The Forbes Global 2000 is an annual ranking of the top 2000 public companies in the world by Forbes magazine. The ranking is based on a mix of four metrics: sales, profit, assets and market value. The list has been published since 2003.

The Forbes Global 2000 is a useful indicator of which are the leading public companies in the world, but it is only an interpretation, as only public companies are listed. The results are not definitive; any change to the criteria would produce a different list.

Exclusions and inconsistencies

As the list is published early in the calendar year, Forbes has to use out of date information for the many non U.S companies which have year ends early in the calendar year, including Japanese companies, which all have 31 March year ends. No adjustments are made to reflect different accounting practices in different countries, which leads to some major anomalies. For example Vodafone is ranked 377 in the 2005 list due to losses created by huge writedowns of purchased goodwill, but if amortisation of purchased goodwill were not charged against statutory profits in the UK, it would be in the top 20. Wholly state-owned corporations are excluded because no market valuation exists and in some cases accounts are not publicly available either. Some of these state companies would rank highly if they were eligible, for example the national oil companies of some of the OPEC countries.

2011 list

Listed below are the top 20 companies featured on the 2011 list.

Rank	Company	Headquarters	Industry	Revenue (billion $)	Profits (billion $)	Assets (billion $)	Market Value (billion $)
01	JP Morgan Chase	USA	Banking	115.5	17.4	2,117.6	182.2
02	HSBC	UK	Banking	103.3	13.3	2,467.9	186.5
03	General Electric	USA	Conglomerate	156.2	11.6	751.2	216.2
04	ExxonMobil	USA	Oil and gas	341.6	30.5	302.5	407.2
05	Royal Dutch Shell	Netherlands	Oil and gas	369.1	20.1	317.2	212.9
06	Petro China	China	Oil and gas	222.3	21.2	251.3	320.8
07	ICBC	China	Banking	69.2	18.8	1,723.5	239.5
08	Berkshire Hathaway	USA	Conglomerate	136.2	13	372.2	211
08	Petrobras	Brazil	Oil and gas	121.3	21.2	313.2	238.8
10	Citigroup	USA	Banking	111.5	10.6	1,913.9	132.8
11	BNP Paribas	France	Banking	130.4	10.5	2,680.7	88
11	Wells Fargo	USA	Banking	93.2	12.4	1,258.1	170.6
13	Banco Santander	Spain	Banking	109.7	12.8	1,570.6	94.7
14	AT&T	USA	Telecommunications	124.3	19.9	268.5	168.2
15	Gazprom	Russia	Oil and gas	98.7	25.7	275.9	172.9
16	Chevron	USA	Oil and gas	189.6	19	184.8	200.6
17	China Construction Bank	China	Banking	58.2	15.6	1,408	224.8
18	Wal-Mart	USA	Retailing	421.8	16.4	180.7	187.3
19	Total	France	Oil and gas	188.1	14.2	192.8	138
20	Allianz	Germany	Insurance	142.9	6.7	838.4	62.7

The complete list is available here.

2010 list

Listed below are the top 20 companies featured on the 2010 list.

Rank	Company	Headquarters	Industry	Revenue (billion $)	Profits (billion $)	Assets (billion $)	Market Value (billion $)
01	JP Morgan Chase	USA	Banking	115.63	11.65	2,031.99	166.19
02	General Electric	USA	Conglomerate	156.78	11.03	781.82	169.65
03	Bank of America	USA	Banking	150.45	6.28	2,223.30	167.63
04	ExxonMobil	USA	Oil and gas	275.56	19.28	233.32	308.77
05	ICBC	China	Banking	71.86	16.27	1,428.46	242.23
06	Banco Santander	Spain	Banking	109.57	12.34	1,438.68	107.12
07	Wells Fargo	USA	Banking	98.64	12.28	1,243.65	141.69
08	HSBC	UK	Banking	103.74	5.83	2,355.83	178.27
08	Royal Dutch Shell	Netherlands	Oil and gas	278.19	12.52	287.64	168.63
10	BP	UK	Oil and gas	239.27	16.58	235.45	167.13
11	BNP Paribas	France	Banking	101.06	8.37	2,952.22	86.67
12	Petro China	China	Oil and gas	157.22	16.80	174.95	333.84
13	AT&T	USA	Telecommunications	123.02	12.54	268.75	147.55
14	Wal-Mart	USA	Retailing	408.21	14.34	170.71	205.37
15	Berkshire Hathaway	USA	Conglomerate	112.49	8.06	297.12	190.86
16	Gazprom	Russia	Oil and gas	115.25	24.33	234.77	132.58
17	China Construction Bank	China	Banking	59.16	13.59	1,106.20	184.32
18	Petrobras	Brazil	Oil and gas	104.81	16.63	198.26	190.34
19	Total	France	Oil and gas	160.68	12.10	183.29	131.80
20	Chevron	USA	Oil and gas	159.29	10.48	164.62	146.23

The complete list is available here.

