The Biggest Companies in the World in 2022
View the high-resolution of the infographic by clicking here.
This year has been shaped by uncomfortable macroeconomic headwinds.
Trillions of dollars were erased in public company market capitalizations, investor confidence waned, and cost pressures squeezed consumer pocketbooks.
Taken together, many of the world’s largest companies experienced sharp declines in market share. Still, a few companies in key sectors had positive growth over the year.
As 2022 comes to a close, the above infographic shows the biggest companies in the world, using data from companiesmarketcap.com.
The World’s Largest Public Companies in 2022
Today, Apple stands as the world’s most valuable company, towering at a $2.3 trillion assessment.
Despite the tech downturn of 2022โdriven by rising interest rates and slower salesโApple maintained its top spot. This was largely thanks to record revenues and healthy consumer demand for iPhones, which drives about half of its total revenue.
Following Apple is Microsoft. Unlike Apple, Microsoft has faced slower earnings over the year due to lower demand for personal computers and the weighing impact of a strong US dollar. Overall, about 50% of the company’s sales take place overseas.
As we show below, there are now only four companies left in the trillion dollar market cap club.
2022 Rank | Company | Market Capitalization | Sector | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Apple | $2.3T | Technology | ๐บ๐ธUS |
2 | Microsoft | $1.9T | Technology | ๐บ๐ธUS |
3 | Saudi Aramco | $1.8T | Energy | ๐ธ๐ฆ Saudi Arabia |
4 | Alphabet | $1.2T | Technology | ๐บ๐ธUS |
5 | Amazon | $924B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐บ๐ธUS |
6 | Berkshire Hathaway | $686B | Financials | ๐บ๐ธUS |
7 | Tesla | $522B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐บ๐ธUS |
8 | UnitedHealth Group | $510B | Health Care | ๐บ๐ธUS |
9 | Johnson & Johnson | $465B | Health Care | ๐บ๐ธUS |
10 | Visa | $454B | Industrials | ๐บ๐ธUS |
11 | NVIDIA | $437B | Technology | ๐บ๐ธUS |
12 | Exxon Mobil | $437B | Energy | ๐บ๐ธUS |
13 | TSMC | $417B | Technology | ๐น๐ผ Taiwan |
14 | Walmart | $399B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐บ๐ธUS |
15 | Tencent | $397B | Technology | ๐จ๐ณ China |
16 | JPMorgan Chase | $394B | Financials | ๐บ๐ธUS |
17 | LVMH | $377B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐ซ๐ท France |
18 | Procter & Gamble | $361B | Consumer Staples | ๐บ๐ธUS |
19 | Eli Lilly | $349B | Health Care | ๐บ๐ธUS |
20 | MasterCard | $344B | Industrials | ๐บ๐ธUS |
21 | Home Depot | $334B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐บ๐ธUS |
22 | Chevron | $328B | Energy | ๐บ๐ธUS |
23 | Nestle | $322B | Consumer Staples | ๐จ๐ญ Switzerland |
24 | Kweichow Moutai | $313B | Consumer Staples | ๐จ๐ณ China |
25 | Samsung | $306B | Technology | ๐ฐ๐ท South Korea |
26 | Target (Facebook) | $304B | Technology | ๐บ๐ธUS |
27 | Pfizer | $293B | Health Care | ๐บ๐ธUS |
28 | AbbVie | $292B | Health Care | ๐บ๐ธUS |
29 | Novo Nordisk | $292B | Health Care | ๐ฉ๐ฐ Denmark |
30 | Coca-Cola | $277B | Consumer Staples | ๐บ๐ธUS |
31 | Merck | $276B | Health Care | ๐บ๐ธUS |
32 | Roche | $267B | Health Care | ๐จ๐ญ Switzerland |
33 | Bank of America | $263B | Financials | ๐บ๐ธUS |
34 | Pepsi | $253B | Consumer Staples | ๐บ๐ธUS |
35 | ASML | $247B | Technology | ๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands |
36 | Alibaba | $245B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐จ๐ณ China |
37 | Broadcom | $225B | Technology | ๐บ๐ธUS |
38 | Thermo Fisher Scientific | $223B | Health Care | ๐บ๐ธUS |
39 | Oracle | $219B | Technology | ๐บ๐ธUS |
