Having access to the internet has been a lifesaver amid the pandemic. The most valuable internet companies in the world helped the global economy as the world used their services to get their groceries, essential healthcare items, entertainment and gaming. The internet sector provides access to products and services offered online such as e-commerce, travel, entertainment, social media platforms, business enterprise solutions, and cloud-based applications.
The ecommerce industry has been the highlight of the internet revolution. Global retail e-commerce sales increased by 27.6% in 2020 to $4.3 trillion, according to eMarketer’s data. On the other hand, the global social media market was valued at $94.8 billion and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 8.2% to reach $102.62 billion by 2021. On the contrary, the cloud collaboration market is expected to reach $42.6 billion in 2021. As the internet advances with the integration of new technologies such as IoT, blockchain, and AI, the market will continue to grow especially post-pandemic. This is primarily due to the global adaptation of e-commerce. In a 2020 study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and Observatory NetComm Suisse, more than half of consumers said they would continue to buy important goods online using digital methods even after the pandemic.
Internet Company Trends and Outlook
Nearly 60% of the world’s population has access to the internet. The internet currently connects over 4.5 billion people, while social media users have reached 3.8 billion. The increasing number of mobile users around the world drives the growth of the internet market. With the trillion-dollar market, e-commerce store owners can no longer ignore the value of providing a mobile-optimized online store to attract customers and expand their business.
According to DataReportal’s Digital 2021 report, the pandemic brought positive impacts to various business segments where e-commerce growth was greatly noticeable in which consumers are spending more money on such as food and personal care, fashion and beauty, toys, DIYs, and hobbies, digital music, video games, and furniture appliances. Travel, mobility, and transportation on the other hand suffered during the pandemic.
One of the most important drivers for the growth of the internet industry is the advancement of cloud-based services. Salesforce.com for example is a cloud-based CRM software provider that was widely used by enterprises around the world. Almost 90% of the Fortune 500 companies were Salesforce customers in 2020. With the social distancing protocols globally, Salesforce has helped companies sell, service, market, conduct commerce, and collaborate from home.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
Most Valuable Internet Companies in the World
The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown the global economy into one of its worst slumps in history, and it’s unclear when it will fully recover. With the world experiencing the second wave of the virus, it almost feels like we are back at square one. On a positive note, this brings more traffic to the online community which will bring revenue to the most valuable internet companies in the world as well as small business enterprises. With most of the population being strictly confined to their homes, now is the best time to invest in the top internet companies in the world in 2021.
To give you the most accurate insights about the most valuable internet companies in the world, we sorted our rankings based on the market cap of the companies.
Now let’s see the 15 most valuable internet companies in the world starting from number 15.
15. Pinterest Inc. (NYSE: PINS)
Market cap: $50 billion
Ranking 15th in our list of the most valuable internet companies in the world is pinboard-style photo-sharing website Pinterest. Formerly known as Cold Brew Labs, the company’s platform allows users to build and manage theme-based image collections such as activities, DIYs, interests, and hobbies. Latest media reports suggest that Pinterest is in talks to acquire the $550 million photo-editing apps VSCO.
The company’s revenue in 2020 grew 48% to$1.7 billion with a total of more than 450 million monthly active users globally. Shares of PINS surged 475% over the past twelve months.
Pixabay/Public Domain
14. Twitter Inc. (NYSE: TWTR)
Market cap: $51.3 billion
Ranking 14th in our list of the most valuable internet companies in the world is social media networking site Twitter Inc. Founded in 2006, the platform provides a network that connects global users to people, knowledge, ideas, opinions, and news.
Twitter’s revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020 increased by 28% to $1.29 billion year over year, owing to solid usage growth in international markets. The monetizable daily active use (mDAU) of the social media company also increased by 27% to 192 million.
Anthony Correia / Shutterstock.com
13. Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU)
Market cap: $74.8 billion
Chinese internet giant Baidu Inc. ranks 13th on the list of the 15 most valuable internet companies in the world. Baidu provides internet search services and online marketing solutions. Data from Statista revealed that as of November 2020, Baidu covered approximately 74% of the Chinese search engine market. Being one of the top AI and tech companies in the world, Baidu launched a partnership with carmaker Geely to build smart cars. Baidu completed Phase I of the smart transportation project in Guangzhou in 2020, which included the construction of Apollo V2X smart road infrastructure and Apollo Mobility as a Service.
In 2020, the company’s revenue reached $16.4 billion. BIDU is one of the top picks of tech investor Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment. Shares of BIDU jumped 128.7% over the past twelve months.
Gil C / Shutterstock.com
12. Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG)
Market cap: $98.7 billion
Online travel reservation platform Booking.com ranks 12th on the list of the 15 most valuable internet companies in the world. The company offers online reservation services through various websites that it operates including Rentalcars.com, and online travel companies Booking.com, Agoda, and Priceline.
Total revenues for Booking Holdings in 2020 were $6.8 billion, down 55% from the previous year. On April 1, Wolfe Research initiated Booking Holdings Inc. with an Outperform rating. Shares of BKNG jumped 95.7% over the past twelve months.
11. Uber Technologies Inc. (NYSE: UBER)
Market cap: $106.8 billion
Ride-hailing service Uber Technologies Inc. ranks 11th in our list of the 15 most valuable internet companies in the world. The multinational conglomerate, which was established in 2009 in San Francisco, California, also offers food delivery through Uber Eats, shipping services through Uber Freight, and the commercialization of autonomous vehicle and ride-sharing technologies through its Advanced Technologies Group.
Uber’s revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020 came in at $3.2 billion, up 13% quarter over quarter. Shares of UBER grew 151.5% over the past twelve months.