2009 list

Listed below are the top 20 companies featured on the 2009 list.

Rank	Company	Headquarters	Industry	Revenue (billion $)	Profits (billion $)	Assets (billion $)	Market Value (billion $)
01	General Electric	USA	Conglomerate	182.52	17.41	797.77	88.77
02	Royal Dutch Shell	Netherlands	Oil and gas	458.36	26.28	278.44	135.10
03	Toyota	Japan	Automotive	263.42	17.21	324.98	102.35
04	ExxonMobil	USA	Oil and gas	425.70	45.22	228.05	335.54
05	BP	UK	Oil and gas	361.14	21.16	228.24	119.70
06	HSBC	UK	Banking	142.05	5.73	2,570.45	85.04
07	AT&T	USA	Telecommunications	124.03	12.87	265.25	140.08
08	Wal-Mart	USA	Retailing	405.61	13.40	163.43	193.15
09	Banco Santander	Spain	Banking	96.23	13.25	1,318.86	49.75
09	Chevron	USA	Oil and gas	255.11	23.93	161.17	121.70
11	Total	France	Oil and gas	223.15	14.74	164.66	112.90
12	ICBC	China	Banking	53.60	11.16	1,188.08	170.83
13	Gazprom	Russia	Oil and gas	97.29	26.78	276.81	74.55
14	PetroChina	China	Oil and gas	114.32	19.94	145.14	270.56
15	Volkswagen Group	Germany	Automotive	158.40	6.52	244.05	75.18
16	JPMorgan Chase	USA	Banking	101.49	3.70	2,175.05	85.87
17	GDF Suez	France	Utilities	115.59	9.05	232.71	70.46
18	Eni	Italy	Oil and gas	158.32	12.91	139.80	80.68
19	Berkshire Hathaway	USA	Conglomerate	107.79	4.99	267.40	122.11
20	Vodafone	UK	Telecommunications	70.39	13.30	252.08	93.66

The complete list is available here.

2008 list

Listed below are the top 20 companies featured on the 2008 list.

Rank	Company	Headquarters	Industry	Revenue (billion $)	Profits (billion $)	Assets (billion $)	Market Value (billion $)
01	HSBC	UK	Banking	146.5	19.1	2,349.0	180.8
02	General Electric	USA	Conglomerate	172.7	22.2	795.3	330.9
03	Bank of America	USA	Banking	119.2	15.0	1,715.8	176.5
04	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	USA	Banking	116.4	15.4	1,562.2	136.9
05	ExxonMobil	USA	Oil and gas	358.6	40.6	242.1	465.5
06	Royal Dutch Shell	Netherlands	Oil and gas	355.8	31.3	266.2	221.1
07	BP	UK	Oil and gas	281.0	20.6	236.1	204.9
08	Toyota	Japan	Automotive	203.8	14.0	276.4	175.1
09	ING Group	Netherlands	Insurance/ banking	197.9	12.7	1,932.2	75.8
10	Berkshire Hathaway	USA	Diversified Financials	118.3	13.2	273.2	216.7
10	Royal Bank of Scotland	UK	Banking	108.5	14.6	3,807.5	76.6
12	AT&T	USA	Telecommunications	118.9	12.0	275.6	210.2
13	BNP Paribas	France	Banking	116.2	10.7	2,494.4	81.9
14	Allianz	Germany	Insurance	139.1	10.9	1,547.5	80.3
15	Total S.A.	France	Oil and gas	199.7	19.2	165.8	181.8
16	Wal-Mart	USA	Retailing	378.8	12.7	163.4	198.6
17	Chevron	USA	Oil and gas	204.0	18.7	148.8	180.0
18	American International Group	USA	Insurance	110.1	6.2	1,060.5	118.2
19	Gazprom	Russia	Oil and gas	81.8	23.3	201.7	306.8
20	AXA	France	Insurance	151.7	7.8	1,064.7	70.3

The complete list is available here.

2007 list

Listed below are the top 20 companies featured on the 2007 list.

