Forbes 2000 Company and list of Forbes 2000 Companies.

The Forbes Global 2000 is a categorization of the largest publicly listed companies in the world. Together they employ 72 million people, own $119 trillion in assets, and generate $30 trillion in revenues annually – approximately 46% of world GDP.

The Forbes Global 2000 is a list of the most successful publicly listed companies of the world. It is compiled annually by Forbes Magazine since 2004.

In a reflection of the globalization of the world, and the growing influence of emerging markets, the footprint of the Global 200 has grown. In 2004, companies came from 51 markets, but this had grown to 60 markets by 2008.

Forbes believe that the best way to categorize companies across markets is to measure a basket of factors and define a composite score. Total sales, after-tax profits, market value and total assets are all factored into the categorization.

The collective size of these corporations beggars belief, and is growing every year. Forbes Global 2000 companies now employ 72 million people worldwide, own $119 trillion in assets, are worth $39 trillion in market cap, earn $30 trillion in revenues and $2.4 trillion in profits. To put these figures in perspective, GDP for the United States of America was $13.84 trillion in 2007 according to the CIA World Factbook. Total World GDP (or Gross World Product) is estimated at $65.61 trillion. The Forbes Global 2000 therefore control about 46% of world output.

The US still dominates the list, but its share is shrinking, with 153 fewer companies than in 2004. For the first time, the top ranking company is no longer American – that spot has been taken by the London-based HSBC, which has achieved an impressive revenue compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26% over the last five years, with earnings growing at 31% per annum. India, China and Brazil are the countries growing the fastest in their contribution. India has led this trend, with 48 companies this year compared to 27 companies in 2004.

Despite the credit crunch, the banking industry is still the largest in the Forbes Global 2000. It has 315 entries, with profits of $398 billion and assets of $58.3 trillion. The oil and gas companies lead the table for revenues of $3.76 trillion, generated by 123 companies. They accrued $386 billion in profits. With oil prices continuing to hit new highs, expect oil and gas to lead in both sales and profits in 2009.

A fascinating category of the list is the high performing companies whose growth rates outstrip their peers. On average, the 130 companies identified as global high performers are growing earnings at a 25% rate.

The Top 100 companies from the Forbes Global 2000 are as follows:

Rank	Company	Country	Industry	Sales ($Billion)	Profits ($Billion)	Assets ($Billion)	Market Cap ($Billion)
1	HSBC Holdings	United Kingdom	Banking	146.5	19.13	2,348.98	180.81
2	General Electric	United States	Conglomerates	172.74	22.21	795.34	330.93
3	Bank of America	United States	Banking	119.19	14.98	1,715.75	176.53
4	JPMorgan Chase	United States	Banking	116.35	15.37	1,562.15	136.88
5	ExxonMobil	United States	Oil & Gas Operations	358.6	40.61	242.08	465.51
6	Royal Dutch Shell	Netherlands	Oil & Gas Operations	355.78	31.33	266.22	221.09
7	BP	United Kingdom	Oil & Gas Operations	281.03	20.6	236.08	204.94
8	Toyota Motor	Japan	Consumer Durables	203.8	13.99	276.38	175.08
9	ING Group	Netherlands	Insurance	197.93	12.65	1,932.15	75.78
10	Berkshire Hathaway	United States	Diversified Financials	118.25	13.21	273.16	216.65
10	Royal Bank of Scotland	United Kingdom	Banking	108.45	14.62	3,807.51	76.64
12	AT&T	United States	Telecommunications Services	118.93	11.95	275.64	210.22
13	BNP Paribas	France	Banking	116.16	10.71	2,494.41	81.9
14	Allianz	Germany	Insurance	139.12	10.9	1,547.48	80.3
15	Total	France	Oil & Gas Operations	199.74	19.24	165.75	181.8
16	Wal-Mart Stores	United States	Retailing	378.8	12.73	163.38	198.6
17	Chevron	United States	Oil & Gas Operations	203.97	18.69	148.79	179.97
18	American Intl Group	United States	Insurance	110.06	6.2	1,060.51	118.2
19	Gazprom	Russia	Oil & Gas Operations	81.76	23.3	201.72	306.79
20	AXA Group	France	Insurance	151.7	7.75	1,064.67	70.33
21	Banco Santander	Spain	Banking	72.26	10.02	1,332.72	113.27
22	ConocoPhillips	United States	Oil & Gas Operations	171.5	11.89	177.76	129.15
23	Goldman Sachs Group	United States	Diversified Financials	87.97	11.6	1,119.80	67.16
24	Citigroup	United States	Banking	159.23	3.62	2,187.63	123.44
25	Barclays	United Kingdom	Banking	79.7	8.76	2,432.34	62.43
26	EDF Group	France	Utilities	81.6	7.69	271.66	170.81
27	E.ON	Germany	Utilities	94.04	9.86	200.84	126.22
28	ENI	Italy	Oil & Gas Operations	119.27	13.7	128.15	127.38
29	Petrobras-Petróleo Brasil	Brazil	Oil & Gas Operations	87.52	11.04	129.98	236.67
30	PetroChina	China	Oil & Gas Operations	88.24	18.21	111.7	546.14
31	Procter & Gamble	United States	FMCG	79.74	11.13	144.4	203.67
32	Deutsche Bank	Germany	Diversified Financials	95.5	7.45	1,485.58	56.27
33	UniCredit Group	Italy	Banking	63.67	7.19	1,077.21	77.46
34	Telefónica	Spain	Telecommunications Services	82.4	13	143.13	138.42
35	Mitsubishi UFJ Financial	Japan	Banking	49.49	7.5	1,591.56	98.14
36	Volkswagen Group	Germany	Consumer Durables	149	5.64	210.88	90.23
37	IBM	United States	Software & Services	98.79	10.42	120.43	157.62
38	ArcelorMittal	Luxembourg	Materials	105.22	10.37	133.65	108.82
38	Daimler	Germany	Consumer Durables	145.11	5.82	199.77	85.16
40	BBVA-Banco Bilbao Vizcaya	Spain	Banking	54.34	8.94	733.14	78.29
41	Wells Fargo	United States	Banking	53.59	8.06	575.44	96.37
42	ICBC	China	Banking	37.48	6.31	961.65	289.57
43	Credit Suisse Group	Switzerland	Diversified Financials	83.72	7.53	1,194.75	50.85
44	HBOS	United Kingdom	Banking	100.32	8.1	1,336.17	44.84
45	Crédit Agricole	France	Banking	101.59	6.49	1,662.60	45.73
45	Nestlé	Switzerland	Food Drink & Tobacco	94.76	9.38	99.06	188.11
47	Fortis	Netherlands	Diversified Financials	121.19	5.46	1,020.98	49.04
48	Verizon Communications	United States	Telecommunications Services	93.47	5.65	186.96	104.27
49	France Telecom	France	Telecommunications Services	77.31	9.2	137.09	87.89
50	Siemens	Germany	Conglomerates	103.2	5.42	126.72	118.47
50	Wachovia	United States	Banking	55.53	6.31	782.9	60.69
52	Sinopec-China Petroleum	China	Oil & Gas Operations	133.79	6.9	77.44	186.38