10. JD.com (NASDAQ: JD)
Market cap: $131.6 billion
Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com ranks 10th on the list of the 15 most valuable internet companies in the world. The company’s e-commerce division generates the majority of its sales, but service revenue, which includes its website, advertisement, logistics, and other services such as healthcare, has gradually outgrown its core segment. The e-commerce company also operates a separate logistics business called JD Logistics. Having valued at around $40 billion, JD.com plans to list its logistics unit on Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
The company’s revenue in 2020 increased by 29.3% to $114.3 billion, while its annual active users are growing by 30.3 %to 471.9 million in 2020, up from 362.0 million in 2019. The stock has gained 106.8% in the last twelve months.
Stanisic Vladimir/Shutterstock.com
9. Pinduoduo Inc. (NASDAQ: PDD)
Market cap: $179 billion
Chinese e-commerce platform developer Pinduoduo Inc. ranks 9th in our list of the most valuable internet companies in the world. The company was founded in 2015 by an ex-Google engineer Colin Huang. It has grown to be one of China’s largest e-commerce platforms for agriculture products. The company also sells a variety of items, including clothing, shoes, bags, mother and childcare products, electronic appliances, furniture, and household goods. Pinduoduo also develops multi-player games.
The company’s revenue in 2020 increased by 97% to $9.1 billion, owing to higher revenues from online marketing services and retail sales. The stock has gained 287.3% in the last 12 months.
Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com
8. ByteDance (Private)
Market value: $180 billion
The only private company included in our list of the most valuable internet companies in the world is Chinese internet tech startup ByteDance. Founded in 2012, ByteDance operates several video-sharing apps popular with mobile users around the world such as TikTok, Douyin, and Flipagram.
7. Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM)
Market cap: $202.9 billion
California-based CRM provider Salesforce.com ranks 7th in our list of the top internet companies in the world. The firm creates integrated cloud computing systems with an emphasis on customer relationship management for customers worldwide. In December 2020, the company acquired collaboration software company Slack Technologies for $27.7 billion.
The company’s overall revenue for fiscal 2021 was $21.25 billion, up 24% year over year. Shares of CRM grew 64% over the past twelve months.
Pixabay/Public Domain
6. Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX)
Market cap: $239.5 billion
Video streaming company Netflix Inc. Ranks 6th in our list of the 15 most valuable internet companies in the world. Netflix is one of the companies that benefited the most during the pandemic. The company revealed at the end of 2020 that its paying customers had reached 200 million, up from over 150 million in 2019, and that it had generated $25 billion in annual sales.
Netflix is up 6.42% in the last five days as Piper Sandler recently reiterated the stock to Overweight.
5. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA)
Market cap: $632.3 billion
Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group ranks 5th on the list of 15 most valuable internet companies in the world. Aside from operating its Core Commerce business, the company also engages in cloud computing, digital media and entertainment, and innovation initiatives, and others. Alibaba recently invested $750 million in Nice Tuan, a Chinese grocery app, to expand its grocery segment.
In the third quarter of 2021, the company’s Core Commerce revenue came in at $30 billion while Alibaba Cloud reached $2.4 billion.
Evan Lorne / Shutterstock.com
4. Tencent Holdings Limited (OTC: TCEHY)
Market cap: $801.7 billion
Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Limited ranks 4th in our list of the 15 most valuable internet companies in the world. In addition to its internet value-added services, the company offers online advertising, fintech and business services, and mobile game publishing. In 2019, the company saturated 45% of China’s mobile gaming market.
The company’s revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020 was $20.5 billion, up 26% from the same period in 2019. Online games revenues grew by 29% to $6 billion. The stock has gained 67% over the last twelve months.
Claudio Divizia/Shutterstock.com
3. Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB)
Market cap: $879.7 billion
Ranking 3rd on the list of the 15 most valuable internet companies in the world is Facebook Inc. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, the company operates the biggest social media networking platform in the world. Facebook topped the list of the top mobile apps and games by monthly active users in 2020, according to data from Datareportal in which Facebook had more than 2.7 billion monthly active users in 2020. The company also operates Instagram and WhatsApp.
The company’s revenue in 2020 came in at $84.2 billion. The stock have gained 83% over the last twelve months.
2. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)
Market cap: $1.5 trillion
Securing the 2nd spot on the list of the 15 most valuable internet companies in the world is Alphabet Inc. The parent company of Google operates as a diversified tech company but especially dominates the global ad market generating $52.8 billion alone in ad revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020 while the company’s growing cloud business recorded total sales of $3.8 billion. According to Statista data, Google has dominated the search engine market, with a market share of 92.05% as of February 2021.
Alphabet’s revenue in 2020 was $182 billion. The stock has gained 87.6% over the last twelve months.
Pixabay/Public Domain
1. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN)
Market cap: $1.6 trillion
Topping the list of the 15 most valuable internet companies in the world is American e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. As of 2021, Amazon.com accounts for 45% of the US e-commerce market while it serves 13.7% of the rest of the world. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, the online retail shopping giant has transformed to become a diversified tech company by offering cloud computing services through Amazon Web Services. Amazon’s US marketplace revenues, on the other hand, are projected to increase by 16.5% to $220.39 billion in 2021, accounting for 60% of Amazon’s overall US e-commerce sales, according to eMarketer, as the company increases its products across grocery, healthcare, AI, orbital space and clothing.
The company’s revenue in the fourth quarter of 2020 came in at $125.6 billion. The stock has gained 60% in the last twelve months.
You can also take a peek at the 15 Most Valuable Technology Companies in the World and 10 Best 5G Stocks to Buy Now.
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This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
