company’s revenue, with the larger shapes representing higher revenues. In addition, each company is outlined in a color that represents its industry sector, such as energy, food and retail, and technology.
Top 10 Most Valuable Companies by Revenue
1. Walmart - U.S. - $514 billion
2. Sinopec Group - China - $415 billion
3. Royal Dutch Shell - Netherlands - $397 billion
4. China National Petroleum - China - $393 billion
5. State Grid - China - $387 billion
6. Saudi Aramco - Saudi Arabia - $356 billion
7. BP - Britain - $304 billion
8. Exxon Mobil - U.S. - $290 billion
9. Volkswagen - Germany - $278 billion
10. Toyota Motor - Japan - $273 billion
According to Fortune, overall revenue for the Global 500 grew 9% compared to the year before. Decreases in national corporate taxes have been noted as a reason for higher revenues within U.S. companies, although the federal government is also bringing in less tax revenue as a result of the new tax policy. Earlier this year, analysts also predicted that even though U.S. companies were bringing in higher revenues, they could experience lower profit margins due to increases in cost for labor and raw materials.
In addition, tariffs are having an impact on companies in the U.S. and around the world. Some new international tariffs such as the French digital services tax will not only affect company profits, especially in Silicon Valley, but they will also affect revenue. Furthermore, some economists suggest that Trump’s “America First” policies are discouraging foreign companies from investing in their U.S. operations. Big companies will be keeping a close eye on these policy developments to see how they will affect their bottom lines.
Did any of the companies on this list surprise you? Please let us know what you think in the comments.
Data: Table 1.1