53	Hewlett-Packard	United States	Technology Hardware & Equip	107.67	7.85	88.57	122.04
54	Lloyds TSB Group	United Kingdom	Banking	58.74	6.53	701.08	50.95
55	Royal Bank of Canada	Canada	Banking	43.57	5.77	629.96	64.41
56	Bank of China	China	Banking	31.13	5.49	679.57	171.45
57	Pfizer	United States	Drugs & Biotechnology	48.42	8.14	115.27	152.17
58	Johnson & Johnson	United States	Drugs & Biotechnology	61.1	10.58	80.95	175.51
59	Samsung Electronics	South Korea	Semiconductors	92.26	8.56	87.49	87.84
60	StatoilHydro	Norway	Oil & Gas Operations	89	7.52	89.16	98.36
61	Generali Group	Italy	Insurance	102.16	3.17	486.43	60.79
62	CCB-China Construction Bank	China	Banking	29.16	5.93	697.44	126.55
63	Microsoft	United States	Software & Services	57.9	16.96	67.34	253.15
64	Suez Group	France	Utilities	64.96	5.37	114.89	83.56
65	Zurich Financial Services	Switzerland	Insurance	55.05	5.63	387.67	45.76
66	Nippon Telegraph & Tel	Japan	Telecommunications Services	91.57	4.06	149.71	60.27
67	Sanofi-aventis	France	Drugs & Biotechnology	40.95	7.68	104.98	101.17
68	Honda Motor	Japan	Consumer Durables	94.35	5.04	101.82	56.82
69	Nokia	Finland	Technology Hardware & Equip	74.54	10.52	52.62	145.66
70	Munich Re	Germany	Insurance	67.57	5.63	306.03	37.34
71	Mizuho Financial	Japan	Banking	32.52	5.28	1,272.17	48.8
72	Novartis	Switzerland	Drugs & Biotechnology	40.22	12.62	71.89	111.62
73	MetLife	United States	Insurance	53.01	4.32	558.56	41.32
74	Roche Holding	Switzerland	Drugs & Biotechnology	40.65	8.6	67.72	169.32
75	Morgan Stanley	United States	Diversified Financials	85.33	2.56	1,045.41	46.53
76	Vale	Brazil	Materials	33.23	10.26	74.7	161.39
77	Rio Tinto	UK/ Australia	Materials	29.7	7.31	100.81	165.48
78	China Mobile	Hong Kong/China	Telecommunications Services	37.06	8.29	62.44	308.59
79	GlaxoSmithKline	United Kingdom	Drugs & Biotechnology	45.07	10.35	57.16	120.05
80	BASF	Germany	Chemicals	84.6	5.93	67.33	60.96
81	RWE Group	Germany	Utilities	56.17	3.64	119.5	68.19
82	Sumitomo Mitsui Financial	Japan	Banking	33.04	3.76	850.75	56.1
83	BHP Billiton	UK/ Australia	Materials	39.5	13.42	53.36	190.62
84	Time Warner	United States	Media	46.48	4.39	133.83	55.83
85	Banco Bradesco	Brazil	Banking	36.12	4.11	192.65	59.8
85	KBC Group	Belgium	Banking	35.22	4.66	517.98	43.66
87	Dexia	Belgium	Banking	140.78	3.47	889.98	28.04
88	Altria Group	United States	Food Drink & Tobacco	38.05	9.16	57.21	154.2
89	National Australia Bank	Australia	Banking	38.88	4.06	499.44	43.95
90	Cisco Systems	United States	Technology Hardware & Equip	37.68	8.07	55.3	145.39
91	Manulife Financial	Canada	Insurance	33.08	4.01	178.58	59.18
92	Bank of Nova Scotia	Canada	Banking	28.02	4.25	431.3	48.08
93	Intel	United States	Semiconductors	38.33	6.98	55.65	115.59
94	Unilever	Netherlands/ UK	Food Drink & Tobacco	54.82	5.3	53.4	92.75
95	Toronto-Dominion Bank	Canada	Banking	26.51	4.2	443.56	48.38
96	Nissan Motor	Japan	Consumer Durables	89.09	3.92	104.2	37.9
97	Lehman Bros Holdings	United States	Diversified Financials	59	4.19	691.06	27.05
98	Carrefour Group	France	Food Markets	112.4	3.15	75.73	49.95
99	Commonwealth Bank	Australia	Banking	26.48	3.8	360.42	51.86
100	Boeing	United States	Aerospace & Defense	66.39	4.07	58.99	63.32

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Forbes 2000 Company and list of Forbes 2000 Companies.

About The Author

The Forbes Global 2000 is a categorization of the largest publicly listed companies in the world. Together they employ 72 million people, own $119 trillion in assets, and generate $30 trillion in revenues annually – approximately 46% of world GDP.

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