Top 10 Global Companies by Year 2019-2024 What’s Revealed & Concealed

Information can be accurate and yet still may reveal or conceal other truths lurking behind the proverbial curtain. Visual Capitalist (VC) states they organized this information about the top ten global companies from research produced by left-leaning Fortune. VC’s website says their data discovery app, “Voronoi, is only a year old, and already we’ve seen an incredible array of data-driven visualizations from creators.” VC has made a name for themselves by organizing data into visualizations like charts and infographics shown below. The information that follows was published on 12.26.2024.

According to VC is the following.

"Collectively, the world’s 10 largest companies by revenue generate roughly $4.6 trillion in annual sales, exceeding the GDP of countries like Japan and Germany.

Over the past five years, corporate balance sheets have swelled amid robust consumer demand, recovering economies, and strong labor markets. At the same time, stock markets have become increasingly concentrated, with the largest companies gaining market share through pricing power and economies of scale.

This graphic shows the top 10 Fortune Global 500 companies since 2019, based on data from Fortune. For the rankings, Fortune included public and private companies that report financial data. The latest 2024 ranking is based on total revenues in companies’ fiscal years ending on or before March 31, 2024."

Unstated in the above is what has "swelled" "corporate balance sheets" "Over the past five years." While there are several factors, COVID 19 was certainly among them. Reportedly over a million Americans died from complications linked to COVID 19, yet there is curiously little said about its reported origins in China and the role that various U.S. entities played in that event. More on that another time.

Most of those corporate symbols are familiar. Walmart. Amazon. Apple. CVS Health. UnitedHealth Group. Toyota or VW. BP or Shell (oil and gas companies). For those keen on business, Saudi Aramco (oil and gas) is also familiar. But odds are that some of those symbols will likely not be familiar to the majority of readers. Thus the second chart below helps somewhat by saying what each corresponding corporate symbol is in English. For example, #3 on this Fortune 500 top ten companies is State Grid. Did you know about them before reading this column? If not, don't feel bad, because millions are in the same boat.

State Grid, according to left-leaning Wikipedia: "is the largest utility company in the world. As of March 2024, State Grid is the world's third largest company overall by revenue, behind Walmart and Amazon." Obviously China is a huge country as measured by population. Wikipedia says: "China and India are the two most populous countries in the world, with India home to about 1.45 billion people and China home to 1.42 billion in 2024. China and India together account for about 35.17% of the total world population and 60% of the Asia population."

But why is State Grid so big? VC said this.

"Ranking in third is Chinese utility firm, State Grid, the largest employer in the world. The state-owned firm has regularly stood in the top 10 rankings, given its expansive global reach. Today, the utility giant has investments in projects across Australia, Brazil, Portugal, Italy and the Philippines." What is unstated is that American money helped develop Communist China and thus that "state-owned firm."

Note that the next statement from Wikipedia is contradicted by the information from Fortune. If you look at data long enough, and carefully enough, you will spot contradictions. For now, let's just mention it and move on.

"China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation is the world's largest oil refining conglomerate, state owned enterprise, and second highest revenue company in the world behind Walmart."

Left-leaning Yahoo Finance says: "Sinopec, the world's largest oil refiner by capacity."

Let's make the point that China has one of the largest militaries in the world. Because of international trade and investments into China, PW Live said on 12.3.2024 that: "The United States boasts the world's most potent military, with Russia and China following closely in second and third positions."

China has to import oil and gas. Columbia University stated: "As a result, China is now the world's largest importer and second largest refiner of oil, helping reshape global energy markets." Behind every fact are more facts. Why is China growing so fast? Why did U.S. growth slow? Part of the story is investments. Western (not just U.S., but other countries like Britian, France, Germany or Australia) investments helped spur Chinese growth.

Here is the balance of the VC report on the global top 10 based on the Fortune 500 stats.

Walmart, with over 10,600 stores worldwide, has maintained its position as the world’s largest company by revenue for 12 consecutive years.

With slim profit margin of just 2.4%, Walmart is increasingly focused on digital advertising revenues. Today, Walmart commands 6.8% of U.S. retail ad spend, which is projected to reach $3.7 billion in 2024. Over the past two quarters, Walmart’s ad revenue growth has exceeded Amazon, driven largely by a growing number of marketplace sellers.

As America’s second-largest retailer, Amazon follows next in line, with $574.8 billion in revenues. Since 2019, revenues have more than doubled, driven by 310 million global customers using its online marketplace.

However, Amazon Web Services (AWS), fuels the majority of earnings given its high profit margins and strong growth. Today, AWS commands 31% of the global cloud services market.

Ranking in third is Chinese utility firm, State Grid, the largest employer in the world. The state-owned firm has regularly stood in the top 10 rankings, given its expansive global reach. Today, the utility giant has investments in projects across Australia, Brazil, Portugal, Italy and the Philippines.

Overall, Apple has the healthiest profit margins among the top 10 countries, at 25%. It is followed closely by oil giant Saudi Aramco, whose cheap production costs and vast oil reserves led profit margins to reach 24% in the latest fiscal year.

