The world’s biggest companies in 2008

17 April 2008 Michael Szumielewski 4 Comments Companies

Do you know what are the biggest companies on earth? Well, Forbes.com once again made a huge list of the The Global 2000 from 60 countries. The composite ranking is simply based on sales, profits, assets and market value. This is important because one metric alone can give a false impression about corporate size.
In total, the global 2000 companies now account for $30 trillion in revenues, $2.4 trillion in profits, $119 trillion in assets and $39 trillion in market value. Around the world, 72 million people work for these companies.
So, here are the top 10 companies in 2008 from The Global 2000 list by Forbes.com

Rank Company Country Industry Sales ($bil) Profits ($bil) Assets ($bil) Market Value ($bil)
1 HSBC Holdings United Kingdom Banking 146.50 19.13 2,348.98 180.81
2 General Electric United States Conglomerates 172.74 22.21 795.34 330.93
3 Bank of America United States Banking 119.19 14.98 1,715.75 176.53
4 JPMorgan Chase United States Banking 116.35 15.37 1,562.15 136.88
5 ExxonMobil United States Oil & Gas Operations 358.60 40.61 242.08 465.51
6 Royal Dutch Shell Netherlands Oil & Gas Operations 355.78 31.33 266.22 221.09
7 BP United Kingdom Oil & Gas Operations 281.03 20.60 236.08 204.94
8 Toyota Motor Japan Consumer Durables 203.80 13.99 276.38 175.08
9 ING Group Netherlands Insurance 197.93 12.65 1,932.15 75.78
10 Berkshire Hathaway United States Diversified Financials 118.25 13.21 273.16 216.65

4 Comments »

  • NatureLimit said:

    India’s Tata Steel leads the way for companies that saw the biggest increases in sales last year. increases in revenues,employers,Fastest-growing profits Etc.

    # 12 July 2008 at 8:48 am
  • Steve said:

    Great article. It’s interesting that XOM, the most profitable company on the list and with solid growth expectations, has a P/E ratio of under 10.

    # 7 September 2008 at 4:26 pm
  • The secrets of Warren Buffett´s success | the daily john said:

    [...] 3. Watch out for fortresses. [...]

    # 20 November 2008 at 11:37 am
  • john said:

    interesting that organistions that manufacture consumer products arent dominant here on the list.

    # 8 June 2010 at 10:55 am

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