The Leading Businesses in the World in 2022 #Infographic

Published by Sana Fatima Sunday, January 22, 2023

 

The year 2022 has been shaped by rough macroeconomic headwinds. Millions and millions of dollars were wiped away in public company market capitalizations, investor confidence decreased, and cost burdens squeezed consumer pocketbooks.

 

Considering all factors, many of the world’s leading businesses experienced harsh declines in market share. Still, a few companies in key sectors managed to have positive growth over the year.

 

As 2022 has ended, the infographic shows the leading businesses in the world, using data from Companiesmarketcap.com.

The World’s Biggest Public Companies in 2022

Today, Apple positions as the world’s most valuable company, towering at a $2.3 trillion valuation.

 

Regardless of the dip in technology sector in 2022 due to the rising interest rates and slower sales, Apple maintained its top spot. The success was all because of healthy consumer demand for iPhones, which drive about half of its total revenue.

 

Apple is followed by Microsoft on the list. Microsoft has faced slower earnings over the year, unlike Apple. The reason behind this is low demand for personal computers and the weighing impact of a strong U.S. dollar. Overall, about 50% of the company’s sales take place overseas.

 

As the infographic shows, there are now only four companies left in the trillion dollar market cap club.

2022 Rank	Company	Market Capitalization	Sector	Location
1	Apple	$2.3T	Technology	U.S.
2	Microsoft	$1.9T	Technology	U.S.
3	Saudi Aramco	$1.8T	Energy	Saudi Arabia
4	Alphabet	$1.2T	Technology	U.S.
5	Amazon	$924B	Consumer Discretionary	U.S.
6	Berkshire Hathaway	$686B	Financials	U.S.
7	Tesla	$522B	Consumer Discretionary	U.S.
8	UnitedHealth Group	$510B	Health Care	U.S.
9	Johnson & Johnson	$465B	Health Care	U.S.
10	Visa	$454B	Industrials	U.S.

 

The only non-U.S. company able to rank in the top 10 list is the Oil giant Saudi Aramco. It is the third largest publicly-traded company globally, at $1.8 trillion.

 

In May, the state-run company for a short time became the most valuable company on the planet as soaring energy prices boosted earnings. Saudi Arabia is the largest exporter of oil in the world, and the country’s economy is estimated to have grown 7.6% in 2022, which is one of the fastest grown company globally.

 

Overall, 62 companies of the 100 largest are headquartered in the United States, 11 are based in China, and five are located in France.

 

Biggest Companies in the World, by Sector

Even with dropping market values across the sector in 2022, technology sector remains at the top.

 

Among the world’s biggest companies, 20 are in tech, across a combined market value of $9.2 trillion. For an angle, that is about 31% of the market value of the 100 largest companies.

Rank	Sector	Combined Market Value	Number of Companies	Biggest Company in Sector
1	Technology	$9.2T	20	Apple
2	Consumer Discretionary	$4.7T	17	Amazon
3	Health Care	$4.3T	17	UnitedHealth Group
4	Energy	$3.4T	8	Saudi Aramco
5	Financials	$3.0T	14	Berkshire Hathaway
6	Industrials	$1.8T	9	Visa
7	Consumer Staples	$1.8T	7	Procter & Gamble
8	Telecommunications	$841B	5	Cisco
9	Basic Materials	$326B	2	Linde
10	Utilities	$127B	1	Nextera Energy

 

Consumer discretionary and health care sectors fall next in line, with big players such as Amazon and Johnson & Johnson among their ranks.

 

At the other end of the spectrum comes utilities, the smallest sector overall at least pertaining to the largest companies list. The sole utilities company among the rankings, NextEra Energy, is one of the world’s largest developers of wind and solar energy. Their plan is to invest up to $95 billion in greening their power operations in the next three years.

 

Change of Fortune

It is a fact that many of the biggest companies in the world are long-established players in global markets.

 

However, within the rankings, some of the distinguished risers compared to 2021 are UnitedHealth Group, which launched from 19^th rank in 2021 to 8^th rank this year and NVIDIA which has moved up to become the 11^th largest company globally, up from 24^th rank last year.

 

Some of the biggest losers in comparison are Meta (Facebook’s parent company) and Alibaba. Meta has fallen down across the rankings to 26^th position in 2022 from 6^th in 2021. Meanwhile, Alibaba was once the ninth largest globally but has fallen down to 36^th position. Both companies have seen considerable value wiped from their market caps which is approximately 66% and 28%, respectively​—in the middle of lagging earnings.

Infographic by: visualcapitalist

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<p> <a href='https://www.visualistan.com/2023/01/the-leading-businesses-in-the-world-in-2022-infographic.html'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2riZwEbLBMH_eq2b2m_E132r5f99PmOBUWUiN-Xl1oUFuHA1ovq0LOJtq4nDegP_zxmaO4pQhM234pn5WAp-FgWtc-H2tVOXp7xRSJ4zFxkdAAHMKylf9KmB1GFBRsedTKE4-9rLVVTWh35I-7Hu0tuvxbwbtesOmkc9WVOX8uDdYvLFEQKABCxk_=s16000' alt='The Leading Businesses in the World in 2022' width='640px' border='0' /></a>You can also find more infographics at <a href="http://www.visualistan.com">Visualistan</a></p>