The World's Largest Companies: China Takes Over The Top Three Spots

Forbes reports:

The FORBES Global 2000 is a comprehensive list of the world’s largest, most powerful public companies, as measured by revenues, profits, assets and market value. We weight the four numbers equally to come up with a composite score, in pursuit of our goal to best capture the full picture of corporate size.

This year, the Global 2000 companies hail from 62 countries, up from 46 in our inaugural 2003 ranking. In total, they raked in revenues of $38 trillion and profits of $3 trillion, with assets worth $161 trillion and a market value of $44 trillion. All those totals are higher than a year ago, with the largest growth being in market value (up 13% year-over-year). These firms employ 90 million people worldwide.

For the first time, China is home to the world’s three biggest public companies and five of the top 10. State-controlled Chinese bank ICBC holds onto its No.1 spot for a second consecutive year, while China Construction Bank takes second place and Agricultural Bank of China moves up five spots to third. They’re joined in the top 10 by the other member of the “Big Four” Chinese banks, Bank of China, at No.9.

An important article.