WORLD'S LARGEST COMPANIES IN 2008 - FORBES 2000 RANKINGS
Rank
Company
Industry
Sales
($bn)
Profits
($bn)
Assets
($bn)
Market
value
($bn)
Country
1
HSBC Banking
146,50
19,13
2 348,98
180,81
UK
2
General Electric Conglomerates
172,74
22,21
795,34
330,93
US
3
Bank of America Banking
119,19
14,98
1 715,75
176,53
US
4
JP Morgan Chase Banking
116,35
15,37
1 562,15
136,88
US
5
ExxonMobil Oil & gas
358,60
40,61
242,08
465,51
US
6
Royal Dutch Shell Oil & gas
355,78
31,33
266,22
221,09
Netherlands
7
BP Oil & gas
281,03
20,60
236,08
204,94
UK
8
Toyota Motor Consumer durables
203,80
13,99
276,38
175,08
Japan
9
ING Group Insurance
197,93
12,65
1 932,15
75,78
Netherlands
10
Berkshire Hathaway Financials
118,25
13,21
273,16
216,65
US
11
Royal Bank of Scotland Banking
108,45
14,62
3 807,51
76,64
UK
12
AT&T Telecommunications
118,93
11,95
275,64
210,22
US
13
BNP Paribas Banking
116,16
10,71
2 494,41
81,90
France
14
Allianz Insurance
139,12
10,90
1 547,48
80,30
Germany
15
Total Oil & gas
199,74
19,24
165,75
181,80
France
16
Wal-Mart Stores Retailing
378,80
12,73
163,38
198,60
US
17
Chevron Oil & gas
203,97
18,69
148,79
179,97
US
18
American Intl Group Insurance
110,06
6,20
1 060,51
118,20
US
19
Gazprom Oil & gas
81,76
23,30
201,72
306,79
Russia
38
ArcelorMittal Steel
105,22
10,37
133,65
108,82
Luxembourg
42
ICBC Banking
37,48
6,31
961,65
289,57
China
76
Vale Mining
33,23
10,26
74,70
161,39
Brazil
77
Rio Tinto Mining
29,70
7,31
100,81
165,48
UK/Aus
83
BHP Billiton Mining
39,50
13,42
53,36
190,62
UK/Aus
124
Xstrata Mining
28,21
5,50
52,24
77,01
Switzerland
147
Anglo American Mining
25,47
5,29
44,29
85,05
UK
230
Old Mutual Insurance
33,76
1,95
284,59
13,28
UK
266
Standard Bank Group Banking
18,41
1,54
137,97
17,39
SA
305
SABMiller Food, drink & tobacco
14,86
1,65
28,57
31,52
UK
308
FirstRand Banking
14,70
1,68
102,10
14,48
SA
349
Sasol Oil & gas
13,91
2,41
16,76
32,65
SA
407
Vodafone Telecoms
61,23
-10,59
214,97
171,94
UK
522
MTN Telecoms
7,35
1,51
13,44
29,72
SA
562
Richemont Luxury goods
6,32
1,74
12,18
33,45
Switzerland
631
Sanlam Insurance
10,29
1,03
47,32
5,65
SA
803
Telkom Telecoms
7,08
1,19
8,03
9,67
SA
815
Impala Platinum Mining
4,46
1,03
7,08
26,65
SA
904
Investec Banking
3,85
0,67
51,65
4,82
UK/SA
1 078
Remgro Conglomerates
1,08
0,95
6,82
12,35
SA
1 196
Bidvest Conglomerates
13,56
0,38
4,59
4,94
SA
1 327
Imperial Transport
9,39
0,39
6,31
2,19
SA
1 380
Gold Fields Mining
2,79
0,33
7,86
9,20
SA
1 419
AngloGold Ashanti Mining
3,35
-0,68
9,74
10,14
SA
1 437
Liberty International Property
1,09
-0,21
18,20
6,94
UK
1 576
Lonmin Mining
2,00
0,32
3,94
10,28
UK
1 644
Aveng Construction
3,13
1,06
2,70
2,72
SA
1 660
Barloworld Conglomerates
6,29
0,33
4,37
2,49
SA
1 665
Steinhoff International Consumer durables
4,85
0,42
5,22
3,01
SA
1 876
RMB Holdings Banking
0,92
0,57
3,30
4,28
SA
1 896
Naspers Media
2,68
0,27
4,34
7,49
SA
Source: Forbes