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Apple has retained the title of the most valuable company in the world with a net worth of $2.7 trillion, up 12 per cent in the last one year, according to the 2023 Hurun Global 500, a list of the 500 most valuable non-state-controlled companies in the world.
Companies were ranked according to their value, defined as market capitalisation for listed companies and valuations for non-listed companies.
Microsoft was the biggest gainer of the year, up 39 per cent on year at $2.5 trillion.
Alphabet came in at third spot, up 18 per cent on year at $1.6 trillion, and Amazon fourth, up 13 per cent at $1.4 trillion.
Chip-maker Nvidhia tripled its value in the last year to become the world's fifth- trillion dollar company. These 'Big 5' are collectively worth $9 trillion, adding a total of $2.1 trillion in the past year, revealed the Hurun study.
Meanwhile, Meta Platforms shot up seven places to the sixth spot, more than doubling its valua to $ 815 billion.
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Pharma major Eli Lily also shot up six spots to emerge as the ninth most valuable company. It saw a 62 per cent rise in its value at $526 billion, to become the worl's most valuable pharma company.
Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Eli Lilly and TSMC broke into the Top 10 at the expense of United Health Group, Johnson & Johnson, Exxon Mobil and Visa. All of the Top 10 are now from the USA except TSMC. Apple, Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway are the only companies from this year’s Top 10 that made the Top 10 ten years ago.
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The biggest gainers this year were Microsoft, Nvidia, and Meta.
Meta Platforms more than doubled on the back of its cost-cutting as well as a renewed focus on Instagram and WhatsApp. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly enjoyed stellar years, both rising by over US$200bn, fuelled by soaring sales of their diabetes drugs, which are also seen as effective weight-loss drugs. Amazon grew on the back of its cloud services.
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Meta Platforms more than doubled on the back of its cost-cutting as well as a renewed focus on Instagram and WhatsApp. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly enjoyed stellar years, both rising by over US$200bn, fuelled by soaring sales of their diabetes drugs, which are also seen as effective weight-loss drugs. Amazon grew on the back of its cloud services.
Where are they based?
The Hurun Global 500 comes from 29 countries, with the United States maintaining its dominance, followed by China, Japan, and the UK. Bermuda replaced Malta, as Arch Capital made the cut and crypto exchange Binance dropped off. The USA is home to 52% of the G500 with 261 companies, which have 65% or US$34.2tn of the total value.
City-wise, New York is base to 30 companies in the Hurun 500, followed by Tokyo, London, Paris and Mumbai. Toronto broke into the Top 10. Europe’s 107 companies are split between the EU with 69, the UK with 23 and Switzerland with 15.
Where are the new faces coming from?
At least 48 new companies broke into the Hurun Global 500 this year, led by Netherlands-based trading company Vitol, shooting straight into the Top 250 with a value of US$66bn and ChatGPT parent
OpenAI into the Top 300 with US$50bn.
Commodity trader Vitol made the list for the first time. Rising demand and limited supply led to a 30% increase in average commodity prices, allowing Vitol to make profits of just under US$20 billion for the year.
Others of note include Swedish-retailer IKEA and US-based food delivery company DoorDash, which has – at 32 years – the youngest founder of a Hurun Global 500 company. Stripe, Meta and DoorDash contributed 6 Under40s founders of a Hurun Global 500. Financial Services led with 8 of the new entrants, followed by Software & Services with 7, Energy and Consumer Goods with 5 each.
China new faces were led by hybrid car manufacturer Li Auto with US$43bn, and followed by short video platform Kuaishou, Apple supplier Luxshare Precision, sportswear giant Anta and home appliance maker Haier Smart Home.
New to Top 100
13 companies broke into the Hurun Top 100 this year, led by semiconductor maker Advanced Micro Devices after seeing its value increase by 67% to $159 billion. Shanghai-based Pinduoduo moved up 147 places to 63rd, on the back of stronger-than-expected sales in its domestic market and a successful launch into the US market. Following its merger with sister company mortgage provider HDFC, India-based HDFC Bank advanced 43 positions to 68 th place.
Top 5 New Companies to Top 100
Deloitte grew 18% in value, as sales grew 20% to US$59bn, making it the most valuable of the ‘Big Four’. ServiceNow rocketed into the Hurun Global 100 with a 63% surge in valuation to US$119bn, riding the cloud workflow wave with its industry-focused solutions.
Biggest Losses in Value
148 companies saw their value go down and 48 companies dropped off the list completely. The biggest losers in terms of dollar value were Johnson & Johnson, on the back of ongoing talcum powder litigation, and Pfizer, as demand for its Covid vaccine dropped.
