The World's 100 Largest Public Companies

Ranked by market value as of June 30, 1998, as determined by Dow Jones Indexes (In millions of U.S. dollars; financial data at December 31, 1997, exchange rates; percentage changes based on home currencies)
 
 

Rank
1998

Rank
1997

Company (Country)

Market Value

Fiscal 1997 Sales

Percent Change From 1996

Fiscal 1997 Profit

Percent Change From1996
1 1 American International Group (U.S.)2 $296,073 $90,840 15% $8,203 13%
2 6 Microsoft (U.S. 267,044 14,484 28 4,490 30
3 3 Coca-Cola (U.S.) 211,129 18,868 2 4,129 18
4 2 Royal Dutch/Shell (Netherlands/U.K.) 187,763 171,657 0 7,753 -13
5 5 Exxon (U.S.) 174,640 120,279 3 8,460 13
6 7 Merck (U.S.) 159,866 23,637 19 4,614 19
7 18 Pfizer (U.S.) 141,906 12,504 11 2,213 15
8 19 Wal-Mart Stores (U.S.) 136,069 117,958 12 3,526 15
9 4 Nippon Telegraph &Telephone (Japan) 131,863 72,381 7 2,220 93
10 8 Intel (U.S.) 125,716 25,070 20 6,945 35
11 12 Procter & Gamble (U.S.) 122,114 37,154 4 3,780 11
12 17 Bristol-Myers Squibb (U.S.) 114,397 16,701 11 3,205 12
13 49 Lucent Technologies (U.S.)1 109,140 26,360 13 541 N.A.
14 27 Berkshire Hathaway (U.S.) 108,664 10,430 -1 1,902 -24
15 14 IBM (U.S.) 108,257 78,508 3 6,093 12
16 20 Glaxo Wellcome (U.K.) 107,944 13,194 -4 3,059 -7
17 11 Novartis (Switzerland) 102,698 21,315 -14 3,562 126
18 23 American International Group (U.S.)2 102,147 30,602 10 3,332 15
19 15 Johnson & Johnson (U.S.) 99,505 22,629 5 3,303 14
20 9 Toyota Motor (Japan) 98,730 89,449 -5 3,480 18
21 10 Philip Morris (U.S.) 95,656 72,055 4 6,310 0
22 56 Cisco Systems (U.S.) 95,427 6,440 57 1,049 15
23 30 AT&T (U.S.) 92,782 51,319 2 4,638 -21
24 29 Unilever Group (Netherlands/U.K.) 85,502 48,721 -7 5,568 122
25 22 British Petroleum (U.K.) 84,896 71,858 3 4,084 -3
26 21 DuPont (U.S.) 84,286 45,079 3 2,405 -34
27 37 Nestle (Switzerland) 84,074 47,851 16 2,738 18
28 43 Allianz (Germany)3 80,191 41,578 16 1,129 23
29 - UBS (Switzerland)4 79,452 742,673 N.A. -456 N.A.
30 46 British Telecommunications (U.K.) 79,172 25,860 5 2,821 -18
31 33 Lloyds TSB Group (U.K.) 75,931 228,214 7 3,884 37
32 24 Deutsche Telekom (Germany) 75,270 37,545 7 1,836 88
33 31 SBC Communications (U.S.) 73,554 24,856 6 1,474 55
34 47 NationsBank (U.S.) 73,458 264,562 42 3,077 30
35 25 Eli Lilly (U.S.) 73,367 8,518 16 -385 N.A.
36 35 Walt Disney (U.S.) 71,625 22,473 20 1,966 62
37 54 Ford Motor (U.S.) 71,566 153,627 5 6,920 56
38 81 Bell Atlantic (U.S.)5 70,827 30,194 4 2,455 -28
39 67 Travelers Group (U.S.) 69,722 386,555 12 3,104 33
40 - France Telecom (France) 68,800 26,057 4 2,471 3
41 16 Roche Holding (Switzerland) 68,757 12,829 18 -1,573 N.A.
42 41 SmithKline Beecham (U.K.) 67,964 12,889 -2 1,863 5
43 42 American Home Products (U.S.) 67,927 14,196 1 2,043 8
44 32 Citicorp (U.S.) 67,389 310,897 11 3,611 -5
45 75 Schering-Plough (U.S.) 67,222 6,778 20 1,444 19
46 - SAP (Germany) 66,466 3,345 62 513 63
47 50 BellSouth (U.S.) 66,460 20,561 8 3,279 15
48 36 HSBC Holdings (U.K.)6 66,132 473,434 21 5,547 8
49 38 Gillette (U.S.) 63,894 10,062 4 1,427 50
50 65 Chase Manhattan (U.S.) 63,742 365,521 9 3,782 50

Rank
1998

Rank
1997

Company (Country)

