Ranked: The 100 Biggest Public Companies in the World

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 valuation.

Despite the tech downturn of 2022—driven by rising interest rates and slower sales—Apple maintained its top spot. This was largely thanks to record revenues and healthy consumer demand for iPhones, which drive 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 U.S. 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
CompanyMarket CapitalizationSectorLocation

1Apple$2.3TTechnology🇺🇸 U.S.

2Microsoft$1.9TTechnology🇺🇸 U.S.

3Saudi Aramco$1.8TEnergy🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia

4Alphabet $1.2TTechnology🇺🇸 U.S.

5Amazon$924BConsumer Discretionary🇺🇸 U.S.

6Berkshire Hathaway$686BFinancials🇺🇸 U.S.

7Tesla$522BConsumer Discretionary🇺🇸 U.S.

8UnitedHealth Group$510BHealth Care🇺🇸 U.S.

9Johnson & Johnson$465BHealth Care🇺🇸 U.S.

10Visa$454BIndustrials🇺🇸 U.S.

11NVIDIA$437BTechnology🇺🇸 U.S.

12Exxon Mobil$437BEnergy🇺🇸 U.S.

13TSMC$417BTechnology🇹🇼 Taiwan

14Walmart$399BConsumer Discretionary🇺🇸 U.S.

15Tencent$397BTechnology🇨🇳 China

16JPMorgan Chase$394BFinancials🇺🇸 U.S.

17LVMH$377BConsumer Discretionary🇫🇷 France

18Procter & Gamble$361BConsumer Staples🇺🇸 U.S.

19Eli Lilly$349BHealth Care🇺🇸 U.S.

20Mastercard$344BIndustrials🇺🇸 U.S.

21Home Depot$334BConsumer Discretionary🇺🇸 U.S.

22Chevron$328BEnergy🇺🇸 U.S.

23Nestlé$322BConsumer Staples🇨🇭 Switzerland

24Kweichow Moutai$313BConsumer Staples🇨🇳 China

25Samsung$306BTechnology🇰🇷 South Korea

26Meta (Facebook)$304BTechnology🇺🇸 U.S.

27Pfizer$293BHealth Care🇺🇸 U.S.

28AbbVie$292BHealth Care🇺🇸 U.S.

29Novo Nordisk$292BHealth Care🇩🇰 Denmark

30Coca-Cola$277BConsumer Staples🇺🇸 U.S.

31Merck$276BHealth Care🇺🇸 U.S.

32Roche$267BHealth Care🇨🇭 Switzerland

33Bank of America$263BFinancials🇺🇸 U.S.

34Pepsico$253BConsumer Staples🇺🇸 U.S.

35ASML$247BTechnology🇳🇱 Netherlands

36Alibaba$245BConsumer Discretionary🇨🇳 China

37Broadcom$225BTechnology🇺🇸 U.S.

38Thermo Fisher Scientific$223BHealth Care🇺🇸 U.S.

39Oracle$219BTechnology🇺🇸 U.S.

40Costco$216BConsumer Discretionary🇺🇸 U.S.

41Astrazeneca$215BHealth Care🇬🇧 United Kingdom

42Reliance Industries$214BEnergy🇮🇳 India

43ICBC$208BFinancials🇨🇳 China

44McDonald’s$203BConsumer Discretionary🇺🇸 U.S.

45Cisco$203BTelecommunications🇺🇸 U.S.

46Shell$201BEnergy🇳🇱 Netherlands

47Danaher$199BHealth Care🇺🇸 U.S.

48L’Oréal$197BConsumer Discretionary🇫🇷 France

49Toyota$197BConsumer Discretionary🇯🇵 Japan

50Novartis$196BHealth Care🇨🇭 Switzerland

51Abbott Laboratories$109BHealth Care🇺🇸 U.S.

52Accenture$184BIndustrials🇮🇪 Ireland

53T-Mobile$177BTelecommunications🇺🇸 U.S.

54Nike$175BConsumer Discretionary🇺🇸 U.S.

