The Forbes Global 2000 are the biggest, most powerful listed companies in the world. Forbes' ranking of the world's biggest companies use an equal weighting of sales, profits, assets and market value to rank companies according to size. This year's list reveals the dynamism of global business. The rankings span 62 countries, with the US (515 members) and Japan (210 members) still dominating the list, but with a combined 33 fewer entries.
This year, the following countries gained the most ground: mainland China (113 members), India (56 members) and Canada (62 members). Even Oman and Lebanon are now Global 2000 members. Also gaining a significant presence on this year’s list are corporations from Ireland, South Africa and Sweden. In total the Global 2000 companies now account for $30 trillion in revenues, $1.4 trillion in profits, $124 trillion in assets and $31 trillion in market value. All metrics are down from last year, except for market value, which rose 61%.
An analysis of the Global 2000 shows that despite the turmoil in the financial sector, banks still dominate, with 308 companies in the 2000 line-up, thanks mainly to their asset totals. The oil and gas industry, with 115 companies, scores high in sales, profits and stock-market value, yet these sectors were not the leaders in growth over the past year. Insurance companies (up 27%) led all sectors in sales growth, while the leaders in profit growth were drugs and biotech firms (up 20%). This year's top five:
1 JPMorgan Chase
2 General Electric
3 Bank of America
4 ExxonMobil
5 ICBC
Click here for the full list
Photo from Creative commons: Flickr:jcarwash31
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