The World’s 50 Most Profitable Companies in 2018
For the third year in a row, Apple is the world's most profitable company. In general, compared to last year's ranking, the total profit of the 50 most powerful companies has grown in step with the growth of the global economy. For example, the total revenue of the 500 largest companies on the Fortune Global 500 amounted to more than $30 trillion (USD). American companies edged out a few Chinese state banks and state energy corporations from the top of the ranking. The presence of a handful of Japanese, Korean, European and Russian companies on the list mitigates the tough global competition for resources and global cash flow between the US and China. However, in 2019, the figures might become much gloomier, particularly if US President Donald Trump triggers a trade war between America and China and the EU. As we know, one of the main reasons for the Great Depression in the United States was a large-scale trade war. In the event of a similar event, the world economy can be expected to inevitably and quickly fall into recession, with a high risk of a repetition of the 2008 financial crisis.
Here is the list of the world’s most profitable companies in 2018:
| Rank | Company | Fortune Global 500 Rank | Profit ($M) | Profit Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apple | 11 | 48351 | +5.8% |
| 2 | British American Tobacco | 453 | 48328 | +670.4% |
| 3 | Berkshire Hathaway | 10 | 44940 | +86.7% |
| 4 | Industrial & Commercial Bank of China | 26 | 42324 | +1% |
| 5 | Samsung Electronics | 12 | 36575 | +89.3% |
| 6 | China Construction Bank | 31 | 35845 | +2.9% |
| 7 | Verizon | 37 | 30101 | +129.3% |
| 8 | AT&T | 20 | 29450 | +127% |
| 9 | Agricultural Bank of China | 40 | 28550 | +3.1% |
| 10 | Bank of China | 46 | 25509 | +3% |
| 11 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 47 | 24441 | -1.2% |
| 12 | Comcast | 80 | 22714 | +161.2% |
| 13 | Toyota Motor | 6 | 22510 | +33.2% |
| 14 | Wells Fargo | 62 | 22183 | +1.1% |
| 15 | Pfizer | 187 | 21308 | +195.3% |
| 16 | Microsoft | 71 | 21204 | +26.2% |
| 17 | Exxon Mobil | 9 | 19710 | +151.4% |
| 18 | Bank of America Corp. | 60 | 18232 | +1.8% |
| 19 | 274 | 15934 | +56% | |
| 20 | Procter & Gamble | 135 | 15326 | +45.9% |
| 21 | Ping An Insurance | 29 | 13181 | +40.3% |
| 22 | Volkswagen | 7 | 13107 | +120.8% |
| 23 | Royal Dutch Shell | 5 | 12977 | +183.7% |
| 24 | Sberbank | 205 | 12869 | +59.3% |
| 25 | Alphabet | 52 | 12662 | -35% |
| 26 | Gazprom | 49 | 12250 | -13.9% |
| 27 | Daimler | 16 | 11864 | +25.8% |
| 28 | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing | 368 | 11339 | +10.3% |
| 29 | Kraft Heinz | 451 | 10999 | +202.8% |
| 30 | China Mobile Communications | 53 | 10932 | +13.7% |
| 31 | HSBC Holdings | 90 | 10798 | +335.6% |
| 32 | Tencent Holdings | 331 | 10581 | -71% |
| 33 | UnitedHealth Group | 15 | 10558 | +50.5% |
| 34 | Bank of Communications | 168 | 10390 | +2.7% |
| 35 | China Merchants Bank | 213 | 10379 | +11.1% |
| 36 | Charter Communications | 264 | 9895 | +180.9% |
| 37 | Walmart | 1 | 9862 | -27.7% |
| 38 | BMW Group | 51 | 9717 | +28% |
| 39 | Alibaba Group Holding | 300 | 9673 | +49.1% |
| 40 | Cisco Systems | 212 | 9609 | -10.5% |
| 41 | Intel | 146 | 9601 | -6.9% |
| 42 | Honda Motor | 30 | 9561 | +68% |
| 43 | State Grid | 2 | 9533 | -0.4% |
| 44 | Sanofi | 271 | 9507 | +82.6% |
| 45 | SK Hynix | 442 | 9414 | +269.8% |
| 46 | SoftBank Group | 85 | 9378 | -28.8% |
| 47 | Oracle | 302 | 9335 | +4.9% |
| 48 | Chevron | 33 | 9195 | 0% |
| 49 | Disney | 176 | 8980 | -4.4% |
| 50 | Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group | 177 | 8933 | +4.5% |
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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