The World’s Biggest Companies in 2022
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This year has been shaped by uncomfortable macroeconomic headwinds.
Trillions of dollars were wiped off public company market capitalization, investor confidence sank, and cost pressures squeezed consumer pocketbooks.
Together, many of the world’s largest companies experienced a sharp decline in market share. Still, a few companies in key sectors posted positive growth throughout the year.
As 2022 approaches, the infographic above shows the world’s largest companies using data from Companiesmarketcap.com.
World’s Largest Public Companies in 2022
Today, Apple stands as the most valuable company in the world, with a high of a $2.3 trillion appraisal
Despite the tech downturn of 2022—caused by rising interest rates and sluggish sales—Apple maintained its top spot. This was largely thanks to record revenue and healthy consumer demand for iPhones, which drive half of its total revenue.
After Apple is Microsoft. Unlike Apple, Microsoft faced lower revenue for the year due to lower demand for personal computers and the weighting effects of a stronger US dollar. Overall, about 50% of the company’s sales are overseas.
As we show below, there are now only four companies left in the trillion dollar market cap club.
| 2022 Rank | Company | Market capitalization | Department | location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | apple | $2.3T | Technology | 🇺🇸 US |
| 2 | Microsoft | $1.9T | Technology | 🇺🇸 US |
| 3 | Saudi Aramco | $1.8T | Energy | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia |
| 4 | the alphabet | $1.2T | Technology | 🇺🇸 US |
| 5 | Amazon | $924B | Consumer discretionary | 🇺🇸 US |
| 6 | Berkshire Hathaway | $686B | Finance | 🇺🇸 US |
| 7 | Tesla | $522B | Consumer discretionary | 🇺🇸 US |
| 8 | United Health Group | $510B | Health care | 🇺🇸 US |
| 9 | Johnson & Johnson | $465B | Health care | 🇺🇸 US |
| 10 | Visa | $454B | Industrial | 🇺🇸 US |
| 11 | NVIDIA | $437B | Technology | 🇺🇸 US |
| 12 | Exxon Mobil | $437B | Energy | 🇺🇸 US |
| 13 | TSMC | $417B | Technology | 🇹🇼 Taiwan |
| 14 | Walmart | $399B | Consumer discretionary | 🇺🇸 US |
| 15 | Tencent | $397B | Technology | 🇨🇳 China |
| 16 | JP Morgan Chase | $394B | Finance | 🇺🇸 US |
| 17 | LVMH | $377B | Consumer discretionary | 🇫🇷 France |
| 18 | Procter & Gamble | $361B | Raw materials for consumers | 🇺🇸 US |
| 19 | Eli Lilly | $349B | Health care | 🇺🇸 US |
| 20 | MasterCard | $344B | Industrial | 🇺🇸 US |
| 21 | Home Depot | $334B | Consumer discretionary | 🇺🇸 US |
| 22 | Chevron | $328B | Energy | 🇺🇸 US |
| 23 | Nestlé | $322B | Raw materials for consumers | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
| 24 | Kweichow Moutai | $313B | Raw materials for consumers | 🇨🇳 China |
| 25 | Samsung | $306B | Technology | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| 26 | Meta (Facebook) | $304B | Technology | 🇺🇸 US |
| 27 | Pfizer | $293B | Health care | 🇺🇸 US |
| 28 | Abv | $292B | Health care | 🇺🇸 US |
| 29 | Novo Nordisk | $292B | Health care | 🇩🇰 Denmark |
| 30 | Coca Cola | $277B | Raw materials for consumers | 🇺🇸 US |
| 31 | Merc | $276B | Health care | 🇺🇸 US |
| 32 | Roche | $267B | Health care | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
| 33 | Bank of America | $263B | Finance | 🇺🇸 US |
| 34 | PepsiCo | $253B | Raw materials for consumers | 🇺🇸 US |
| 35 | ASML | $247B | Technology | 🇳🇱 Netherlands |
| 36 | Alibaba | $245B | Consumer discretionary | 🇨🇳 China |
| 37 | Broadcom | $225B | Technology | 🇺🇸 US |
| 38 | Thermo Fisher Scientific | $223B | Health care | 🇺🇸 US |
