10 Most Valuable Companies in the World

This  article is about the top 10 of the most valuable companies in the world.

The rating is based on market capitalization. It is calculated by multiplying the number of shares issued by the company by the value of one such share.

The data in the article is relevant as of 20th January 2020.

By the way, if you look at the rating of the most expensive stock, it will differ significantly from this one.

1.) Saudi Aramco  – $1880 Billion

Industry: Oil and gas production, refining.

Products: Oil, natural gas and other petrochemical products.

After the successful issue of shares on the stock exchange, Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabian oil company) became the most expensive company in the world. It has officially published its financial statements first in 2019. Shortly after the release of the shares on the Tadawul stock exchange, the company’s value almost reached 1.9 trillion dollars.

The oil giant has exceeded all expectations with the issued share: its IPO is considered one of the most successful in history.

They say that Saudi Aramco is going to use almost all the profits for various mergers,purchases and expansion of its influence in the world.

In particular, the company intends to become a leader in the production of liquified natural gas.

Today, Saudi Aramco is considered one of the world’s leaders in oil production and reserves.

SA already has branches and subsidiaries in China, Japan, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, the USA, Great Britain and other countries. The company also collaborates with Lukoil, Royal Dutch Shell, Total SA, Sinopec and others.

Today, the company is owned by the Saudi Arabian government. The main office is located in Dahran.

2.) Apple inc. -$1397 Billion

Industry: Electronics, information technology.

Products: Personal computers and tablets,mobile phones, audio players.

For a long time, apple was the most valuable company in the world. But due to the situation with the disappointing iphone sales, it lost its primacy. Yet the situation is much better now: the company is winning its position back. Today, Apple is second in terms of market capitalisation.

At the same time, the company continues to occupy the first position at the most expensive brand’s list.

Today the company logo is recognised by many people as Apple became truly the most successful brand. Its value is estimated at $1397 billion by experts from rating agencies.

The company was established on 1 April 1976 by Steve Jobs. The trio initially engaged in the assembly of home computers and producing proprietary mode of PC, But their greatest success came just in recent years when Apple introduced the line of its mobile products to the world – the iphone smartphones and the ipad tablets.

Nowadays, the range of its products is wide and includes wrist watches, computers and laptops, tablets and smartphones and more.

However, the hallmark of “Apple” gadgets’ popularity is high quality marketing program by Steve Jobs. Today, the company has thousands of offices, brand stores and service centers worldwide with a staff of nearly 132,000 employees.

Apple is headquartered in Cupertino, California, USA.

3.) Microsoft  – $1274 Billion

Industry: Software development

Products: Microsoft office, Microsoft windows, Xbox.

The third most valuable company in the world is Microsoft.

The internationally famous corporation was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates, who is one of the richest men in the world by now.

At that time, Microsoft was the first software developer that suggested using packaged software for home computers that would thereby make PC experience user-friendly and intuitive.

This software – the Microsoft Windows operating system – was a real breakthrough since it allowed ordinary users to master PC skills easily. The system brought the company an incredible success and huge profits.

Today, Microsoft is one of the leading companies in the PC software market as well. It releases new-generation Windows operating systems, a set of applications to work with documents called Microsoft Office and many other software programs. Besides, Microsoft produces its own mobile.

The company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA.

4.) Alphabet Inc. – $1020 Billion

Industry: Internet.

Google, the internationally famous internet company, recently changed its official name to Alphabet because the company was out of the scope of Google search engine long ago and now it owns plenty of other companies as well.

Sergey Brin and Larry Page, who jointly created the mega-company in 1998 are the heads of the internet holding.

More than thirty popular services and sub-companies are part of the holding:

Adwords, Android, Youtube, to name a few. Google is headquartered in California.

5.) Amazon Inc. – $924.52 Billion

Industry: Retail Business.

On January 7th 2019, Amazon became the most expensive company in the world for the first time overtaking its competitor – Microsoft. Today, it ranks fifth in the list of the most valuable companies.

