“iPhone” maker Apple is worth $ 2.3 trillion. Seven of the ten most expensive companies in the world are from the United States.
Apple is worth almost 2.3 trillion dollars (1.9 trillion euros) after last year's soaring on the stock market – making it the most valuable company in the world at the end of 2020. The US smartphone and software giant, whose share has risen by 78 percent since the beginning of the year (as of December 29), has replaced the oil company Saudi Aramco at the top of the stock exchange rankings.
Seven of the ten most expensive companies in the world are from the United States and two from China. The high-flyer of the year is US electric car maker Tesla, whose value has increased eightfold to $ 631 billion. For comparison: Toyota, the heaviest of the traditional car companies, comes in at a good third with 215 billion dollars, and Volkswagen with just under 100 billion dollars a sixth, according to calculations by the management consultancy EY and Reuters.
Europe is falling behind
The major German corporations are falling behind the global giants – measured in terms of market capitalization – despite the upswing in the leading index DAX. Among the global “Top 100” there is SAP in 71st place with a stock market value of 160 billion dollars, just one of them based in Germany.
The most valuable company in Europe still comes from Switzerland: The food giant Nestle is only in 21st place with a market value of 339 billion dollars – which shows the dominance of US corporations and the upswing of Asians. 59 (2019: 56) of the “Top 100” come from the USA, 15 (13) from China and Hong Kong. Roche (25th) and Novartis (39th) are also well ahead of the German leader SAP.
Tech companies dominate
Seven of the highest rated companies in the world are in the technology sector, with four of them reaching a trillion market value. In addition to Apple, these are Microsoft ($ 1.7 trillion), Amazon (1.67 trillion) and the Google parent Alphabet (1.19 trillion).
The concentration on the world stock exchanges has accelerated this year: The “Top 10” are valued at $ 30.6 trillion, 24 percent more than at the end of 2019. Also noteworthy: The most expensive company in the financial sector is no longer a traditional bank, but rather the credit card provider Visa, which easily overtook JPMorgan and with 501 billion dollars is now worth 100 billion more than the US investment bank. Of the newcomers to the stock exchange of the year, the first place was the accommodation broker AirBnB in 149th place.
At least 13 German companies made it into the “Top 300” at the end of the year – only the USA, China, Japan and France managed more. The biggest leaps were made by the pharmaceutical company Merck (from 252th place to 193th), whose share rose by 42 percent, and Deutsche Post (from 283 to 245), which benefited from the mail order boom in the corona crisis with a price jump of 32 percent. Bayer shares lost 27 percent, and the chemical company fell from 145th place to 265th within a year.