40 | Costco | $216B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐บ๐ธUS |
41 | AstraZeneca | $215B | Health Care | ๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom |
42 | Reliance Industries | $214B | Energy | ๐ฎ๐ณ India |
43 | ICBC | $208B | Financials | ๐จ๐ณ China |
44 | McDonald’s | $203B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐บ๐ธUS |
45 | Cisco | $203B | Telecommunications | ๐บ๐ธUS |
46 | shell | $201B | Energy | ๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands |
47 | Danaher | $199B | Health Care | ๐บ๐ธUS |
48 | L’Orรฉal | $197B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐ซ๐ท France |
49 | Toyota | $197B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐ฏ๐ต Japan |
50 | Novartis | $196B | Health Care | ๐จ๐ญ Switzerland |
51 | Abbott Laboratories | $109B | Health Care | ๐บ๐ธUS |
52 | Accenture | $184B | Industrials | ๐ฎ๐ช Ireland |
53 | T-Mobile | $177B | Telecommunications | ๐บ๐ธUS |
54 | Nike | $175B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐บ๐ธUS |
55 | Walt Disney | $173B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐บ๐ธUS |
56 | Nextera Energy | $172B | Utilities | ๐บ๐ธUS |
57 | Hermes | $169B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐ซ๐ท France |
58 | Bristol-Myers Squibb | $168B | Health Care | ๐บ๐ธUS |
59 | Linde | $166B | Basic Materials | ๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom |
60 | Wells Fargo | $163B | Financials | ๐บ๐ธUS |
61 | Texas Instruments | $161B | Technology | ๐บ๐ธUS |
62 | BHP Group | $160B | Basic Materials | ๐ฆ๐บ Australia |
63 | Verizon | $159B | Telecommunications | ๐บ๐ธUS |
64 | Philip Morris | $159B | Consumer Staples | ๐บ๐ธUS |
65 | Comcast | $158B | Telecommunications | ๐บ๐ธUS |
66 | UPS | $158B | Industrials | ๐บ๐ธUS |
67 | Adobe | $157B | Technology | ๐บ๐ธUS |
68 | Morgan Stanley | $154B | Financials | ๐บ๐ธUS |
69 | China Construction Bank | $152B | Financials | ๐จ๐ณ China |
70 | TotalEnergies | $152B | Energy | ๐ซ๐ท France |
71 | Charles Schwab | $150B | Financials | ๐บ๐ธUS |
72 | Amgen | $148B | Health Care | ๐บ๐ธUS |
73 | Raytheon Technologies | $146B | Industrials | ๐บ๐ธUS |
74 | Tata Consultancy | $146B | Technology | ๐ฎ๐ณ India |
75 | CATL | $145B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐จ๐ณ China |
76 | China Mobile | $145B | Telecommunications | ๐จ๐ณ China |
77 | Honeywell | $144B | Industrials | ๐บ๐ธUS |
78 | Agricultural Bank of China | $141B | Financials | ๐จ๐ณ China |
79 | Netflix | $140B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐บ๐ธUS |
80 | Meituan | $140B | Technology | ๐จ๐ณ China |
81 | ConocoPhillips | $139B | Energy | ๐บ๐ธUS |
82 | AT&T | $138B | Financials | ๐บ๐ธUS |
83 | CVS Health | $136B | Health Care | ๐บ๐ธUS |
84 | Dior | $136B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐ซ๐ท France |
85 | Qualcomm | $136B | Technology | ๐บ๐ธUS |
86 | prose | $135B | Technology | ๐ณ๐ฑ Netherlands |
87 | RBC | $135B | Financials | ๐จ๐ฆ Canada |
88 | IBM | $134B | Technology | ๐บ๐ธUS |
89 | Salesforce | $133B | Technology | ๐บ๐ธUS |
90 | Union Pacific | $133B | Industrials | ๐บ๐ธUS |
91 | Deere & Company | $132B | Industrials | ๐บ๐ธUS |
92 | Unilever | $130B | Consumer Staples | ๐ฌ๐ง United Kingdom |
93 | CM Bank | $130B | Financials | ๐จ๐ณ China |
94 | HDFC Bank | $129B | Financials | ๐ฎ๐ณ India |
95 | Elevance Health | $128B | Health Care | ๐บ๐ธUS |
96 | AIA | $128B | Financials | ๐ญ๐ฐ Hong Kong |
97 | Lockheed Martin | $127B | Industrials | ๐บ๐ธUS |
98 | PetroChina | $127B | Energy | ๐จ๐ณ China |
99 | SAP | $127B | Technology | ๐ฉ๐ช Germany |
100 | Lowe’s | $124B | Consumer Discretionary | ๐บ๐ธUS |
*As of Dec 12, 2022.
