Top 10 Richest & Largest Companies in the World [2026]

The world's largest corporations shape global markets, influence economic stability and drive innovation across industries ranging from energy and pharmaceuticals to technology. Because of their size and reach, these companies draw close scrutiny from investors for their financial performance, market influence and social responsibility.

However, judging which organisation is genuinely "at the top" is entirely dependent on perspective. As data for 2026 show, "largest" and "richest" are not always synonymous. A corporation may be regarded "large" because it has a massive global workforce or a large base of physical assets, but another may be labelled "richest" because it generates unequalled net profits and liquid wealth.

Each section defines the metric followed by a top 10 ranking.

Top 10 largest companies by market capitalisation

Market capitalisation is one of the most useful criteria for determining a company's size and value. This is the total dollar value of a company's outstanding shares of stock and is calculated using the following formula:

Market cap = total shares * current share price

This value represents what the investment community believes a company is worth at the time, or the "price tag" required to acquire the entire entity. In the 2026 market, this statistic continues to place tech giants like Nvidia and Apple at the top, as investors bank on their continued growth in the AI and hardware sectors.

#	Company	Ticker	Market Cap
1	NVIDIA	NVDA	4.78T
2	Alphabet	GOOG	4.03T
3	Apple	AAPL	3.8T
4	Microsoft	MSFT	2.92T
5	Amazon	AMZN	2.67T
6	TSMC	TSM	1.97T
7	Broadcom	AVGO	1.8T
8	Saudi Aramco	2222	1.77T
9	Meta Platforms	META	1.68T
10	Tesla	TSLA	1.37T

Top 10 largest companies in the world by country

While the United States leads in global market capitalisation, every major economy has its own "national champions". These corporate engines serve as the foundation of a country's geopolitical influence and are often considered "too big to fail". They generate substantial tax revenue and employ a significant portion of the local population.

Beyond economics, these companies symbolise a country's industrial and technological prestige. In 2026, the global landscape shows a growing sectoral divide:

• United States: The AI boom has concentrated wealth in the technology sector.
• Middle East: Energy remains the undisputed source of economic power.
• Europe: Luxury goods and high-precision manufacturing continue to distinguish the region's top performers.

United States of America (USA)

#	Company	Ticker	Market Cap
1	NVIDIA	NVDA	$4.78T
2	Alphabet	GOOG	$4.03T
3	Apple	AAPL	$3.8T
4	Microsoft	MSFT	$2.92T
5	Amazon	AMZN	$2.67T
6	Broadcom	AVGO	$1.8T
7	Meta Platforms	META	$1.68T
8	Tesla	TSLA	$1.37T
9	Berkshire Hathaway	BRK/B	$1T
10	Walmart	WMT	$997B

Eurozone (EU)

#	Company	Ticker	Market Cap (USD)
1	ASML	ASML	$585B
2	LVMH	MC	$282B
3	L'Oreal	OR	$225B
4	Siemens	SIE	$213B
5	Hermes	RMS	$203B
6	SAP	SAP	$202B
7	Inditex	ITX	$194B
8	TotalEnergies	TTE	$192B
9	Banco Santander	SAN	$184B
10	Novo Nordisk	NVO	$177B

United Kingdom (UK)

#	Company	Ticker	Market Cap (USD)
1	AstraZeneca	AZN	$314B
2	HSBC	HSBA	$266B
3	Shell	SHELL	$256B
4	Linde	LIN	$231B
5	Arm Holdings	ARM	$171B
6	Rio Tinto	RIO	$161B
7	Rolls-Royce Holdings	RR	$146B
8	Unilever	ULVR	$126B
9	British American Tobacco	BATS	$124B
10	GlaxoSmithKline	GSK	$118B

United Arab Emirates (UAE)

#	Company	Ticker	Market Cap (USD)
1	International Holding Company	IHC	$238B
2	TAQA	TAQA	$102.5B
3	ADNOC Gas	ADNOCGAS	$71.0B
4	First Abu Dhabi Bank	FAB	$50.8B
5	Emirates NBD Bank PJSC	EMIRATESNBD	$45.0B
6	Emirates Telecom (Etisalat Group)	EAND	$43.1B
7	Dubai Electricity and Water Authority	DEWA	$39.6B
8	Emaar Properties	EMAAR	$27.6B
9	Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB)	ADCB	$32.1B
10	Alpha Dhabi	ALPHADHABI	$25.6B

China

#	Company	Ticker	Market Cap (USD)
1	Tencent	TCEHY	$580.6B
2	ICBC	1398	$417.5B
3	China Construction Bank	601939	$363.0B
4	Agricultural Bank of China	601266	$356.8B
5	PetroChina	0857	$330.6B
6	Alibaba	BABA	$318.7B
7	CATL	300750	$292.0B
8	Bank of China	601988	$273.7B
9	Kweichow Moutai	600519	$269.6B
10	China Mobile	0941	$227.3B

