Top 10 Largest Companies in the World by Market Cap in 2018

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Today we are counting down the top 10 largest companies in the world by market cap in 2018.

The word of publicly traded companies is everything but boring. Prices of shares are going up and down every day, and even though some companies with a steady increase for years seem like a safe choice for your investment, you can never be sure. And, that makes it fun, right?

What about the top largest companies by their market capitalization over the years? Are they mainly the same, or?

According to PwC’s Global Top 100 Companies by Market Capitalisation 2018, 61 companies from 2009 Top 100 have made it to 2018 top 100. Meaning, more than half of the companies that were the biggest then, are the biggest now as well. But the order on that list can change in a short period. Before we move on to our list, which ranks the top largest companies by market cap today, let’s state the most interesting facts we got from the report.

The collective market cap of all 100 companies has grown by 15% since last year, as the biggest of them all set the threshold to enter the top 100 to $97 billion for this year, compared to $88 billion in 2017. As for the countries that dominate the list, there haven’t been many changes, as the US is still the leader, with more than half US-located companies on the list, 54 to be precise. Among the largest companies by market cap 2017 there were 55 US-based companies, and in 2009 there were 42. Coming in second, again we have China with 12 companies, compared to 10 in 2017. China is slowly but steadily growing its businesses, and this list today is the perfect example of it.

When it comes to shareholders gain, a sum of $704 billion has been distributed by these 100 largest companies in the world by market cap in 2018. Naturally, with more than half US-based companies, they have accounted for more than a half of the distributed value, or more precisely for $476 billion. Expectedly, the Financial sector dominated in the return, bringing back $183 billion to shareholders, pursued by the Technology sector with $121 billion. Speaking of Financial sector don’t miss out list of 10 Biggest Investment Banks in the World.

Without further ado let’s check the top 10 largest companies in the world by market cap in 2018:

10. ICBC

Current Market Cap: $257B

Market Cap in March 2018: $336B

2017 Market Cap: $246B

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited is the largest bank in China and in the world by total assets, loan, deposits, number of employees and number of customers. It was founded back in 1984 as a limited company. It is the leading financial institution in the world, belonging to the group of China’s “Big Four” state-owned commercial banks. China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and the Bank of China are the other three.

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