Oil giant Saudi Aramco is the third largest publicly-traded company globally, at $1.8 trillion. It’s also the only non-US company in the top 10.
In May, the state-run company briefly became the most valuable company on the planet as soaring energy prices boosted earnings. Saudia Arabia is the largest exporter of oil in the world, and the country’s economy is forecast to grow 7.6% in 2022โone of the fastest globally.
Overall, 62 companies of the 100 largest are headquartered in the US, 11 are based in China, and five are located in France.
Top 10 Performance in 2022
For many of the world’s largest companies, 2022 was a brutal year for performance.
As the above graphic shows, the vast majority of the world’s titans saw their market values โโdecline. Half of these companies saw double-digit drops.
Tesla has witnessed almost 70% of its market cap being erased this year. Two main factors are behind this drop: falling demand, especially in China, and CEO Elon Musk’s volatile and risky acquisition of Twitter.
On the other hand, UnitedHealth Group has seen the strongest performance among the top 10.
The company, which rakes in a large share of its earnings from employer-backed insurance plans, said that recessionary impacts had not yet begun materializing in 2022.
Biggest Companies in the World, by Sector
Even with sinking market values โโacross the sector in 2022, tech remains dominant.
Among the world’s biggest companies, 20 are in tech, spanning a combined market value of $9.2 trillion. For perspective, that’s about 31% of the market value of the 100 largest companies.
Rank | Sector | Combined Market Value | Number of Companies | Biggest Company in Sector |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ๐ฉโ๐ป Technology | $9.2T | 20 | Apple |
2 | ๐ Consumer Discretionary | $4.7T | 17 | Amazon |
3 | ๐ฉบ Health Care | $4.3T | 17 | UnitedHealth Group |
4 | ๐ข๏ธ Energy | $3.4T | 8 | Saudi Aramco |
5 | ๐ต Financials | $3.0T | 14 | Berkshire Hathaway |
6 | ๐ญ Industrials | $1.8T | 9 | Visa |
7 | ๐ฅซ Consumer Staples | $1.8T | 7 | Procter & Gamble |
8 | ๐ Telecommunications | $841B | 5 | Cisco |
9 | โ๏ธ Basic Materials | $326B | 2 | Linde |
10 | ๐ Utilities | $127B | 1 | Nextera Energy |
Companies are classified according to the FTSE Russell Industry Classification Benchmark. *As of Dec 12, 2022.
Consumer discretionary and health care sectors fall next in line, with big players such as Amazon and Johnson & Johnson among their ranks.
At the other end of the spectrum are utilities, the smallest sector overall at least belonging to the largest companies list. NextEra Energy, the solar utilities company among the rankings is one of the world’s largest developers of wind and solar energy. Over the next three years, it plans to invest up to $95 billion in greening its power operations.
Change of Fortune
It comes as no surprise that many of the biggest companies in the world are long-established players in global markets.
Yet within the rankings, some of the notable risers compared to 2021 are UnitedHealth Group, which launched from #19 in 2021 to #8 this year and NVIDIA which has climbed to become the 11th largest company globally, up from #24 last year.
By contrast, some of the biggest losers are Meta (Facebook’s parent company) and Alibaba. Meta has fallen across the rankings to #26 in 2022 from #6 in 2021. Meanwhile, Alibaba was once the ninth largest globally but has tumbled to #36. Both companies have seen considerable value wiped from their market capsโroughly 66% and 28%, respectivelyโโamid lagging earnings.
With the year coming to a close, it remains to be seen whether the world’s biggest companies stage a comeback in 2023, or face more challenging conditions ahead.