Social and Economic Policy
Information on the World's Top Companies
Le Monde Diplomatique
December 1999
I. - What the World's Biggest 50 Companies are Worth (1999)
| COUNTRY |
NUMBER
|
%
|
MARKET CAPITALIZATION $bn
|
%
|
| United States |
33 |
66
|
4,901.2 |
71.8 |
| United Kingdom |
5 |
10
|
591.6 |
8.7 |
| Switzerland |
3 |
6
|
249 |
3.6 |
| Japan |
3 |
6
|
478 |
7 |
| Germany |
2 |
4
|
199.2 |
2.9 |
| France |
1 |
2
|
73.6 |
1,2 |
| Others |
3 |
6
|
329.9 |
4.8 |
| TOTAL |
50 |
100
|
6,822.5 |
100 |
Source: J.P. Morgan Securities database (July 1999)
II. - The Top 200 Multinational Companies (1998)
| | NUMBER OF TURNOVERS | | PROFITS | |
| COUNTRY | NUMBER | $bn | As % of total | $bn | As % of total |
| United States | 74 | 2776 | 36.5 | 183 | 52.7 |
| Japan | 41 | 1830 | 24.1 | 39 | 11.2 |
| Germany | 23 | 958 | 12.6 | 29 | 8.4 |
| France | 19 | 610 | 8 | 20 | 5.8 |
| United Kingdom | 13 | 399 | 5.3 | 28 | 8.2 |
| Switzerland | 6 | 217 | 2.8 | 13 | 3.9 |
| Italy | 5 | 179 | 2.4 | 8.9 | 2.6 |
| Netherlands | 4 | 158 | 2.1 | 12 | 3.5 |
| UK - Netherlands | 2 | 138 | 1.8 | 3 | 1 |
| South Korea | 3 | 82 | 1.1 | 0.068 | 0 |
| China | 3 | 76 | 1 | 1.7 | 0.4 |
| Sweden | 2 | 49 | 0.7 | 2.7 | 0.8 |
| Belgium - Netherlands | 1 | 31 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 0.4 |
| Venezuela | 1 | 25 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.2 |
| Brasil | 1 | 25 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.2 |
| Mexico | 1 | 20 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 0.3 |
| Spain | 1 | 19 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 0.4 |
| TOTAL | 200 | 7592 | 100 | 345.7 | 100 |
| of the top six countries | 176 (88%) | 6790 | 89.3 | 312 | 90.2 |
| | | | | |
| World GDP | 28,654 |
| The "200" as a percentage of the World GDP | 26.3% |
Source: Companies' annual reports.
III. When 200 Companies Do Better Than 150 Countries
| 1982 | 1992 | 1995 | 1998 |
| World GDP ($bn) | 11,179 | 23,780 | 28,607 | 26,854 |
| of which: GDP of the ca. 150 non-member countries of the OECD | 28.6 | 20.2 | 22.8 | 24.5 |
| Turnover of the "200" (%) | 27.2 | 24.7 | 27.5 | 26.3 |
Annual World Growth Rate (%)
| 1982-92 | 1992-95 | 1995-98 |
| World GDP | 7.8 | 6.4 | 3.3 |
| GDP of the ca. 150 non-member countries of the OECD | 9 | 5.2 | 2.3 |
| Turnover of the "200" | 6.8 | 10.3 | 4.4 |
Source: United Nations (in current dollars).
More Information on Social and Economic Policy
More Information on the Transnational Corporations
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted
material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by
the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material
without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving
the included information for research and educational purposes. We
believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material
as provided for in 17 U.S.C ß 107. If you wish to use copyrighted
material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair
use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