Rank	Company	Headquarters	Industry	Revenue (billion $)	Profits (billion $)	Assets (billion $)	Market Value (billion $)
1	Citigroup	USA	Banking	146.56	21.54	1,884.32	247.42
2	Bank of America	USA	Banking	116.57	21.13	1,459.74	226.61
3	HSBC	UK	Banking	121.51	16.63	1,860.76	202.29
4	General Electric	USA	Conglomerate	163.39	20.83	697.24	358.98
5	JPMorgan Chase & Co.	USA	Banking	99.30	14.44	1,351.52	170.97
6	American International Group	USA	Insurance	113.19	14.01	979.41	174.47
7	ExxonMobil	USA	Oil and gas	335.09	39.50	223.95	410.65
8	Royal Dutch Shell	Netherlands	Oil and gas	318.85	25.44	232.31	208.25
9	UBS	Switzerland	Diversified Financials	105.59	9.78	1,776.89	116.84
10	ING Group	Netherlands	Diversified Financials	153.44	9.65	1,615.05	93.99
11	BP	UK	Oil and gas	265.91	22.29	217.60	198.14
12	Toyota	Japan	Automotive	179.02	11.68	243.60	217.69
13	Royal Bank of Scotland	UK	Banking	77.41	12.51	1,705.35	124.13
14	BNP Paribas	France	Banking	89.16	9.64	1,898.19	97.03
15	Allianz	Germany	Insurance	125.33	8.81	1,380.88	87.22
16	Berkshire Hathaway	USA	Diversified Financials	98.54	11.02	248.44	163.79
17	Wal-Mart	USA	Retailing	348.65	11.29	151.19	201.36
18	Barclays	UK	Banking	67.71	8.95	1,949.17	94.79
19	Chevron	USA	Oil and gas	195.34	17.14	132.63	149.37
19	Total S.A.	France	Oil and gas	175.05	15.53	138.82	152.62

The complete list is available here.

2006 list

Rank	Company	Headquarters	Industry	Revenue (billion $)	Profits (billion $)	Assets (billion $)	Market Value (billion $)
1.	Citigroup	USA	Banking	120.32	24.64	1,494.04	230.93
2.	General Electric	USA	Conglomerate	149.70	16.35	673.30	348.45
3.	Bank of America	USA	Banking	85.39	16.47	1,291.80	184.17
4.	American International Group	USA	Insurance	106.98	11.90	843.40	172.24
5.	HSBC Group	UK	Banking	76.38	12.36	1,274.22	193.32
6.	ExxonMobil	USA	Oil & Gas	328.21	36.13	208.34	362.53
7.	Royal Dutch/Shell	Netherlands	Oil & Gas	306.73	25.31	216.95	203.52
8.	BP	UK	Oil & Gas	249.47	22.63	206.91	225.93
9.	JPMorgan Chase	USA	Banking	79.90	8.48	1,198.94	144.13
10.	UBS	Switzerland	Diversified Financials	78.25	10.65	1,519.40	105.69

The complete list is available here.

2005 list

Rank	Company	Country	Industry	Revenue (billion $)	Profits (billion $)	Assets (billion $)	Market Value (billion $)
1	Citigroup	USA	Banking	108.28	17.05	1,4.10	247.66
2	General Electric	USA	Conglomerates	152.36	16.59	750.33	372.14
3	American International Group	USA	Insurance	95.04	10.91	776.42	173.99
4	Bank of America	USA	Banking	65.45	14.14	1,110.46	188.77
5	HSBC	UK	Banking	62.97	9.52	1,031.29	186.74
6	ExxonMobil	USA	Oil & Gas	263.99	25.33	195.26	405.25
7	Royal Dutch/Shell	Netherlands	Oil & Gas	265.19	18.54	193.83	221.49
8	BP	UK	Oil & Gas	285.06	15.73	191.11	231.88
9	ING Group	Netherlands	Diversified Financials	92.01	8.10	1,175.16	68.04
10	Toyota Motor	Japan	Automotive	165.68	11.13	211.15	140.89

The complete list is available here.

2004 list

Rank	Company	Headquarters	Industry	Revenue (billion $)	Profits (billion $)	Assets (billion $)	Market Value (billion $)
1.	Citigroup	USA	Banking	94.71	17.85	1,264.03	255.30
2.	General Electric	USA	Conglomerates	134.19	15.59	626.93	328.54
3.	American International Group	USA	Insurance	76.66	6.46	647.66	194.87
4.	ExxonMobil	USA	Oil & gas	222.88	20.96	166.99	277.02
5.	BP	UK	Oil & gas	232.57	10.27	177.57	173.54
6.	Bank of America	USA	Banking	49.01	10.81	736.45	117.55
7.	HSBC Group	UK	Banking	44.33	6.66	757.60	177.96
8.	Toyota Motor	Japan	Automotive	135.82	7.99	171.71	115.40
9.	Fannie Mae	USA	Diversified Financials	53.13	6.48	1,019.17	76.84
10.	Wal-Mart	USA	Retailing	256.33	9.05	104.91	243.74

The complete list is available here.

2003 list

Rank	Company	Headquarters	Industry
1.	Citigroup	USA	Banking
2.	General Electric	USA	Conglomerates
3.	American International Group	USA	Insurance
4.	ExxonMobil	USA	Oil & gas
5.	Bank of America	USA	Banking
6.	Royal Dutch Shell	Netherlands	Oil & gas
7.	BP	UK	Oil & gas
8.	Fannie Mae	USA	Diversified Financials
9.	HSBC	UK	Diversified Financials
10.	Toyota Motor	Japan	Automotive

The complete list is available here.

See also

• Forbes 500
• Fortune Global 500
• Financial Times Global 500
• Bentley Infrastructure 500
• List of companies by revenue
• List of corporations by market capitalization
• List of the largest Nordic companies