- Microsoft and Apple are the highest valued companies in the world at mid-year, Nvidia moves up to third place
- US companies continue to dominate: 60 of the 100 most expensive companies in the world are based in the USA
- Eight of the global top 10 are headquartered in the USA, no European company in the top ten
- Swiss companies in the global ranking: three are among the top 100, a total of nine make it into the top 300 and 15 into the top 500
Zurich, 12 July 2024 - The multitude of crises and armed conflicts and the weak economy seem to have little effect on the world's most highly valued companies: The stock market value of the 100 most expensive listed companies in the world rose by 17% over the past six months, reaching a new high of USD 42.3 trillion.
The record run on the stock markets is being driven by companies from the technology sector, which are benefiting greatly from the AI boom. By the middle of the year, 26 technology companies were among the top 100 - compared to 25 companies at the beginning of the year and 23 a year ago. Companies from the USA are the clear leaders in this sector: eight of the ten most expensive companies in the world are headquartered in the USA - most of them have a digital business model.
The two semiconductor manufacturers Nvidia (third place), TSMC (10th place) and Broadcom (11th place), which produce AI chips and increased their stock market value by 148%, 54% and 43% respectively in the first half of the year, have recently made strong gains. The most valuable company in the world in mid-2024 is Microsoft, followed by Apple in second place.
The number of US companies among the 100 most valuable companies in the world is currently 60 - at the beginning of the year it was 61. European companies do not currently make it into the global top 10. And of the 100 most valuable companies, only 19 have their headquarters in Europe - 18 come from Asia. The most valuable European company is currently the Danish pharmaceutical group Novo Nordisk in 12th place.
These are the results of an analysis by the auditing and consulting firm EY, which examines the market capitalization of the most highly valued companies worldwide every six months. The cut-off date for this analysis is June 28, 2024 (close of trading).
Swiss companies in the global ranking - top companies lose places
With regard to Swiss companies, the picture is one that has been familiar for years, although the top companies have moved further down the rankings compared to the previous year: Switzerland is represented by three companies in the top 100 ranking: Nestlé ranks 36th with a market capitalization of USD 267.6 billion (beginning of 2024: 26th), Roche ranks 51st with USD 224.2 billion (beginning of 2024: 43rd) and Novartis makes it to 53rd place with a market capitalization of USD 218.4 billion (beginning of 2024: 53rd).
However, there are also Swiss companies that are performing better than six months ago. Some of them are among the top 300, which includes a total of nine companies headquartered in Switzerland. In addition to the groups just mentioned, the following six companies are also included: Chubb Limited is ranked 142nd with a market capitalization of USD 107 billion (early 2024: 164th), followed by ABB with USD 102.7 billion in 150th place (early 2024: 177th), UBS is ranked 169th with USD 94.4 billion (early 2024: 144th), Compagnie Financière Richemont makes it to 174th place with USD 92.1 billion (beginning of 2024: 180th), Zurich Insurance Group is ranked 219th (beginning of 2024: 198th) with a market capitalization of USD 76.8 billion and Glencore is ranked 255th with USD 69.3 billion (beginning of 2024: 219th).
A total of 15 Swiss companies are among the top 500 most valuable companies in the world. In addition to the above-mentioned groups headquartered in Switzerland, the following six companies are also included: Holcim is ranked 365th with a market capitalization of USD 49.8 billion (beginning of 2024: 397th), followed by TE Connectivity with USD 46 billion in 404th place (beginning of 2024: Rank 416), Sika with USD 45.9 billion at rank 405 (beginning of 2024: rank 341), Alcon with USD 44.1 billion at rank 424 (beginning of 2024: rank 479), Givaudan with USD 43.7 billion at rank 430 (beginning of 2024: rank 482) and Lonza Group with USD 38.1 billion at rank 494 (beginning of 2024: rank 590).
The 15 top Swiss companies surveyed show a balanced picture in terms of development compared to the beginning of 2024: around half of the companies have improved in the ranking, while the other half have lost places. "In addition to the fact that the ranking of Swiss companies has been negatively impacted by the exceptionally strong performance of US technology players, it is essentially industry- and company-specific factors that have influenced the shifts up and down," says Stefan Rösch-Rütsche, Country Managing Partner of EY in Switzerland.
Europe can hardly benefit from the AI boom
However, it is mainly US companies that are benefiting from the enthusiasm of many investors for artificial intelligence - only a few European listed companies are currently playing a significant role in connection with AI. In addition to the Dutch chip supplier ASML, which improved from 28th to 21st place in the half-year comparison, and the German company SAP (from 62nd to 47th place), this includes the British chip designer Arm, which rose from 193rd to 75th place in the ranking. These three European companies, with a total market capitalization of 812 billion US dollars, are compared to 18 North American technology companies in the top 100 ranking, which together are worth 16.5 trillion US dollars.
"The majority of the most valuable listed companies in Europe and Switzerland are not active in the technology sector, so they have not benefited to the same extent from the stock market euphoria for technology stocks triggered by the mega topic of artificial intelligence. Nevertheless, European and Swiss companies are also investing heavily in this topic; this will be reflected in the future in the market services offered and in the effectiveness of the services provided by these companies and ultimately also in their stock market valuations," says Rösch-Rütsche. This will widen the gap with the USA even further. While the US companies in the top 100 were able to increase their stock market value by 17 percent in the first half of the year, the increase for European companies in the ranking was only eight percent.
Europe's importance on the world's stock exchanges has declined sharply in recent years. While there are currently 19 European companies in the top 100, ten years ago there were 28 and in 2007, before the global financial crisis, there were 46. At that time, only 32 of the top 100 companies were based in the USA.
