Largest Multi-National Corporations



Largest Multi-National Corporations

Most of the largest companies, by revenue, are American or Japanese. In 1996, 162 of the 500 largest companies globally were from the United States, and 126 from Japan. Only a few of the largest companies are from developing countries. An exception is China, which has three entries in the top 500 list (Fortune Magazine, Top 500 and Biggest revenues and increases in revenues: )

Measured by foreign assets, the distribution of the largest companies looks very much the same. Most of the top 100 companies with largest foreign assets are from the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. In this list, Japanese companies are not as prominent. 

In 1995, the list of the top 100 transnational corporations (TNCs), measured by foreign assets, included two companies from developing countries for the first time. These were Daewoo and Venezuela (oil company). Total foreign assets of the top 100 TNCs in 1995 amounted to $1.7 trillion, while total foreign sales were $2 trillion, and total employment 5,800,000. 

Concentration of wealth

In 1996, the total revenues of the 500 largest companies globally were $11.4 trillion, total profits were $404 billion, total assets were $33.3 trillion, and the total number of employees was 35,517,692. The top ten companies accounted for 11.7% of the total revenues of the top 500, 15% of profits, and 13.6% of employment, according to Fortune Magazine.

America was home to 31 of the 50 most profitable firms, and seven of the top ten. The most profitable, however, was Shell (the Netherlands) – with profits of $8.9 billion. Shell's profits increased by 28.7% over 1995.

In 1996, the top 500 companies did not get bigger, they got richer. Their profits increased by 25.1%, while revenues increased only by 0.5%, assets by 3.5%, and the number of employees by 1.1%.

Only in Western Europe and United States largest companies are top MNCs

Most of the largest American and European companies in terms of revenues are also the largest in terms of foreign assets. The largest American companies, by revenue, are GM, Ford and Exxon. By foreign assets, the largest American companies are Ford, GE, Exxon and GM (data of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD).

Shell, which is the only European company among the ten largest by revenues, also had the largest foreign assets ($79.7 billion) in 1995 (Fortune Magazine and UNCTAD).

Compared to their revenues, large Japanese companies have fairly modest foreign assets. For example, Mitsui had foreign assets of $16.6 billion, Itochu $15.1 billion, Marubeni $13.4 billion, Sumitomo $12.0 billion, and Toyota $36.0 billion in 1995 (UNCTAD).

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