Joshua Althauser
To put the value of some of the world’s biggest corporations into perspective, Real Business Rescue has gathered market capitalisation figures and compared them to the GDP of major countries.
Despite the pandemic, eCommerce sales increased globally, rising 27.6% from 2019 to 2020. Alongside this widespread growth, individual companies are getting richer – the likes of Apple, Amazon and Microsoft are giant household brands, with market values continuously growing to unprecedented heights.
Top ten companies that are worth more than countries
| Rank | Company | Company market value | Country GDP | Company market value compared to country GDP |
| 1 | Apple | $2.25 trillion | $1.08 trillion (Mexico) | 2.1 x Mexico |
| 2 | Microsoft | $1.97 trillion | $1.89 trillion (Italy) | 1 x Italy |
| 3 | Saudi Aramco | $1.90 trillion | $421.0 billion (UAE) | 4.5 x UAE |
| 4 | Amazon | $1.71 trillion | £1.33 trillion (Austria) | 4 x Austria |
| 5 | Alphabet | $1.54 trillion | $1.48 trillion (Russia) | 1 x Russia |
| 6 | Meta (Facebook) | $870.5 billion | $212.5 billion (New Zealand) | 4.1 x New Zealand |
| 7 | Tencent Holdings | $773.8 billion | $301.9 billion (South Africa) | 2.6 x South Africa |
| 8 | Alibaba Group | $657.5 billion | $418.6 billion(Ireland) | 1.6 x Ireland |
| 9 | Berkshire Hathaway | $624.4 billion | $155.0 billion (Hungary) | 4 x Hungary |
| 10 | Taiwan Semiconductor | $558.1 billion | $501.8 billion (Vietnam) | 2.1 x Vietnam |
Apple made history in 2018 by becoming the first trillion-dollar company, and it hasn’t looked back since. Not only does Apple’s market cap sit at twice the size of the GDP of Mexico – the country with the 15th highest GDP in the world – it is also over two and half times larger than the Netherlands and three times larger than Switzerland. In fact, fewer than ten countries around the world, including the United States and China, have a GDP larger than the tech giant’s estimated value.
Following in second place is Microsoft, another household name as one of the world’s most successful tech companies. Along with most other companies, Microsoft had a rocky period during the 2008 economic crash; however, it’s seen impressive business recovery since, increasing its value by 0ver 700% between 2008 and 2021.
If Microsoft was a country, it would be one of the richest nations in the world, with a value larger than the GDPs of countries like Canada, Russia and Spain.
In third place is the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, which was founded in 1933. Despite the prediction that the current downturn in the North Sea may result in higher levels of business insolvency and liquidation in the oil and gas sector over the coming years, the Saudi Arabian Oil Company has been going strong and reached a market cap of over $1.8 trillion in 2021 – more than two and half times the GDP of its home country Saudi Arabia.
Top five companies with higher market values than the GDP of % of countries in the world
| Rank | Company | Higher market value than % of countries GDP |
| 1 | Apple | 97% |
| 1 | Microsoft | 97% |
| 1 | Saudi Aramco | 97% |
| 2 | Amazon | 96% |
| 3 | Alphabet | 95% |
| 4 | 91% | |
| 5 | Tencent Holdings | 90% |
Apple, Microsoft and Saudi Aramco rank joint first as the companies with a market value higher than the GDP of 97% of countries in the world.
Other companies in the top 20 include other household names, such as Samsung Electronics, worth more than 87% of worldwide GDPs, the creators of the single-shot COVID-19 vaccine, Johnson & Johnson, at 86%, Walmart (84%), LVMH (84%) Bank of America (80%) and Nestlé (80%),
Commenting on the research, Shaun Barton, National Online Business Operations Director at Real Business Rescue:
“Over the last few decades, companies that have become household names have seen eye-watering growth on a global scale, to the point where their market capitalisation overshadows the GDPs of entire nations. Although market cap and GDP represent different things, the comparison helps to visualise the wealth and power held by these businesses.
“Our data shows that if Apple, Microsoft and Amazon were countries, they would rank in the top ten richest nations in the world – highlighting how as the world becomes increasingly connected, the sky’s the limit when it comes to growth for global companies. Not only can businesses end up wealthier than the countries they were founded in, but they can become wealthier than more than 97% of countries’ GDP – with more growth predicted in the future.”
