Data analysis: World’s top 25 companies by market cap

Here is a comparison of the top 25 global companies, measured by market capitalization, or market cap, as of August 19, 2024.

All of the data came from Companiesmarketcap.com. The list illustrates the dominance of America in generating highly valuable companies.

Around 20 out of the top 25 companies are based in the United States, according to this dataset.

Taking a closer look, the trillion-dollar firms are all American, with the exception of Saudi Aramco, the most valuable oil company globally.

Furthermore, two businesses appear to be on the verge of reaching the trillion-dollar mark.

First up is Berkshire Hathaway, owned by Warren Buffett, which as of August 19, 2024, was valued at $967 billion. The holding company’s stock is up more than 23% year-to-date. A summary of Berkshire’s top portfolio holdings as of Q1, 2024 can be found in this list.

Taiwan’s TSMC comes in second, with shares listed on the NYSE rising more than 60% year over year in 2024. As TSMC is the largest contract chip manufacturer in the world, it makes chips for customers such as Nvidia and Apple, which design chips but do not make them themselves.