For the first time in over ten years American companies took the majority of spots on the top-20 list of the world’s biggest companies. It took ten quarters of economic expansion and profit growth since Standard & Poor’s 500 Index hit rock bottom in March 2009 for the S&P to grow by 109% and send US corporations back into the limelight.
Of the world’s 20 largest companies, 14 are US-based. Since stocks hit their high point in 2007, seven US companies have joined the top 20 list, including Apple Inc; International Business Machines Corp; and Wells Fargo. These companies replaced Gazprom OAO, (Moscow); China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, (Beijing); Petroleo Brasileiro SA, (Rio de Janeiro), and six more non-US companies. Of the total of nine new companies that made up list of 20, a total of seven are US-based and only two- BHP Billiton Ltd and Nestle SA have their headquarters outside the US.
This shift in national representation of companies on the list of 20 largest global companies is a reflection of volatility found in emerging markets, and also highlights the way innovation builds value in the US.
“The U.S. is just the best place on the planet to have a great idea and turn it into a big business,”
says Michael Shaoul, chairman of New York-based Marketfield Asset Management, with AUM of $2.7 billion. Shaoul’s fund surpassed 99 percent of his competitor’s performance this past year.
“There’s another reason for this list to have shifted and that is the falling of prior darlings,” added Shaoul. “A lot of the ones which have fallen are energy and emerging-market related.”
Sorry, comments are closed for this post.