Biggest companies in the world by market value 2023

With a market capitalization of 3.12 trillion U.S. dollars as of May 2024, Microsoft was the world’s largest company that year. Rounding out the top five were some of the world’s most recognizable brands: Apple, NVIDIA, Google’s parent company Alphabet, and Amazon. Saudi Aramco led the ranking of the world's most profitable companies in 2023, with a pre-tax income of nearly 250 billion U.S. dollars.How are market value and market capitalization determined?Market value and market capitalization are two terms frequently used – and confused - when discussing the profitability and viability of companies. Strictly speaking, market capitalization (or market cap) is the worth of a company based on the total value of all their shares; an important metric when determining the comparative value of companies for trading opportunities. Accordingly, many stock exchanges such as the New York or London Stock Exchange release market capitalization data on their listed companies. On the other hand, market value technically refers to what a company is worth in a much broader context. It is determined by multiple factors, including profitability, corporate debt, and the market environment as a whole. In this sense it aims to estimate the overall value of a company, with share price only being one element. Market value is therefore useful for determining whether a company’s shares are over- or undervalued, and in arriving at a price if the company is to be sold. Such valuations are generally made on a case-by-case basis though, and not regularly reported. For this reason, market capitalization is often reported as market value.What are the top companies in the world?The answer to this question depends on the metric used. Although the largest company by market capitalization, Microsoft's global revenue did not manage to crack the top 20 companies. Rather, American multinational retailer Walmart was ranked as the largest company in the world by revenue. Walmart also had the highest number of employees in the world.

截至2024年5月，微软的市值高达3.12万亿美元，成为当年全球最大的企业。位居前五的还包括世界上一些最负盛名的品牌：苹果、英伟达、谷歌母公司Alphabet以及亚马逊。沙特阿美公司在2023年成为全球最盈利的企业，其税前收入接近2500亿美元。何谓市值与市值的决定因素？市值与市值的衡量是讨论公司盈利能力和可持续性时经常被提及且常被混淆的两个术语。严格来说，市值（或市场资本化）是指基于公司所有股份总价值的公司价值；它是确定公司交易机会相对价值的重要指标。因此，许多股票交易所，如纽约或伦敦证券交易所，都会发布其上市公司的市值数据。另一方面，市值在技术层面上是指在更广泛的环境下公司的价值。它由多个因素决定，包括盈利能力、企业债务以及整体市场环境。从这一角度来看，它旨在估算公司的整体价值，股价仅是其构成要素之一。因此，市值对于确定公司股价是否被高估或低估，以及在公司出售时确定价格具有重要意义。此类估值通常基于个案进行，而非定期报告。因此，市值常常被等同于市场价值。全球排名靠前的公司有哪些？对于这一问题的回答取决于所使用的衡量标准。尽管按市值计算，微软是全球最大的公司，但其全球收入并未进入前20名。相反，美国跨国零售商沃尔玛以其收入总量位居全球最大企业之列，同时拥有全球最多的员工数量。