| 39 | Oracle | $219B | Technology | 🇺🇸 US |
| 40 | Costco | $216B | Consumer discretionary | 🇺🇸 US |
| 41 | AstraZeneca | $215B | Health care | 🇬🇧 Great Britain |
| 42 | Reliance Industries | $214B | Energy | 🇮🇳 India |
| 43 | ICBC | $208B | Finance | 🇨🇳 China |
| 44 | McDonald’s | $203B | Consumer discretionary | 🇺🇸 US |
| 45 | Cisco | $203B | Telecommunications | 🇺🇸 US |
| 46 | Shell | $201B | Energy | 🇳🇱 Netherlands |
| 47 | Danaher | $199B | Health care | 🇺🇸 US |
| 48 | L’Oreal | $197B | Consumer discretionary | 🇫🇷 France |
| 49 | Toyota | $197B | Consumer discretionary | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| 50 | Novartis | $196B | Health care | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
| 51 | Abbott Laboratories | $109B | Health care | 🇺🇸 US |
| 52 | Accenture | $184B | Industrial | 🇮🇪 Ireland |
| 53 | T-Mobile | $177B | Telecommunications | 🇺🇸 US |
| 54 | Nike | $175B | Consumer discretionary | 🇺🇸 US |
| 55 | Walt Disney | $173B | Consumer discretionary | 🇺🇸 US |
| 56 | Nextra Energy | $172B | utility | 🇺🇸 US |
| 57 | Hermes | $169B | Consumer discretionary | 🇫🇷 France |
| 58 | Bristol-Myers Squibb | $168B | Health care | 🇺🇸 US |
| 59 | Linde | $166B | Basic material | 🇬🇧 Great Britain |
| 60 | Wells Fargo | $163B | Finance | 🇺🇸 US |
| 61 | Instruments of Texas | $161B | Technology | 🇺🇸 US |
| 62 | BHP Group | $160B | Basic material | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| 63 | Verizon | $159B | Telecommunications | 🇺🇸 US |
| 64 | Philip Morris | $159B | Raw materials for consumers | 🇺🇸 US |
| 65 | Comcast | $158B | Telecommunications | 🇺🇸 US |
| 66 | UPS | $158B | Industrial | 🇺🇸 US |
| 67 | Adobe | $157B | Technology | 🇺🇸 US |
| 68 | Morgan Stanley | $154B | Finance | 🇺🇸 US |
| 69 | China Construction Bank | $152B | Finance | 🇨🇳 China |
| 70 | Total energy | $152B | Energy | 🇫🇷 France |
| 71 | Charles Schwab | $150B | Finance | 🇺🇸 US |
| 72 | Imjan | $148B | Health care | 🇺🇸 US |
| 73 | Raytheon Technologies | $146B | Industrial | 🇺🇸 US |
| 74 | Tata Consultancy | $146B | Technology | 🇮🇳 India |
| 75 | CATL | $145B | Consumer discretionary | 🇨🇳 China |
| 76 | China Mobile | $145B | Telecommunications | 🇨🇳 China |
| 77 | Honeywell | $144B | Industrial | 🇺🇸 US |
| 78 | Agricultural Bank of China | $141B | Finance | 🇨🇳 China |
| 79 | Netflix | $140B | Consumer discretionary | 🇺🇸 US |
| 80 | Meituan | $140B | Technology | 🇨🇳 China |
| 81 | ConocoPhillips | $139B | Energy | 🇺🇸 US |
| 82 | AT&T | $138B | Finance | 🇺🇸 US |
| 83 | CVS Health | $136B | Health care | 🇺🇸 US |
| 84 | Dyer | $136B | Consumer discretionary | 🇫🇷 France |
| 85 | Qualcomm | $136B | Technology | 🇺🇸 US |
| 86 | process | $135B | Technology | 🇳🇱 Netherlands |
| 87 | RBC | $135B | Finance | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| 88 | IBM | $134B | Technology | 🇺🇸 US |
| 89 | Sales force | $133B | Technology | 🇺🇸 US |
| 90 | Union Pacific | $133B | Industrial | 🇺🇸 US |
| 91 | Deer & Co | $132B | Industrial | 🇺🇸 US |
| 92 | Unilever | $130B | Raw materials for consumers | 🇬🇧 Great Britain |
| 93 | CM Bank | $130B | Finance | 🇨🇳 China |
| 94 | HDFC Bank | $129B | Finance | 🇮🇳 India |
| 95 | Alliance Health | $128B | Health care | 🇺🇸 US |
| 96 | A.I.A | $128B | Finance | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong |
| 97 | Lockheed Martin | $127B | Industrial | 🇺🇸 US |
| 98 | Petro China | $127B | Energy | 🇨🇳 China |
| 99 | SAP | $127B | Technology | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| 100 | Low’s | $124B | Consumer discretionary | 🇺🇸 US |
*Until 12 December 2022.
