You know what makes the world go around? Bacon, donuts and bacon-covered donuts, of course. But also money, we suppose. Recently, MBA Central took it upon itself to make a list of the most powerful corporations in the world. The key measurements to achieve this included financial metrics such as market value, net income, assets and turnover. Reputation, market impact and the company’s reputation also factored in when compiling this list. Finally, they combed through a list of “most valuable brand” lists in order to create their own list. Logical, right? Although they created a ranking of 50 companies, we know you have better things to do with your time on this nice summer day. So we will focus on the 10 companies that led the pack.
10. Bank of China
Folks, China is an industrial behemoth. They have the largest population in the world, a highly educated class, and the world’s second largest economy. When it’s 3am and you have a case of the munchies, you can thank China for inventing General Tzo Chicken. But we digress. Bank of China makes the list for pretty obvious reasons. It has assets totaling $2.4 trillion and profits of $25.5 billion. You can find branches all over the world from the US to UAE and even Mozambique. Impressive indeed.
9. PetroChina
Folks, China is an industrial… you get the point. As you continue to read this list you will begin to notice an interesting pattern. PetroChina is the world’s largest oil company, with more than 552,000 employees! To put that in perspective, competitor ExxonMobil has a workforce of “only” 75,000. PetroChina has a market value of $202 billion. That’s a lot, guys.
8. Walmart
American retail and supermarket chain Walmart is notable for their super low prices and all the weirdos who shop there. But the numbers don’t lie: global sales in 2013-14 totaled $476.5 billion! That can buy you a lot of chewing tobacco, NASCAR hats and all sorts of required redneck trinkets.
7. Samsung
Samsung makes some pretty mean televisions and smart phones, but did you know they are a major force in life insurance, heavy industry, engineering, construction, aerospace and defense, advertising, and alpaca breeding? We’re making that last one up, but the South Korean-based conglomerate is truly powerful. Their brand value is estimated to be nearly $30 billion. If that doesn’t impress you, ask yourself this question: what is the value of your brand? Really? That’s more than we thought!
6. Toyota
Here’s how impressive Toyota is: the automobile giant has an entire city in Japan named after it! By comparison, there is no such place as Mercedes, Germany, okay? In 2014, Toyota earned $255.6 billion in sales. They also have an impressive workforce of 320,000 and routinely make “most reputable company” lists.
5. JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JP Morgan Chase is responsible for protecting $30 trillion in assets. To put that in perspective, the US is valued at $23 billion. What we’re saying is that CEO Jamie Dimon could buy America and still have money left over to buy Canada. Okay, that’s not really how it works. But anyway, they’re still a force to be reckoned with.
4. Agricultural Bank of China
When ABC (Agricultural Bank of China for long) made its shares public for the first time in 2010, it generated $22 billion, still a record for an IPO. The company’s assets are more than $2.4 trillion. Not bad for a company run by corn farmers. Okay, it isn’t really operated by farmers.
3. Apple Inc.
It’s probably not a shock that Apple made this list. Their estimated brand worth is around $104 billion, the highest in the world. They also have a market value of $415 billion. That’s enough money to buy you a whole lot of overpriced phones, friends.
2. China Construction Bank Corporation
CCBC is so powerful that they took over America back in 2006. Okay, that’s incomplete information. They actually bought Bank of America’s Asian branches. They have a market value of “only” $174 billion, but hold a lot of sway nonetheless.
1. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
Owning more than $3 trillion in assets, ICB is the most powerful bank in the world. And if you are the world’s most powerful bank, then you’re going to end up topping the list of world’s most powerful companies. With market value of $215 billion and a presence everywhere but Africa and Antarctica (because penguins don’t invest?), they are truly a juggernaut.
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