The largest 25 companies worldwide can have an outsized impact on many, if not most, American portfolios. Leading the charge are tech titans like Apple and Microsoft, whose market caps hover above the $3 trillion mark, showcasing their dominance in personal computing, software, and consumer electronics. NVIDIA, with its recent leap in market value, underscores the pivotal role of AI and high-performance computing in today’s market.
However, the list isn’t solely dominated by tech. Berkshire Hathaway, under Warren Buffett’s stewardship, represents a conglomerate with interests across various sectors, from insurance to consumer goods, reflecting traditional investment strategies in a modern market. Companies like Amazon and Alphabet Inc. (Google) not only highlights the importance of digital services but also their expansive reach into almost every aspect of daily life, from shopping to information access.
This introduction sets the stage for a deeper exploration into what makes these companies not just financially successful but also culturally and technologically significant. From the oil and gas sector with Exxon Mobil to the pharmaceutical industry with Eli Lilly, each company on this list contributes uniquely to the global economic fabric.
For help building a diversified portfolio or other investment strategy, consider speaking with a financial advisor.
1. Apple (AAPL)
Market Cap: $3.46 Trillion
Stock Price: $227
Apple is a multinational technology company that designs, manufactures, and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and online services. The company’s best-known products include the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Apple’s business model is based on the sale of its hardware products, as well as the sale of digital content and applications through its App Store and other digital platforms. The company also generates revenue from services such as Apple Music, iCloud, and Apple Pay. Apple’s ecosystem of hardware, software, and services is designed to work seamlessly together, creating a unique user experience and driving customer loyalty.
2. NVIDIA (NVDA)
Market Cap: $3.16 Trillion
Stock Price: $129
NVIDIA designs and manufactures graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), and system-on-a-chip units (SoCs) for the gaming, professional visualization, data center and automotive markets. The company’s products are used in a wide range of applications, including artificial intelligence, deep learning, and accelerated computing. NVIDIA’s business model is based on the sale of its chips and licensing its intellectual property. The company also provides a range of software and services for its products.
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3. Microsoft (MSFT)
Market Cap: $3.10 Trillion
Stock Price: $416
Microsoft’s best-known products include the Windows operating system, the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software, and the Xbox gaming console. Microsoft’s business model is based on the sale of its software products and services, as well as the sale of hardware devices such as the Surface tablet and the Xbox console. The company also generates revenue from advertising through its Bing search engine and from its cloud computing services, such as Microsoft Azure.
4. Alphabet (GOOG)
Market Cap: $2.05 Trillion
Stock Price: $167
Alphabet is best known as Google, for the company’s flagship product. The company’s best-known products also include the Android operating system and Chrome web browser. Google’s business model is based on the sale of advertising through its search engine and other platforms, as well as the sale of hardware devices such as the Pixel smartphone and the Google Home smart speaker. The company also generates revenue from its cloud computing services, such as Google Cloud, and from its YouTube video platform.
5. Amazon (AMZN)
Market Cap: $1.87 Trillion
Stock Price: $178
Amazon, founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, has grown from an online bookstore into a global powerhouse in e-commerce, cloud computing, and entertainment. Its flagship service, Amazon Web Services (AWS), dominates the cloud computing market, while Amazon Prime offers subscribers expedited shipping, streaming services through Prime Video, and a vast selection of digital content. The company’s expansive ecosystem includes Alexa, its voice-activated assistant, and a significant presence in groceries with Whole Foods, making Amazon a multifaceted entity in technology and retail.
6. Meta (META)
Market Cap: $1.35 Trillion
Stock Price: $535
Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly known as Facebook, Inc., is a multinational technology conglomerate based in Menlo Park, California, United States. Founded by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz, and Chris Hughes in 2004, the company is one of the largest social media and technology companies globally. Meta owns and operates a range of popular social media platforms and services, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus VR. The company employs around 70,000 people worldwide and operates in over 150 countries.
7. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B)
Market Cap: $963 Billion
Stock Price: $450
Berkshire Hathaway is a publicly traded investing firm. Run by famed investor Warren Buffet, the main operations of this company are to manage investment portfolios and to hold shares of invested businesses. In this way, investing in Berkshire Hathaway operates somewhat like investing in a mutual fund or ETF rather than a traditional stock, as the company’s profits derive from its underlying investment returns.
8. Eli Lilly (LLY)
Market Cap: $901 Billion
Stock Price: $949
Eli Lilly and Company, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is a major pharmaceutical firm established in 1876. It focuses on the development and manufacturing of medications across various therapeutic areas, including diabetes, oncology, and neuroscience. The company is known for its contributions to medical research and the production of widely-used drugs, such as insulin and cancer treatments. Eli Lilly continues to play a significant role in the global healthcare industry.
9. Broadcom (AVGO)
Market Cap: $777 Billion
Stock Price: $167
Broadcom is a technology and communications firm. This company makes hardware and software in and around the networking space. It has a wide variety of products, most of which are focused on computer network infrastructure and security. The most notable consumer-facing brand that it operates is the security software company Symantec.
10. Tesla (TSLA)
Market Cap: $690 Billion
Stock Price: $220
Tesla, Inc. is a leading electric vehicle and clean energy company that designs, manufactures, and sells electric cars, solar products and energy storage systems. The company’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. Tesla‘s business model is vertically integrated, allowing it to control every aspect of its supply chain, from raw materials to the final product. The company also operates a network of fast-charging stations for its electric vehicles.
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11. JPMorgan Chase (JPM)
Market Cap: $621 Billion
Stock Price: $218
JPMorgan Chase operates in four segments: Consumer & Community Banking, Corporate & Investment Bank, Commercial Banking, and Asset & Wealth Management. JPMorgan Chase is one of the largest banks in the United States and is considered a systemically important financial institution by the Financial Stability Board. The company’s business model is based on providing a wide range of financial services to consumers, businesses, and institutions, including banking, credit cards, mortgages, investment banking, and asset management.
12. Walmart (WMT)
Market Cap: $605 Billion
Stock Price: $75
Walmart is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of discount department and grocery stores. Founded by Sam Walton in 1962, Walmart has grown to employ over 2 million associates worldwide. The company’s business model revolves around offering a wide variety of products at everyday low prices, leveraging its massive scale for bulk purchasing and efficient distribution. Walmart’s operations extend beyond physical retail, with a significant online presence through Walmart.com, providing e-commerce services that complement its brick-and-mortar stores. The corporation also engages in various other ventures, including Walmart Financial Services and Sam’s Club, a membership-only warehouse club.
13. UnitedHealth (UNH)
Market Cap: $537 Billion
Stock Price: $581
UnitedHealth, more commonly known as “United,” is a health care conglomerate. Like many large companies, it has many different lines of business within its space. This includes both health care distribution, such as doctors and clinics, and health care payment, such as insurance. It also operates many different services within the health care system, such as both clinical and financial infrastructure.
14. Exxon Mobile (XOM)
Market Cap: $516 Billion
Stock Price: $116
The energy industry tends to be volatile, and Exxon Mobil is no exception. This is an oil and gas company that primarily works in the extraction, refinement and distribution of various kinds of fuel. This has tended to make the company very wealthy, as energy is a nondiscretionary consumable good, but also highly exposed to oil and natural gas prices, which are notoriously volatile and exposed to global risks.
15. Visa (V)
Market Cap: $527 Billion
Stock Price: $266
Visa is a payment processing and card services company. Like its main competitor MasterCard, many consumers confuse the role of Visa. This is a financial infrastructure company, not a bank or credit card issuer. Visa operates the systems which accept, communicate and transfer payments. It gets paid by the banks which issue cards using its network and by the vendors that use Visa’s services to accept payment.
