Diversified industrial conglomerate General Electric has topped the league of world's 2,000 biggest companies compiled by American business magazine Forbes, displacing British banking entity HSBC Holdings.
The US giant which was ranked at the second place last year, has pipped HSBC Holdings from the top position. In the latest list Forbes list of biggest public companies, HSBC Holdings is at the sixth spot.
Among the top five, there are three oil companies – Royal Dutch Shell ranked second, ExxonMobil at the fourth position and BP placed at the fifth spot.
Japanese auto maker Toyota has cornered the third place in the league.
There are 47 Indian companies in the list and is led by Reliance Industries which is ranked at the 121st position.
Forbes said the 2000 global companies now account for $32 trillion in revenues, $1.6 trillion in profits, $125 trillion in assets and $20 trillion in market value.
In the past year, combined profit was down 31 per cent while market value fell dropped per cent.
"Even a depression is a place for opportunity if you have cash, scale and ambition. Many of the names on this year's Forbes Global 2000 list of the world's biggest companies will emerge on the other side of the trough far stronger when world economies snap back next year," the magazine said.
Other entities in the top ten are telecom firm AT&T (7th rank), retail giant Wal-Mart Stores (8), Spain's Banco Santander (9) and oil major Chevron (10). The rankings of companies are based on their sales, profits, assets and market value.
Only five companies – GE, Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, BP and Toyota Motor – have managed to retain their positions in the top ten.
Interestingly, the entities which have moved out of the top ten league are into banking, insurance and financial services sectors, which have taken a hit in the ongoing financial turmoil.
They are HSBC Holdings, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, ING Group and legendary investor Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway.
In the latest rankings, Bank of America is at the 38th spot, JPMorgan Chase (16), ING Group (456) and Berkshire Hathaway (19).
India-origin Vikram Pandit-led Citigroup has fallen to the 472nd position this year whereas the entity was at the 24th place in 2008. Battered by the financial meltdown, Citi has received billions of dollars from the US in recent months.
Among the companies, ExxonMobil has the highest profit of $45.22 billion and in terms of sales, Royal Dutch Shell is at the top with $458.36 billion.
