In this article we are going to list the 15 biggest public companies in the world heading into 2021. Being a company hasn’t been easy in 2020. Being a public company in 2020 definitely hasn’t been easy in 2020. When news originated of a mysterious illness in China, few would’ve thought that it would become the worst pandemic in a century, with more than 85 million cases and at least 1.8 million deaths, with the caveat that these figures are likely extremely underreported, especially in developing regions. As the virus made its way across the world, countries started going into lockdowns to combat the spread, and all businesses other than essential businesses came to a halt. Even those that continued faced major issues due to the global supply chain being devastated.
When you look at the market cap of a company, or quarterly earnings, you’ll be able to see the impact of the pandemic on even the biggest public companies in the world in 2021. Most countries in the world are battling either a recession or a depression during the pandemic, and investors withdrew money from shares and put it into safer bets such as gold.
Some industries were hit much more than the others, with the hospitality industry perhaps being the worst him among all. Hotel chains and airlines had to lay off tens of thousands of employees across the world in an effort to decrease the losses faced, and experts have said that it will take years for these industries to return to their pre-pandemic levels. American Airlines, fell nearly 600 places after losing around $2.2 billion in just the first quarter. However, this definitely doesn’t mean that the pandemic treated everyone the same. E-commerce websites and the tech industry at large actually had a successful year as people had to stay home and resorted to online shopping, which is why these companies experiences such a boon and Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon was able to cement his position as the richest person in the world. But perhaps the biggest success story has been that of Tesla, and its owner Elon Musk, whose net worth has more than quadrupled in the year and is now worth more than $150 billion as Tesla’s shares kept rising and hitting landmark after landmark, with the company now being worth more than $600 billion.
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Apart from e-commerce websites, Zoom and Slack, communication technology companies which were popularized in 2020 when work from home became a thing, both experiences a surge in their shares and in May, made the list of Forbes Global 2000. The 15 biggest companies in the world have a combined market cap of $14.4 trillion. Unsurprisingly, 10 of the 15 companies belong to the United States, with the rest from China (2) and Saudi Arab, South Korea and Taiwan (1 each). Based on 2019 figures, these companies have combined revenues of around $2.5 trillion, assets of more than $3.6 trillion and profits of $453 billion. These companies are also responsible for providing direct employment to nearly 4.4 million people across the world and include a company which is the largest private employer in the world, as well as the company with the highest revenues in the world. All figures except for market cap are taken from Fortune Global 500 while the market cap as at December 31st has been taken from Forbes. So let’s take a look at the most influential companies in the world, starting with number 15:
15. Visa (NYSE:V)
Market cap of the company as at December 31, 2020 (in billions of dollars): 511.2
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 23.5
Total assets of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 74.8
Total profits of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 11.9
Total employees of the company in 2019: 19,500
A financial services company, Visa is one of the most recognizable companies in the world thanks to its debit and credit cards which are used my most banks across the world.
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14. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)
Market cap of the company as at December 31, 2020 (in billions of dollars): 668.9
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 26
Total assets of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 37.3
Total profits of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): -0.14
Total employees of the company in 2019: 48,016
The electric car company has had a magnificent year in 2020 and heads into 2021 full of confidence even though the company made losses in 2019.
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13. TSMC (NASDAQ:TSMC)
Market cap of the company as at December 31, 2020 (in billions of dollars): 488.1
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 37.8
Total assets of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 77.5
Total profits of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 13
Total employees of the company in 2019: 48,752
TSMC is a Taiwanese company and among the biggest semiconductor companies in the world.
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12. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)
Market cap of the company as at December 31, 2020 (in billions of dollars): 414.3
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 82.8
Total assets of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 155
Total profits of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 17.2
Total employees of the company in 2019: 132,200
One of the biggest biotechnology companies in the world, Johnson & Johnson has more than 250 subsidiaries and operations in 60 countries.
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11. Tencent
Market cap of the company as at December 31, 2020 (in billions of dollars): 699.8
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 54.6
Total assets of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 137
Total profits of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 13.5
Total employees of the company in 2019: 62,885
The Chinese conglomerate is easily among the biggest companies in the world in 2021 and was the first company in the world to cross the $500 billion valuation in 2018.