16. MasterCard (MA)
Market Cap: $428 Billion
Stock Price: $463
MasterCard provides a wide range of financial services including credit, debit, prepaid, and commercial cards. It operates the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. The company’s business model is based on charging fees to merchants for processing transactions and to banks for issuing cards. MasterCard also generates revenue from other services such as data analytics and consulting.
17. Procter & Gamble (PG)
Market Cap: $398 Billion
Stock Price: $169
Procter & Gamble (P&G) is a multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble.
P&G’s product portfolio includes a wide range of well-known brands in various categories such as beauty, grooming, health care, fabric and home care, and baby, feminine, and family care. Some of their popular brands include Tide, Crest, Gillette, Pampers, Pantene, and Old Spice. The company operates in over 180 countries and employs more than 99,000 people worldwide. P&G is known for its strong focus on innovation, sustainability, and corporate responsibility.
18. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
Market Cap: $392 Billion
Stock Price: $163
Johnson & Johnson is a consumer goods company focused on health care products. It has some overlap and competition with Procter & Gamble, but the two companies generally focus on different fields. Where Proctor & Gamble focuses on general consumer goods, Johnson & Johnson specializes in medical supplies and technology. It is not a pharmaceutical company, in that it does not research new drugs, but this company does research and develop many cutting edge medical devices and technology.
19. Costco (COST)
Market Cap: $388 Billion
Stock Price: $872
The business model of Costco is one part bulk retailer and one part discount club. Like a handful of other similarly situated retailers, such as Sam’s Club, Costco sells memberships to potential customers. Once a customer has enrolled, they can then buy products in large volumes at significantly discounted prices.
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20. Oracle (ORCL)
Market Cap: $380 Billion
Stock Price: $138
Oracle is a technology company that produces both hardware and software. Its core business model focuses on data storage, cloud computing, communication technology and network infrastructure. By volume of sales, this is one of the largest technology companies in the world, with products that are integrated into many (if not most) major networks.
21. Home Depot (HD)
Market Cap: $367 Billion
Stock Price: $370
Home Depot is a large retailer that focuses on hardware and infrastructure-level home goods. While it sells some furniture and furnishings, most of Home Depot’s products are either pure hardware (such as tools and lumber) or installed products (such as appliances and fixtures). Most Home Depot stores use the big box model, operating very large locations designed to provide a one-stop shopping experience for most customers.
22. AbbVie (ABBV)
Market Cap: $348 Billion
Stock Price: $197
AbbVie is a pharmaceutical company, and is one of the largest biomedical companies in the world by revenue and volume of sales. Like many pharmaceutical companies, AbbVie heavily depends on one flagship drug. In this case, that product is Humira, an arthritis and anti-rheumatic drug that makes up about one-quarter of the company’s revenue. Some of its other core products include Botox and Rinvoq.
23. Bank of America (BAC)
Market Cap: $308 Billion
Stock Price: $40
Bank of America, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is one of the largest financial institutions in the world. It provides a wide range of banking, investment, asset management, and other financial and risk management products and services. With a robust network of branches and ATMs, the bank serves individuals, small and middle-market businesses, and large corporations globally.
24. Coca-Cola (KO)
Market Cap: $298 Billion
Stock Price: $69
The Coca-Cola company is one of the largest beverage companies in the world. It makes nonalcoholic beverages across a number of brands, from soft drinks to juices, bottled water, concentrates and more. The company’s biggest product is its eponymous soft drink, Coca-Cola, but it sells more than 500 additional brands and products worldwide.
25. Merck (MRK)
Market Cap: $294 Billion
Stock Price: $116
Merck is a pharmaceutical company. It is one of the largest biomedical companies in the world by volume and revenue of sales. Unlike many competitors, Merck has a relatively diverse portfolio of products. It does not rely on a single drug for a disproportionate share of its revenue, but rather has a number of high-value products.
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The Bottom Line
The 25 largest companies in America represent a large cross section of industries. While the top tier remains dominated by technology firms, below the trillion-dollar mark you’ll find everything from pharmaceuticals to retail and beyond.
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