Industrial Bank Of China Maintains Top Spot On Forbes’ 19th Annual Global 2000 Ranking Of The World’s Largest Public Companies

Forbes released its 19^th annual Global 2000 list, an international ranking of the world’s biggest, most-powerful and most-valuable companies based on an analysis of four metrics: sales, profits, assets and market value. For the ninth consecutive year, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China ranked No. 1, followed by JPMorgan Chase & Co., which returned to the No. 2 spot and Berkshire Hathaway, which is up one spot at No. 3.

Regionally, the United States boasts the most companies on the list, with 590, followed by China (mainland and Hong Kong) with 350. Rounding out the top 5 countries represented are Japan, United Kingdom and South Korea, with 215, 66 and 62 companies respectively. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on this year’s Global 2000 list, with total revenue and profits falling from last year,” said Andrea Murphy, Forbes Statistics Editor. “While certain sectors like the airline industry were hit hard, big-box retailers did well amid the shift to online shopping. Robust M&A activity and the growth in IPOs over the last year has also led to the debut of many companies on the Global 2000.”

In total, the 2021 Global 2000 companies account for $39.8 trillion in revenues, $2.5 trillion in profits, $223.4 trillion in assets and $79.7 trillion in market cap. Assets and market cap are up over last year while sales and profits are down. Thirty companies joined the Global 2000 via an IPO this year compared to ten in 2020. M&A activity in the past year has also resulted in the debut of new companies on the 2021 ranking. 

Methodology

The Global 2000 list is based on four metrics: sales, profits, assets and market value. Forbes uses an equal weighting of all four metrics to rank companies according to size. Each company receives a separate score for each metric. Forbes adds up all the scores to compile a composite score. The highest composite score gets the highest rank.

For the complete list and more, visit www.forbes.com/global2000

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