Market Value

Fiscal 1997 Sales

Percent Change From 1996

Fiscal 1997 Profit

Percent Change 1996
51 39 Abbott Laboratories (U.S.) $63,286 $11,883 8% $2,094 11%
52 48 Fannie Mae (U.S.) 62,992 391,673 12 3,056 12
53 26 Hewlett-Packard (U.S.) 62,020 42,895 12 3,119 21
54 28 PepsiCo (U.S.) 61,413 20,917 3 2,142 86
55 78 Home Depot (U.S.) 61,033 24,156 24 1,160 24
56 73 ING Group (Netherlands) 60,078 306,222 28 2,026 24
57 34 Mobil (U.S.) 59,874 53,399 -25 3,272 10
58 - Dell Computer (U.S.) 59,772 12,327 59 944 78
59 - Credit Suisse Group (Switzerland)1 59,164 471,389 10 714 N.A.
60 51 BankAmerica (U.S.) 59,054 260,159 4 3,223 12
61 - First Union (U.S.) 58,444 157,274 12 1,896 26
62 76 Warner-Lambert (U.S.) 56,851 8,180 13 8704,470 11191
63 63 Daimler-Benz (Germany) 55,442 68,947 17 4,470 191
64 - Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (U.S.) 54,825 302,287 27 2,586 31
65 44 Chevron (U.S.) 54,777 35,009 -7 3,256 25
66 64 GTE (U.S.) 53,544 23,260 9 2,794 0
67 74 American Express (U.S.) 52,455 120,003 11 1,991 5
68 52 ENI (Italy) 52,280 35,609 6 2,894 15
69 70 Ericsson (Sweden) 52,131 21,133 35 1,511 67
70 - Aegon (Netherlands) 50,385 9,809 26 1,089 41
71 - WorldCom (U.S.)1,7 49,991 7,351 64 384 N.A.
72 71 Ameritech (U.S.) 49,385 15,998 7 2,296 8
73 - Telefonica (Spain) 47,471 15,518 18 1,248 19
74 80 McDonald's (U.S.) 47,433 11,409 7 1,643 4
75 - Compaq Computer (U.S.) 47,301 24,584 23 1,855 41
76 - Time Warner (U.S.)1 45,602 13,294 32 246 N.A.
77 69 Boeing (U.S.) 45,025 45,800 29 -178 N.A.
78 92 Deutsche Bank (Germany) 44,945 586,440 27 823 -38
79 66 General Motors (U.S.) 44,656 178,174 9 6,698 35
80 89 Barclays (U.K.) 43,531 374,383 26 1,941 -30
81 - Diageo (U.K.) 42,326 20,304 -4 1,341 15
82 - MCI Communications (U.S.)7 42,105 19,653 6 209 -83
83 55 Munich Re (Germany)8 40,929 24,678 38 639 64
84 85 Zeneca Group (U.K.) 40,743 8,588 -3 1,207 14
85 - Telecom Italia Mobile (Italy) 40,486 5,347 29 879 67
86 59 Amoco (U.S.) 40,064 28,490 -1 2,274 -5
87 - Vodafone Group (U.K.) 39,154 4,084 41 692 15
88 - Banc One (U.S.) 38,725 116,182 14 1,306 -9
89 - Telecom Italia (Italy) 38,576 24,210 6 1,475 51
90 90 Elf Aquitaine (France) 38,491 42,279 9 931 -20
91 83 Allstate (U.S.) 38,440 20,106 2 3,144 51
92 99 Bayer (Germany) 37,609 30,572 13 1,635 8
93 96 L'Oreal (France) 37,503 11,491 15 663 14
94 - AXA-UAP (France)9 37,384 50,543 N.A. 131,671 N.A.
95 - Mannesmann (Germany) 37,234 21,730 13 272 28
96 13 Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (Japan) 36,861 665,627 7 -4,176 N.A.
97 - Swiss Re (Switzerland) 36,846 11,126 21 1,446 45
98 - Tyco International (U.S.) 36,735 6,598 30 419 35
99 - Chrysler (U.S.) 36,390 61,147 0 2,805 -21
100 79 Siemens (Germany) 35,444 59,432 14 1,331 -14


Notes:

* Net premiums earned are used instead of sales for insurance companies, except where otherwise specified. Assets are used instead of sales for other financial companies and are calculated without contingent liabilities and Treasury stock items.
1. Results for prior year are losses
2. American International Group sales shown equal reported total revenue, net premiums earned totaled $22.35 billion
3. Market value reflects 1998 acquisition of Assurances Generales de France, but sales and profit figures are for Allianz only
4. Figures reflect June merger of Union Bank of Switzerland and Swiss Bank Corp.
5. Figures reflect 1997 acquisition of Nynex
6. Market cap for HSBC Holdings is combined for Hong Kong and U.K.
7. MCI and WorldCom merged on September 14, forming MCI WorldCom Inc.; the companies would have had a combined market value of $92.1 billion on June 30
8. Figures are preliminary, provided by the company; sales shown equal premiums written
9. Figures reflect 1997 merger of AXA and UAP
N.A. - Not available
Rank calculated for Royal Dutch/Shell Group by combining market value of the Netherlands' Royal Dutch Petroleum and Britain's Shell Transport & Trading. Rank calculated for Unilever by combining market value of the Netherlands' Unilever NV and Britain's Unilever PLC. Sales and profits are for combined companies.
 
 
Source: The Wall Street Journal Reports. World Business, September 28, 1998, Page R27