Let's note for now that Amazon does billions of dollars in business with the federal government. Per left-leaning Google's AI powered Gemini is this.

"Amazon Web Services (AWS) has a large amount of business with the U.S. government, including contracts with the National Security Agency (NSA), the Department of Defense, and the Department of Navy." That includes the "Wild and Stormy Cloud Computing Contract A $10 billion contract with the NSA."

At number 9 in 2024, per VC and Fortune, is Berkshire Hathaway (BRK).

Berkshire Hathaway is led by Warren Buffett, who is said to be feeling his mortality. Buffett is one of the richest men in the world. Buffett/Berkshire have influence on the U.S. housing market.

Buffett led Berkshire owns Clayton Homes, 21st Mortgage Corporation, and Vanderbuilt Mortgage and Finance (VMF), to name but three companies involved in the manufactured housing industry. But Clayton also owns conventional 'site builders' besides producing modular and manufactured homes. Buffett-led Berkshire has an interest in the real estate industry. Earlier this year, Berkshire began to shed chuncks of their large stake in Apple's stock. Notice that Apple is listed as one of the top 10 companies globally.

https://www.manufacturedhomepr...

When you think U.S. housing shortage, you have to think about at least three things. Please keep in mind that this writer is a political independent. Facts are what they are.

1) Public policies, including immigration policy, impact housing. The 2024 election result is put Republicans in charge of the U.S. House and Senate once the new Congress is sworn in. Former and future President Donald J. Trump (R) is going back to the White House, presuming nothing terrible happens to the man between now and January 20th (recall the assassination attempts last summer). Trump and his vice presidential running mate, now Senator J.D. Vance (OH-R), are set to be sworn in on January 20, 2025. Both Trump and Vance have spoken about their plans to deport millions of people in the U.S. illegally, many of whom came into the U.S. during the Biden-Harris (D) years. While Joe Biden (D) and Kamala Harris (D) both talked about housing policy, while they had control of Congress what they actually did made the U.S. housing crisis worse.

2) Corporations and investments impact housing. For longtime readers of this series on the Patch, recall the prior post about Frank Rolfe's remarks that there is no serious effort on the part of "special interests" to solve the U.S. affordable housing crisis. As was mentioned before, Berkshire has interests in conventional building, in various real estate operations, plus in affordable manufactured homes. Which ought to beg the question. Why are they allowing U.S. housing policies that fostered the current housing crisis? Hold that thought and see the articles linked below for more.

https://patch.com/florida/lake...

https://patch.com/florida/lake...

3) Big Media and Big Tech and their role in housing information. Whenever big media and big tech fails to paint a complete enough picture of what is actually occurring, it is an obvious disservice to Americans. Odds are good that many readers have already picked up on insights that they have not been exposed to before this article or this series. That's not because this writer is 'the best,' it is rather because this Patch has made it possible to share these articles on a mainstream news site at all. An important article on big tech is linked here.

https://patch.com/florida/lake...

Anytime important bits of information is withheld from a listener, viewer, or reader it can warp someone's grasp of reality.

Let's go back to that top 10 list per VC which cited Fortune.

According to left-leaning Google's AI powered Gemini on this date, consider the following facts.

"As of August 2024, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street had the following assets under management (AUM):

• BlackRock: $10.5 trillion
• Vanguard: $9.3 trillion
• State Street: $4.3 trillion

BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street are known as the "Big Three" asset management firms. Together, they manage over 20% of the total market capitalization in the U.S."

Now, look back at what VC/Fortune said about those top ten companies: "Collectively, the world’s 10 largest companies by revenue generate roughly $4.6 trillion in annual sales, exceeding the GDP of countries like Japan and Germany." State Street alone has about $4.3 trillion in assets under management (AUM). Now, these are two different data sets, but it reveals that the article above is less than complete.

Some have complained about the power of the "Big Three" asset managers in the U.S. and abroad. The three collectively have as of the date shown $24.1 trillion in assets under management. They too are important in understanding their influence over public policy, the media, and housing policy. BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street each have investments in housing companies, including manufactured homes and mobile home/manufactured home "land lease" communities.

https://www.manufacturedhomepr...

Behind the curtain of many stories in the news are facts that are often obscured or go unmentioned. This reasonably short introduction to the top 10 firms per Fortune and VC have revealed several things that they left out. The better you understand reality, the more likely you are to be able to successfully navigate reality.

My thanks to this Patch for letting me share these and other insights with you. God willing, there is more to come.

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---> L. A. “Tony” Kovach is a publisher who has earned multiple awards in history. He and his family live in a manufactured home on private property in Winter Haven, FL. He is the co-founder of Manufactured Home Living News.com (MHLivingNews.com) and Manufactured Home Pro News.com (MHProNews.com), trade publications serving segments of the manufactured home industry. Having worked in several segments of the manufactured home industry for over 3 decades, Kovach is a widely acknowledged and often praised expert on manufactured housing. ###