Top 10 Largest Companies by Market Cap (1979-2021)

This video will compare the largest companies in the world by market cap from 1979 to 2021.
Market capitalization is the market value of a publicly traded company, calculated by multiplying the share price by the number of total shares. Private companies are not included in this video.

Datasources: Forbes, Fortune500, YCharts, individual company’s annual reports
Music: Carnival Overture by Dvorak

[RankingCharts]

This video will compare the largest companies in the world by market cap from 1979 to 2021. Enjoy!

[QuantumBraced]

Until 2010: Oil and finance
After 2010: Tech

[riesjart]

Shell making sure the top 10 isnt just American companies for like half the video lol

[tomspettigue]

Blown away how long it took for Apple to get to $1T, and then in like a year it was up to $2T

[ojasaklecha]

Countries that dominated the entire chart atleast once in this video -
1. USA
2. Japan

[erickrobertson]

I see that in 1987 Japanese companies really take off and dominate this list for a short while. I think this was preceeded by an agreement to devalue the dollar relative to other major currencies via the Plaza Accord of 1985. This is also shortly before there was an asset bubble in Japan which resulted in something like stagflation.

[Amelia-Elizabeth]

I'm 54 and my wife and I are VERY worried about our future, gas and food prices rising daily. We have had our savings dwindle with the cost of living into the stratosphere, and we are finding it impossible to replace them. We can get by, but can't seem to get ahead. My condolences to anyone retiring in this crisis, 30 years nonstop just for a crooked system to take all you worked for...

[Sempuukyaku]

Microsoft stays winning. Never left the top 10 when they hit it.

That's super impressive.

[ToddBoyle]

A shout-out to any American, Brit or Australian expats who lived in Japan through the 1980s-mid 1990s, in the financial sector. What a wild ride it was. Watching this video brings up more memories, feelings and emotions than any movie.

[SU-dych]

The momentum of Japan in the latter half of the 1980s was great. Currently, Toyota and Sony are the only Japanese companies in the top 100.

[JackMiner]

Microsoft's consistency is amazing. Once they made it to this list, they stayed there.

[wilhelmbittrich]

One thing I've learned from this is that USA is really good at producing hugely successful businesses. Amazing.

[truthsmiles]

If anyone else was wondering about NTT:
“The Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, commonly known as NTT, is a Japanese telecommunications company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.” - wikipedia

[LukeL]

The past 3-5 years show how overinflated the market really is.

[fehrokq]

Japan literally dominated the worlds economy only in 40 years after WW2 which is insane

[sergpie]

That brief moment in 2009-2011 where Petrobras made it to like #5, I was in Brazil. The economic and social environment was so different than what it was when I returned for a trip in 2019. It’s so insane how quickly and abruptly economic cycles take hold in Latin America. The relative prosperity that one company’s revenues managed to bring to a nation the size of Brazil, in two years, was palpable (the dollar was almost 1/1 against the real, and gas was super-cheap!), to then see that same population slipping into lower HDI and GDP indexes lower than before the 2010s, and gasoline going up to near American prices. Gnarly

[Fools_Requiem]

1984 was when AT&T was forced to break up their monopoly. Late 80s saw a massive boom in the Japanese economy, hence the sudden explosion of Japanese banks.

[williamtoad]

1986-93 you can really see the Japanese real estate bubble go full force

[andrewevans]

1982 IBM: we have the same market cap as Yugoslavia. 2022 IBM: We almost have the same market cap as Yugoslavia.

[greatcesari]

Fun fact: TSMC is the most significant one on the list. If Taiwan is compromised, electronic devices will come to a halt.