55Walt Disney$173BConsumer Discretionary🇺🇸 U.S.

56Nextera Energy$172BUtilities🇺🇸 U.S.

57Hermès$169BConsumer Discretionary🇫🇷 France

58Bristol-Myers Squibb$168BHealth Care🇺🇸 U.S.

59Linde$166BBasic Materials🇬🇧 United Kingdom

60Wells Fargo$163BFinancials🇺🇸 U.S.

61Texas Instruments$161BTechnology🇺🇸 U.S.

62BHP Group$160BBasic Materials🇦🇺 Australia

63Verizon$159BTelecommunications🇺🇸 U.S.

64Philip Morris$159BConsumer Staples🇺🇸 U.S.

65Comcast$158BTelecommunications🇺🇸 U.S.

66UPS$158BIndustrials🇺🇸 U.S.

67Adobe$157BTechnology🇺🇸 U.S.

68Morgan Stanley$154BFinancials🇺🇸 U.S.

69China Construction Bank$152BFinancials🇨🇳 China

70TotalEnergies$152BEnergy🇫🇷 France

71Charles Schwab$150BFinancials🇺🇸 U.S.

72Amgen$148BHealth Care🇺🇸 U.S.

73Raytheon Technologies$146BIndustrials🇺🇸 U.S.

74Tata Consultancy$146BTechnology🇮🇳 India

75CATL$145BConsumer Discretionary🇨🇳 China

76China Mobile$145BTelecommunications🇨🇳 China

77Honeywell$144BIndustrials🇺🇸 U.S.

78Agricultural Bank of China$141BFinancials🇨🇳 China

79Netflix$140BConsumer Discretionary🇺🇸 U.S.

80Meituan$140BTechnology🇨🇳 China

81ConocoPhillips$139BEnergy🇺🇸 U.S.

82AT&T$138BFinancials🇺🇸 U.S.

83CVS Health$136BHealth Care🇺🇸 U.S.

84Dior$136BConsumer Discretionary🇫🇷 France

85Qualcomm$136BTechnology🇺🇸 U.S.

86Prosus$135BTechnology🇳🇱 Netherlands

87RBC$135BFinancials🇨🇦 Canada

88IBM$134BTechnology🇺🇸 U.S.

89Salesforce$133BTechnology🇺🇸 U.S.

90Union Pacific$133BIndustrials🇺🇸 U.S.

91Deere & Company$132BIndustrials🇺🇸 U.S.

92Unilever$130BConsumer Staples🇬🇧 United Kingdom

93CM Bank$130BFinancials🇨🇳 China

94HDFC Bank$129BFinancials🇮🇳 India

95Elevance Health$128BHealth Care🇺🇸 U.S.

96AIA$128BFinancials🇭🇰 Hong Kong

97Lockheed Martin$127BIndustrials🇺🇸 U.S.

98PetroChina$127BEnergy🇨🇳 China

99SAP$127BTechnology🇩🇪 Germany

100Lowe’s$124BConsumer Discretionary🇺🇸 U.S.

*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-U.S. 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 2022—one of the fastest globally.

Overall, 62 companies of the 100 largest are headquartered in the U.S., 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 decline. Half of these companies saw double-digit drops.

Tesla has witnessed nearly 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 across 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.

RankSectorCombined Market ValueNumber of CompaniesBiggest Company in Sector

1👩‍💻 Technology$9.2T20Apple

2🚗 Consumer Discretionary$4.7T17Amazon

3🩺 Health Care$4.3T17UnitedHealth Group

4🛢️ Energy$3.4T8Saudi Aramco

5💵 Financials$3.0T14Berkshire Hathaway

6🏭 Industrials$1.8T9Visa

7🥫 Consumer Staples$1.8T7Procter & Gamble

8📞 Telecommunications$841B5Cisco

9⛏️ Basic Materials$326B2Linde

10🔌 Utilities$127B1Nextera 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 is utilities, the smallest sector overall at least pertaining to the largest companies list. NextEra Energy, the sole 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 caps—roughly 66% and 28%, respectively​​—amid 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.