Rising interest rates, declining asset values and global uncertainties combined to hit banks and asset managers. Bank of America was down 25%, Brookfield Asset Management down 44% and Blackstone down 37%.
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In percentage terms, South Korea-based automobile company Hyundai Motor Company was the biggest loser, down 54%, on the back of competition from EV players and chip shortages.
Lower oil prices and environmental concerns affected the valuation of energy companies, with Chevron losing $65bn of value.
Huawei’s profitable mobile phone business was hit by chip sanctions, although shortly after the Hurun G500 cut-off date, Huawei surprised many with the release of a new phone with a homegrown chip.
Three India-based Adani companies, Adani Transmission, Adani Green Energy and Adani Total Gas, dropped off after a report of stock manipulation and accounting fraud sparked a major sell-off. Since the cut-off date of the list, founder Gautam Adani was cleared by India’s Supreme Court, resulting in a rebound in the value of his companies. Adani Green Energy would have re-entered the list.
Zoom and Covid vaccine makers Moderna and BioNTech had a post-Covid ‘hangover’, seeing a sharp drop since their peak at the height of Covid.
2023 Hurun Global 500 Top 10 Drop Outs
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2023 Hurun Global 500 Top 10 Drop Outs
“Value creation is changing rapidly. As much as one third of the Hurun Global 500 from five years ago have dropped off the list. The best performers these five years, ie since Covid, have been Apple and Microsoft, each adding over US$1tn, followed by Nvidia, Alphabet and Tesla, which each added over US$500bn. The worst performer was Alibaba, down by over US$300bn, followed by AT&T, Walt Disney, Ping An Insurance and Verizon, which each decreased by over US$100bn," said the study.
Which industries performed and which did not?
Financial Services was the biggest contributor to the Hurun Global 500 with 99 companies or 20% of the list, followed by Energy with 52, which retained its second place above healthcare.
Of the US$5.9tn of new value generated this year, 61% of the gains came from just three industries: Software & Services (US$1.4tn), Semiconductors (US$1.2tn) and Media & Entertainment (US$1tn).
Semiconductors were up as the ChatGPT and EV booms led to a global shortage of powerful chips, fueling the growth in value of Nvidia, TSMC, Broadcom, AMD, ASML Holding, Intel and Applied Materials.
Software & Services were up as Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle and SAP continued to ride the trend of digitalisation.
Growth in Metals & Mining’s was led by the likes of Australia’s BHP Group, Japan’s Mitsubishi, the US’ Southern Copper, Australia’s Fortescue Metals and Russia’s Norilsk Nickel.
Industry Breakdown of Hurun Global 500
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Industry Breakdown of Hurun Global 500
For Media, Meta Platforms led, as its cost-cutting as well as renewed focus on Instagram and WhatsApp helped it more than double to US$815bn. Others include Alphabet, which added US$232bn, Tencent US$128bn and Netflix US$51bn.
For Automobiles, it was Toyota, up US$41bn, Ferrari up US$22bn, Stellantis up US$17bn and Honda up US$16bn. Hybrid-maker Li Auto broke into the list with US$43bn.
The worst-performing sectors include Financial Services, Telecomms and Energy. Financial Services have been affected by interest rate rises, Telecomms by the rise in cloud services and instant messaging and Energy by a drop in oil prices and oversupply in renewables.
5-year performance
The best performers in five years, ie since Covid, have been Apple and Microsoft, each adding over $1tn, followed by Nvidia, Alphabet and Tesla, which each added over US$500bn.
The worst performer was Alibaba, down by over US$300bn, followed by AT&T, Walt Disney, Ping An Insurance and Verizon, which each decreased by over US$100bn.
How old are they?
The average age of the top 500 companies is 68 years, i.e. founded in 1955. 131 companies – a quarter of the list – have a history of more than 100 years, of which five are more than 200 years old.
Seven are worth more than US$100bn.
Meta Platforms is the most valuable start-up founded in the 2000s, followed by Tesla. 40 start-ups in the list were founded in the 2000s, making up US$3.8tn or 7% of the total value of the Hurun Global 500. Three of the ten from the 2000s are still private companies: ByteDance, SpaceX and Ant Group.
Around “309 or 62% of the companies on the Hurun Global 500, which is ranked by value, are not on the Fortune Global 500, which is ranked by sales, such that the likes of Visa, worth US$529bn, as well as Eli Lilly and ByteDance did not make the Fortune list. Hurun does not include state-controlled companies, whilst Fortune does. Ranking by value and not including state-controlled companies meant that on the Hurun Global 500, the US dominated with 261 companies, followed by China with 33, whilst ranking by sales and including state-controlled companies meant that on the Fortune Global 500, China led with 142 companies, ahead of the US with 136 companies," noted the report.