Oil giant Saudi Aramco is the world’s third largest publicly traded company. $1.8 trillion. It is also the only non-US company in the top 10.
In May, the state-owned company briefly became the most valuable company on the planet as rising energy prices boosted earnings. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil exporter, and the country’s economy is projected to grow 7.6 percent in 2022, one of the fastest in the world.
Overall, 62 of the 100 largest companies are headquartered in the United States, 11 are in China, and five are 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 majority of the world’s titans saw their market values decline. Half of these companies saw double-digit declines.
Tesla has almost testified 70% Its market cap is ending this year. Two main factors are behind the decline: falling demand, particularly in China, and CEO Elon Musk’s volatile and risky acquisition of Twitter.
On the other hand, UnitedHealth Group has seen the strongest performance in the top 10.
The company, which derives a large portion of its earnings from employer-sponsored insurance plans, said the effects of the recession had not yet begun in 2022.
The world’s largest companies, by sector
Even with sector-wide market values sinking in 2022, tech remains dominant.
Among the world’s largest companies, 20 are in technology, by combined market value $9.2 trillion. For perspective, this is about 31 percent of the market value of the 100 largest companies.
| Rank | Department | Common market value | Number of companies | The largest company in the sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 👩💻 Technology | $9.2T | 20 | apple |
| 2 | 🚗 User discretion | $4.7T | 17 | Amazon |
| 3 | 🩺 Health care | $4.3T | 17 | United Health Group |
| 4 | 🛢️ Energy | $3.4T | 8 | Saudi Aramco |
| 5 | 💵 Finance | $3.0T | 14 | Berkshire Hathaway |
| 6 | 🏭 Industrial | $1.8T | 9 | Visa |
| 7 | 🥫 Consumer Staples | $1.8T | 7 | Procter & Gamble |
| 8 | 📞 Telecommunication | $841B | 5 | Cisco |
| 9 | ⛏️ Core Content | $326B | 2 | Linde |
| 10 | 🔌 Utility | $127B | 1 | Nextra Energy |
Companies are ranked according to the FTSE Russell Industry Rankings benchmark. *Until 12 December 2022.
The consumer discretionary and healthcare sectors come next, with big players like Amazon and Johnson & Johnson among their ranks.
At the other end of the spectrum are utilities, the smallest sector overall at least relative to the list of largest companies. NextEra Energy, the only utility company ranked, 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 to green its power operations.
A change of fortune
It is no surprise that many of the world’s largest companies are long-established players in global markets.
Yet within the rankings, some notable risers compared to 2021 are United Health Group, which launched from #19 in 2021 to #8 this year, and NVIDIA, which rose globally from #24 last year. has become the 11th largest company.
In contrast, Meta (Facebook’s parent company) and Alibaba are the biggest losers. Meta has fallen in the rankings from #6 in 2021 to #26 in 2022. Meanwhile, Alibaba was once ranked ninth globally but has fallen to #36. Both companies have seen substantial value wiped from their market caps — about 66% and 28%, respectively — amid lagging earnings.
As the year draws to a close, it remains to be seen whether the world’s largest companies make a comeback in 2023, or face more difficult conditions ahead.