Japan

#	Company	Ticker	Market Cap (USD)
1	Toyota	TM	$277.9B
2	Mitsubishi UFJ Financial	MUFG	$208.3B
3	SoftBank	9984	$159.2B
4	Hitachi	6501	$148.5B
5	Fast Retailing	9983	$143.4B
6	Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group	SMFG	$136.9B
7	Advantest	6857	$125.9B
8	Sony	SONY	$125.5B
9	Tokyo Electron	8035	$124.9B
10	Mitsubishi Corporation	8058	$115.2B

Canada

#	Company	Ticker	Market Cap (USD)
1	Royal Bank of Canada	RY	$244.2B
2	Toronto Dominion Bank	TD	$172.9B
3	Shopify	SHOP	$153.0B
4	Enbridge	ENB	$115.7B
5	Agnico Eagle Mines	AEM	$110.8B
6	Bank of Montreal	BMO	$105.2B
7	Brookfield Corporation	BN	$103.0B
8	CIBC	CM	$97.7B
9	Scotiabank	BNS	$92.2B
10	Barrick Gold	B	$73.6B

Australia

#	Company	Ticker	Market Cap (USD)
1	Commonwealth Bank	CBA	$213.8B
2	BHP Group	BHP	$201.9B
3	Westpac Banking	WBC	$98.1B
4	National Australia Bank	NAB	$94.7B
5	ANZ Bank	ANZ	$80.7B
6	Macquarie Group	MQG	$65.4B
7	Wesfarmers	WES	$60.2B
8	CSL	CSL	$47.8B
9	Fortescue	FMG	$46.3B
10	Woodside Energy	WDS	$44.8B

Top 10 biggest companies in the world by number of employees

While market capitalisation represents investor confidence, headcount measures a company's direct impact on people. This metric measures the individuals globally who rely on a single corporation for their livelihood.

In 2026, a large workforce often indicates a labour-intensive company model. Sectors like retail, logistics, and manufacturing rely heavily on human resources to function rather than the lean teams of high-tech "unicorns". Consequently, these enormous corporations serve as primary economic engines for millions of households.

2026 employment landscape:

• Walmart and Amazon continue to dominate by the number of employees worldwide. However, headcount and profit often diverge, as an "employer giant" may support millions of jobs while generating lower profit than a small, automated software firm.
• In many regions, these corporations are more than businesses: they are foundations of social stability and the largest private contributors to national pension and insurance systems.

#	Company	Ticker	Employees
1	Walmart	WMT	2,100,000
2	Amazon	AMZN	1,546,000
3	BYD	002594	968,900
4	JD.com	JD	900,000
5	Foxconn	2317	826,608
6	Accenture	ACN	791,000
7	Volkswagen	VOW3	656,134
8	Tata Consultancy Services	TCS	607,979
9	DHL Group (Deutsche Post)	DHL	594,879
10	Compass Group	CPG	580,000

The largest companies by revenue

Revenue is the total "river" of cash flowing through a business before any expenses are paid. It reflects the size of a company's everyday operations, such as how many millions of people buy its products and how deeply it is integrated into the global economy.

Historically, this list has been dominated by retailers and energy giants, or businesses that move physical goods or power the world.

Retail: Walmart is the world leader for the 12th consecutive year, owing to its domination in groceries and physical stores. However, Amazon is swiftly closing the gap, aided by the combined engines of e-commerce expansion and high-margin growth in its cloud platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Energy: Saudi Aramco and other state-owned energy companies frequently hold the top spots, although their revenue varies dramatically depending on global oil prices. Unlike retail, which is typically stable, an energy company's "size" in terms of revenue might fluctuate by billions in a single quarter.

Volume vs. value: significant revenue does not automatically imply significant profit. These companies have a vast economic "footprint", but they frequently operate at lower margins than smaller, high-tech firms that provide digital services rather than physical inventories.

#	Company	Ticker	Revenue
1	Amazon	AMZN	$716.9B
2	Walmart	WMT	$713.2B
3	State Grid Corporation of China	—	$545.9B
4	Saudi Aramco	2222	$480.4B
5	China National Petroleum	—	$476.0B
6	Sinopec	600028	$429.7B
7	UnitedHealth Group	UNH	$447.6B
8	Apple	AAPL	$416.0B
9	CVS Health	CVS	$399.83B
10	Berkshire Hathaway	BRK/B	$371.4B

The most profitable businesses by earnings

If revenue shows how "busy" a company is, earnings (net income) show how successful it is. This is the actual cash left over for shareholders after all expenses, including salaries, taxes, interest, and R&D, have been paid.

