The World’s 50 Most Profitable Companies in 2021
Here is the list of the world’s most profitable companies in 2021:
| Rank | Company | Fortune Global 500 Rank | Profit ($M) | Profit Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Apple | 6 | 57411 | +3.9% |
| 2 | Saudi Aramco | 14 | 49287 | -44.1% |
| 3 | SoftBank Group | 184 | 47053 | --- |
| 4 | Industrial & Commercial Bank of China | 20 | 45783 | +1.3% |
| 5 | Microsoft | 33 | 44281 | +12.8% |
| 6 | Berkshire Hathaway | 11 | 42521 | -47.8% |
| 7 | Alphabet | 21 | 40269 | +17.3% |
| 8 | China Construction Bank | 25 | 39283 | +1.7% |
| 9 | Agricultural Bank of China | 29 | 31293 | +1.9% |
| 10 | 86 | 29146 | +57.7% | |
| 11 | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | 43 | 29131 | -20% |
| 12 | Bank of China | 39 | 27952 | +3% |
| 13 | Tencent Holdings | 132 | 23166 | +71.5% |
| 14 | Alibaba Group Holding | 63 | 22224 | +3.6% |
| 15 | Samsung Electronics | 15 | 22116 | +19.9% |
| 16 | Amazon | 3 | 21331 | +84.1% |
| 17 | Toyota Motor | 9 | 21180 | +13.1% |
| 18 | Intel | 108 | 20899 | -0.7% |
| 19 | Ping An Insurance | 16 | 20739 | -4.1% |
| 20 | Bank of America | 77 | 17894 | -34.8% |
| 21 | Verizon Communications | 45 | 17801 | -7.6% |
| 22 | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing | 251 | 17344 | +51.4% |
| 23 | UnitedHealth Group | 8 | 15403 | +11.3% |
| 24 | Roche Group | 147 | 15229 | +12.1% |
| 25 | Johnson & Johnson | 94 | 14714 | -2.7% |
| 26 | China Merchants Bank | 162 | 14108 | +4.9% |
| 27 | Sanofi | 276 | 14031 | +346.8% |
| 28 | Walmart | 1 | 13510 | -9.2% |
| 29 | Nestlé | 79 | 13031 | +2.7% |
| 30 | Procter & Gamble | 128 | 13027 | +234.3% |
| 31 | China Mobile Communications | 56 | 12920 | +6.4% |
| 32 | Home Depot | 41 | 12866 | +14.4% |
| 33 | Fannie Mae | 62 | 11805 | -16.6% |
| 34 | Bank of Communications | 137 | 11409 | +2% |
| 35 | Cisco Systems | 221 | 11214 | -3.5% |
| 36 | Sony | 88 | 11054 | +106.4% |
| 37 | Citigroup | 82 | 11047 | -43.1% |
| 38 | Morgan Stanley | 204 | 10996 | +21.6% |
| 39 | ThyssenKrupp | 298 | 10725 | --- |
| 40 | Comcast | 64 | 10534 | -19.3% |
| 41 | Sberbank | 269 | 10527 | -19.4% |
| 42 | Oracle | 304 | 10135 | -8.6% |
| 43 | Volkswagen | 10 | 10104 | -35% |
| 44 | Rio Tinto Group | 256 | 9769 | +22% |
| 45 | Industrial Bank | 196 | 9656 | +1.3% |
| 46 | Pfizer | 281 | 9616 | -40.9% |
| 47 | Goldman Sachs Group | 193 | 9459 | +11.7% |
| 48 | Huawei Investment & Holding | 44 | 9362 | +3.3% |
| 49 | Toronto-Dominion Bank | 296 | 8841 | +0.7% |
| 50 | Nippon Telegraph and Telephone | 55 | 8643 | +9.9% |
The 2021 ranking of the world’s most profitable companies was compiled based on financial statements of the largest corporations by net profit for 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the world dramatically. But for the 50 world's most profitable companies, the year 2020 was more or less business as usual. The trend of Chinese and American corporations struggling for global domination continues. It seems like China is winning the competition. The ranking also includes several German, French, Japanese, South Korean, Swiss, and Russian corporations. The biggest oil corporations, including Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Total, Petrobras, Gazprom, and Lukoil, vanished from the list because of sharp oil-price drops in 2020.
Many investors are eager to beat the market by buying stocks of companies that will enter the list of the top 50 largest and most profitable corporations in 10 or 20 years. As Warren Buffett showed at the recent Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting, the list of the world's largest corporations by capitalization has undergone significant changes over thirty years. It can be extremely difficult to identify companies that will become leaders in new industries. Yes, we can predict with a fairly high probability that electric cars, cultured meat, and renewable energy will become hot industries by the beginning of the 2030s and will significantly improve our lives. But it can be difficult for a private investor to recognize a future Amazon, Google, or Apple in a small startup that’s just issued an IPO – especially when the number of similar startups in the same industry is often measured in the hundreds.
Source: Fortune
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About the Author
Sergey Karpenko is a co-founder of Asian-links.com and a value investor who has lived in Asia for many years.
Sergey believes that Asia has become the powerhouse for the global economy in the 21st century. Despite all its complexities, Asia offers tremendous opportunities for investors to get rich by cashing in on this vibrant region’s explosive growth.
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