Amazon is an American retail company that sells and delivers various goods over the internet.

Internet users, suppliers and producers can sell any goods on their own by using Amazon’s website as an online venue.

The company’s major business line is selling carious. The popularity of service soared thanks to high-quality goods, low prices, prompt delivery and a wide assortment.

The company was established in 1994 by Jeffos. Amazon is headquartered in title Seattle, WA, USA.

According to the overall estimates, the company employs about 647,500 and has more than $162 Billion in assets at the given moment. Its annual turnover amounts to approximately $232 billion.

6.) Facebook  – $633.49 Billion

Industry: Internet.

Facebook was developed by Mark Zuckerberg in February 2004. The Facebook social network is currently visited by more than 2 billion people every day. And the market value of $633.49 billion is simply an astronomical indicator of popularity for an internet project.

Today, Facebook yields more than $22 billion net yearly profit due to online advertising. Morover, the company is a leader in this TOP 10 list in terms of profitability, since its net profit increased by 54% within the past year alone.

Facebook is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, USA.

7.) Alibaba Group – $610.13 Billion

Industry: Internet.

Products: E-commerce, online auction hosting, online money transfers, mobile commerce.

The Alibaba company is one of the largest virtual trading platforms in China and the world, attracting the attention of buyers by both affordable prices and a wide range of goods presented.

Founded on April 4th 1999, the company provides consumer, business-consumer and business services through web portals as well as electronic payment services, a search system for customers and cloud computing.

The headquarter is located in Hangzhou, China.

8.) Berkshire Hathaway Inc. – $562.39 Billion

Industry:Insurance, finances, railway transport, utilities, food, and non-food products. The company is known for its permanent owner , an American investor and an entrepreneur: Warren Buffet.

The company is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.

Its share price of $344,970 that makes ith the world’s most expensive stock.

Affiliated companies:

– GEICO (care insurance)

– General Re (reinsurance)

– Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group (insurance)

– Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group (insurance and reinsurance)

– BNSF – (railway transport)

– Berkshire Hathaway Energy (electricity and gas supply)

– McLane Company (wholesale commerce)

Over 40,000 shareholders took part in the 2015 annual meeting.

That’s why the meeting earned the facetious nickname “Woodstock for Capitalists”.

9.) Tencent – $492.9 Billion

Industry: Internet.

Products: Social networking, instant messaging, mass media, web portals, etc.

Tencent is a venture company, a conglomerate, an investment holding and one of the largest companies in the gaming industry.

This Chinese giant founded in 1998, occupies the 9th position in the ranking of the most expensive companies worldwide.

Its services include social networks, mobile games, music, web portals, payment systems, e-commerce, internet services, smartphones and multiplayer online games which are among the largest and most successful in the world in their respective categories.

The headquarter of Tencent Seafront Towers (also known as Tencent Binhai Mansion) located in Nanshan District, Shenzhen.

10.) Visa Inc.  – $441.61 Billion

Industry: Financial services.

Visa Inc. was founded in 1958. It is an international company that conducts payment transactions and bank transfers.

Visa Inc. was founded in 1958. It is an international company that conducts payment transactions and bank transfers between financial institutions.

Visa is the second-largest payment system in the world based on issued cards and transaction data. You can pay wit Visa cards in more than 200 countries.

Most of the company’s transactions are processed using the VisaNet electronic payment network.

Remarkable is that the company has four centers for processing these transfers, which are located in Colorado, Virginia, London and Singapore. They are well protected from possible criminal interference and natural disasters.

The company is headquartered in San Fransico, California, USA.

 

Market Capitalisation   as a method of valuing a company:

Market capitalisation, along with annual income and total assets is one of the methods for evaluation of the investment attractiveness of a company.

Using market capitalisation to show the size of a company is important because the size of company is the main factor determining the various characteristics investors are interested in, including risks.

As market capitalisation is the number of shares multiplied by value, it is not the price at which the owner will necessarily sell their company.