The World’s 50 Most Profitable Companies
Here is the list of the world’s most profitable companies in 2023:
| Rank | Company | Fortune Global 500 Rank | Profit ($M) | Profit Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saudi Aramco | 2 | 159069 | +51% |
| 2 | Apple | 8 | 99803 | +5.4% |
| 3 | Microsoft | 30 | 72738 | +18.7% |
| 4 | Alphabet | 17 | 59972 | -21.1% |
| 5 | U.S. Postal Service | 159 | 56046 | --- |
| 6 | Exxon Mobil | 7 | 55740 | +141.9% |
| 7 | Industrial & Commercial Bank of China | 28 | 53589 | -0.8% |
| 8 | China Construction Bank | 29 | 48145 | +2.7% |
| 9 | Samsung Electronics | 25 | 42398 | +23.6% |
| 10 | Shell | 9 | 42309 | +110.5% |
| 11 | Agricultural Bank of China | 32 | 38524 | +3% |
| 12 | JPMorgan Chase | 53 | 37676 | -22.1% |
| 13 | Petrobras | 71 | 36623 | +84.3% |
| 14 | Chevron | 23 | 35465 | +127% |
| 15 | Bank of China | 49 | 33811 | +0.7% |
| 16 | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing | 168 | 33343 | +57.2% |
| 17 | Pfizer | 102 | 31372 | +42.7% |
| 18 | BHP Group | 180 | 30900 | +173.4% |
| 19 | Maersk Group | 151 | 29198 | +62.7% |
| 20 | Equinor | 56 | 28746 | +235.7% |
| 21 | Tencent Holdings | 147 | 27984 | -19.7% |
| 22 | Bank of America | 82 | 27528 | -13.9% |
| 23 | Meta Platforms | 81 | 23200 | -41.1% |
| 24 | Verizon Communications | 64 | 21256 | -3.7% |
| 25 | China National Petroleum | 5 | 21080 | +118.7% |
| 26 | Petronas | 139 | 20999 | +108.1% |
| 27 | TotalEnergies | 20 | 20526 | +28% |
| 28 | China Merchants Bank | 179 | 20517 | +10.4% |
| 29 | UnitedHealth Group | 10 | 20120 | +16.4% |
| 30 | BMW Group | 57 | 18870 | +28.9% |
| 31 | Vale | 332 | 18788 | -16.3% |
| 32 | ConocoPhillips | 149 | 18680 | +131.2% |
| 33 | GSK | 343 | 18439 | +205.8% |
| 34 | Toyota Motor | 19 | 18110 | -28.6% |
| 35 | Johnson & Johnson | 112 | 17941 | -14.1% |
| 36 | Hapag-Lloyd | 416 | 17912 | +66.9% |
| 37 | Stellantis | 31 | 17669 | +5.2% |
| 38 | Gazprom | 41 | 17641 | -37.9% |
| 39 | Glencore | 21 | 17320 | +248.2% |
| 40 | Home Depot | 48 | 17105 | +4.1% |
| 41 | China National Offshore Oil | 42 | 16988 | +85% |
| 42 | HSBC Holdings | 130 | 16035 | +15.2% |
| 43 | Mercedes-Benz Group | 47 | 15252 | -43.9% |
| 44 | Volkswagen | 15 | 15223 | -16.3% |
| 45 | Citigroup | 99 | 14845 | -32.4% |
| 46 | Procter & Gamble | 154 | 14742 | +3% |
| 47 | China Mobile Communications | 62 | 14718 | +0.6% |
| 48 | ENI | 61 | 14606 | +112.2% |
| 49 | Merck | 231 | 14519 | +11.3% |
| 50 | Marathon Petroleum | 36 | 14516 | +49.1% |
The 2023 ranking of the world's most profitable companies is based on the financial statements of the largest corporations by net profit for 2022. In 2022, the global economy was faced with challenges of unprecedented scale, beginning with the Russia-Ukraine war, which led to the imposition of sanctions on Russia and set off a chain of events that plunged the world into an energy supply crisis, prompting a spike in energy prices and inflation rates across the globe. In response, federal banks in many countries introduced interest rate increases in order to curb inflation, directly affecting economic growth and consumption, and effectively triggering an economic recession. Meanwhile, China continued to maintain its strict zero-COVID policy, which not only impacted its domestic manufacturing sector and economic activities but also had a global ripple effect.
Source: Fortune
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Sergey Karpenko is a co-founder of Asian-links.com and a value investor who has lived in Asia for many years.
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