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10. Alibaba (NYSE:BABA)
Market cap of the company as at December 31, 2020 (in billions of dollars): 629.7
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 70.6
Total assets of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 189.4
Total profits of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 24.7
Total employees of the company in 2019: 66,421
The biggest company in China is the Alibaba Group which is an e-commerce and retail company, which had the largest IPO in the world at the time in 2014, raising $25 billion.
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9. Facebook (NASDAQ:FB)
Market cap of the company as at December 31, 2020 (in billions of dollars): 778
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 73.4
Total assets of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 138.4
Total profits of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 21
Total employees of the company in 2019: 44,942
Facebook has more influence than most countries now, and who wouldn’t with more than 2.3 billion active monthly users. This is despite being banned by China which is the most populous country in the world. It is also currently among the most controversial companies in the world due to accusations of political manipulation and user privacy among many other issues.
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8. Samsung
Market cap of the company as at December 31, 2020 (in billions of dollars): 481.1
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 197.6
Total assets of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 304.9
Total profits of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 18.4
Total employees of the company in 2019: 105,257
The South Korean electronics giant has made its name in a number of industries including televisions, audio and is also the biggest phone company in the world.
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7. Walmart (NYSE:WMT)
Market cap of the company as at December 31, 2020 (in billions of dollars): 407.8
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 524
Total assets of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 236.5
Total profits of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 14.9
Total employees of the company in 2019: 2,200,000
The biggest retailer in the world is the largest private employer in the world, and now has more than 11,500 stores across 27 countries.
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6. Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Market cap of the company as at December 31, 2020 (in billions of dollars): 1,634
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 296.3
Total assets of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 221.2
Total profits of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 10.6
Total employees of the company in 2019: 798,000
Owned by the richest man in the world, Amazon is one of the few companies to end up smelling like roses as we begin 2021, with the e-commerce website increasing sales and hiring hundreds of thousands during the year to keep up with demand. It is interesting to note that Amazon took a long time to become profitable, even when revenue was extremely high as its aim was to initially capture market share and then focus on profits.
5. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG)
Market cap of the company as at December 31, 2020 (in billions of dollars): 1,185
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 166.3
Total assets of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 273.4
Total profits of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 34.5
Total employees of the company in 2019: 118,899
It is hard to imagine a time when Google didn’t exist. The ease of access that Google has provided is taken for granted now, but its importance cannot be understated. Alphabet is the parent company of Google.
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4. Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A)
Market cap of the company as at December 31, 2020 (in billions of dollars): 543.7
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 254.6
Total assets of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 817.7
Total profits of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 81.4
Total employees of the company in 2019: 391,500
It is one of the the biggest financial services company in the world, and is famous for being run by Warren Buffet, who has been among the richest people in the world for several decades and known for his investment prowess.
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3. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Market cap of the company as at December 31, 2020 (in billions of dollars): 1,682
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 138.6
Total assets of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 285.4
Total profits of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 46.3
Total employees of the company in 2019: 144,000
The brainchild of Bill Gates, who was for a long time the richest person in the world and is now among the top 5, odds are that you are reading this article on Microsoft Windows, unless you’re using a phone of course. I know I’m using Microsoft Windows to write this article. The Microsoft Office suite has revolutionized office work and mastery in Microsoft Office can fast track you in whatever organization you work in.
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2. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Market cap of the company as at December 31, 2020 (in billions of dollars): 2,256
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 267.7
Total assets of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 320.4
Total profits of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 57.2
Total employees of the company in 2019: 137,000
The biggest tech company in the world is also the most valuable according to market cap. It is considered one of the Big Five information technology companies in the US, with the other four being Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft. The company faced a downturn in the early 2000s but revived itself with the launch of the iPhone and hasn’t looked back since.
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1. Saudi Aramco
Market cap of the company as at December 31, 2020 (in billions of dollars): 2,052
Total revenue of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 329.8
Total assets of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 398.3
Total profits of the company in 2019 (in billions of dollars): 88.2
Total employees of the company in 2019: 69,687
Topping the list of the 5 biggest companies in the world in 2021 is Saudi Aramco, which after Apple is the only company worth more than $2 trillion. The company had the biggest IPO in history in 2019, and the state owned oil and gas company is also the most profitable company in the world. Unfortunately, it is also the biggest polluter in the world.
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Disclosure: No position. 15 biggest public companies in the world is originally published at Insider Monkey.