In 2026, the global leaderboards reveal that, although retail and energy move the most products, technology and semiconductors move the most wealth.

Companies like Alphabet and Apple may have fewer employees than retail giants, yet their "earnings per person" are staggering. They focus on high-margin digital ecosystems where the cost of selling to the next million users is nearly zero.

For the first time, Nvidia is challenging for the top spot in net income. As the primary architect of the AI boom, it operates with massive profit margins that allow it to generate more "liquid wealth" per dollar of revenue than almost any firm in history.

Saudi Aramco remains a profit powerhouse, but its earnings are a "commodity story", highly dependent on global oil prices. In contrast, the tech titans are "platform stories," generating consistent profit through software subscriptions and hardware loyalty.

A company can be an "employer giant" while remaining less profitable than a small, high-tech firm. True wealth in 2026 is defined by scalability, or the ability to grow profits without needing to grow the workforce at the same rate.

#	Company	Ticker	Net Income
1	Alphabet	GOOGL	$132.2B
2	NVIDIA	NVDA	$120.1B
3	Apple	AAPL	$112.0B
4	Saudi Aramco	2222	$104.7B
5	Microsoft	MSFT	$101.8B
6	Amazon	AMZN	$77.7B
7	Berkshire Hathaway	BRK/B	$66.9B
8	Meta Platforms	META	$60.5B
9	JPMorgan Chase	JPM	$57.5B
10	ICBC	1398	$49.0B

The richest companies by total assets

Total assets are the sum of everything a company owns, including cash, real estate, and "intangibles" like patents and brand value. This metric reveals the resources a company has available to survive downturns or fund new ventures.

While tech giants lead in market value, financial institutions dominate asset rankings because their "products"- loans and cash reserves - sit directly on the balance sheet.

China's "Big Four", led by ICBC, continue to hold the top global spots. With assets exceeding $7.3 trillion, ICBC's balance sheet is larger than the GDP of most nations.

JPMorgan Chase remains the leader in the West. By early 2026, its assets grew to $4.6 trillion, fueled by its role as a "safe haven" for capital during periods of high interest rates and market volatility.

#	Company	Ticker	Total Assets
1	ICBC	1398	7.3T
2	Agricultural Bank of China	601288	6.8T
3	China Construction Bank	601939	6.2T
4	Bank of China	601988	5.27T
5	JPMorgan Chase	JPM	4.43T
6	Fannie Mae	FNMA	4.31T
7	Freddie Mac	FMCC	3.44T
8	Bank of America	BAC	3.4T
9	BNP Paribas	BNP	3.36T
10	HSBC	HSBC	3.23T

The companies with the highest net assets

While total assets show a company's arsenal, net assets (or book value) reveal what it actually owns. Calculated as total assets minus total liabilities, this metric represents the residual value belonging to shareholders if the company were liquidated today.

Unlike total assets, which debt can inflate, net assets reflect a company's true equity and its resilience against economic crises.

In 2026, Berkshire Hathaway leads the private sector with a "war chest" of $381.7 billion in cash and Treasury bills, an unparalleled safety net which provides a buffer that few other corporations can match.

Global banks like ICBC and JPMorgan Chase have trillions in total assets, but because customer deposits are (technically) liabilities, their net assets are significantly lower. They are giants of scale, but their ownership is highly leveraged.

For tech leaders like Apple and Nvidia, net assets are low relative to their multi-trillion-dollar market caps. Their primary value lies in "intangibles" like brand loyalty, patents, and AI algorithms, which are not fully captured on a traditional balance sheet.

#	Company	Ticker	Net Assets (Equity)
1	Berkshire Hathaway	BRK/B	$717.4B
2	ICBC	1398	~$595.0B
3	China Construction Bank	601939	~$505.0B
4	Bank of China	601988	~$465.0B
5	Agricultural Bank of China	601288	~$455.0B
6	Saudi Aramco	2222	~$447.0B
7	Alphabet (Google)	GOOGL	$415.3B
8	Microsoft	MSFT	$390.9B
9	Amazon	AMZN	$369.6B
10	JPMorgan Chase	JPM	$360.2B

 

References to forecasts and past performance are not reliable indicators of future results.

The images shown are for illustration purposes only. Data is sourced from third party providers.

This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be financial product advice or any investment recommendation. It is not to be construed as a recommendation; or an offer to buy or sell; or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any security, financial product, or instrument; or to participate in any trading strategy. It has been prepared without taking your objectives, financial situation and needs into account. Axi makes no representation and assumes no liability with regard to the accuracy and completeness of the content in this publication. Readers should seek their own advice.