HURUN GLOBAL 500 2023

APPLE RETAINS TITLE OF MOST VALUABLE COMPANY IN WORLD, WORTH US$2.7TN, UP 12%

MICROSOFT SECOND WITH US$2.5TN, UP 39% OR US$708BN, BIGGEST GAIN OF YEAR.

ALPHABET THIRD, UP 18% TO US$1.6TN AND AMAZON FOURTH, UP 13% TO US$1.4TN.

CHIP-MAKER NVIDIA TRIPLES VALUE TO BECOME WORLD’S 5TH TRILLION-DOLLAR COMPANY. ‘BIG 5’ WORTH US$9TN, ADDING US$2.1TN IN PAST YEAR.

ZUCK IS BACK! META PLATFORMS SHOOTS UP 7 PLACES TO 6TH MORE THAN DOUBLING TO US$815BN.

WEIGHT-LOSS DRUGS PUSH INDIANAPOLIS-BASED ELI LILY UP 6 PLACES TO 9TH, 62% RISE IN VALUE TO US$526BN, BECOMING MOST VALUABLE PHARMA COMPANY IN WORLD, AND DENMARK-BASED NOVO NORDISK UP 30 PLACES TO 14TH, DOUBLING TO US$433BN, AND OVERTAKING LVMH TO BECOME MOST VALUABLE COMPANY IN EUROPE.

HURUN GLOBAL 500 UP 12% OR US$5.9TN YEAR ON YEAR, TO TAKE TOTAL VALUE TO US$52.7TN.

BY COUNTRY, USA DOMINATES WITH 261 COMPANIES, UP 1, REPRESENTING 52% OF THE NUMBER OF COMPANIES ON THE HURUN GLOBAL 500, AND 65% OF TOTAL VALUE.

CHINA SECOND WITH 33, DOWN 2, FOLLOWED BY JAPAN 28 AND UK 23. CANADA OVERTOOK INDIA FOR FIFTH PLACE WITH 20 COMPANIES. EU HAS 69 COMPANIES.

CITY-WISE, NEW YORK IS GLOBAL CAPITAL FOR HURUN G500S WITH 30 HEADQUARTERED THERE, DOWN 1, FOLLOWED BY TOKYO WITH 20, AND LONDON WITH 16.

BIGGEST GAINERS WERE MICROSOFT, UP US$708BN, AND NVIDIA, UP US$697BN, ON BACK OF IMPACT OF CHATGPT, FOLLOWED BY META PLATFORMS UP US$466BN. 337 COMPANIES SAW THEIR VALUE RISE.

48 NEW FACES, LED BY NETHERLANDS-BASED COMMODITY TRADER VITOL WORTH US$66BN AND CHATGPT PARENT OPENAI US$50BN.

SOFTWARE & SERVICES COMPANIES WERE THE BIGGEST WINNERS OF THE YEAR, FOLLOWED BY SEMICONDUCTOR, AND MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT. SOFTWARE & SERVICES COMPANIES ADDED US$1.4TN OF VALUE IN YEAR.

13 COMPANIES BROKE INTO THE TOP 100 THIS YEAR, LED BY USA-BASED SEMICONDUCTOR MAKER ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES UP 58 PLACES TO 58TH, AFTER 67% INCREASE IN VALUE TO US$159BN.

WORST PERFORMING SECTORS. FINANCIAL SERVICES, TELECOMMS AND ENERGY. FINANCIAL SERVICES HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY INTEREST RATE RISES AND GLOBAL UNCERTAINTIES, TELECOMMS BY THE RISE OF CLOUD SERVICES AND INSTANT MESSAGING AND ENERGY BY A DROP IN OIL PRICES AND OVERSUPPLY IN RENEWABLES.

BIGGEST LOSSES IN VALUE: JOHNSON & JOHNSON, DOWN US$87BN, AND PFIZER DOWN US$79BN. IN PERCENTAGE TERMS SOUTH KOREA HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY LOST 54%.

48 COMPANIES DROPPED OFF, LED BY SOUTH KOREA-BASED INSTANT MESSENGER KAKAO AND US RETAILER DOLLAR GENERAL. 3 ADANI COMPANIES DROPPED OFF: ADANI TRANSMISSION, ADANI GREEN ENERGY AND ADANI TOTAL GAS.

FINANCIAL SERVICES STILL BIGGEST CONTRIBUTOR TO THE HURUN GLOBAL 500 WITH 20% OR 99 COMPANIES, DOWN 5, LED BY UNITED HEALTH GROUP, VISA AND JP MORGAN CHASE.

AVERAGE AGE 68 YEARS, UP 3 YRS, OF WHICH 131 COMPANIES, UP 9, OLDER THAN 100YRS.

YOUNGEST START-UPS, LED BY SHANGHAI-BASED E-COMMERCE PLATFORM PINDUODUO WORTH US$152BN, SAN FRANCISCO-BASED CHATGPT PARENT OPENAI AND BEIJING-BASED EV MANUFACTURER LI AUTO, ALL FOUNDED IN 2015. START-UPS FOUNDED IN 2000S MADE THE CUT.

IRAN, TURKEY, POLAND, THAILAND, ISRAEL AND NORWAY ARE THE LARGEST COUNTRIES BY GDP WITHOUT A HURUN GLOBAL 500 COMPANY

CHINA 33 COMPANIES, DOWN 2, LED BY TAIWAN-BASED SEMICONDUCTOR MAKER TSMC WORTH US$512BN (UP 62%) AND TENCENT WORTH US$393BN (UP 48%). 52% OR 244 OF NON-CHINA HURUN GLOBAL 500 HAVE A REGIONAL PRESENCE IN CHINA, WITH 63% HEADQUARTERED IN SHANGHAI, FOLLOWED BY 27% IN BEIJING.

INDIA DOWN ONE PLACE TO 6TH WITH 18 COMPANIES, DOWN 2. ENERGY GIANT RELIANCE INDUSTRIES LED WITH US$198BN, DOWN 2%, FOLLOWED BY TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES WITH US$158BN AND HDFC BANK WITH US$143BN. 49% OR 235 OF THE NON-INDIA HURUN GLOBAL 500 HAVE A REGIONAL PRESENCE IN INDIA, SPREAD ACROSS TWELVE CITIES. MUMBAI LED WITH 78, FOLLOWED BY BENGALURU WITH 53, GURUGRAM 35, NEW DELHI 20 AND PUNE WITH 13.

HURUN GLOBAL 500 ONLY INCLUDES NON-STATE COMPANIES, SO THE LIKES OF SAUDI ARAMCO (US$2.1TN) OR CHINA’S KWEICHOW MOUTAI (US$255BN) WERE OUT OF CONTENTION TO MAKE THE LIST.

309 COMPANIES, DOWN 11, FROM HURUN GLOBAL 500 DO NOT FEATURE IN THE FORTUNE GLOBAL 500

ELON MUSK, CO-FOUNDER OF 4 HURUN GLOBAL 500. TESLA DOWN 3 PLACES TO 8TH AFTER DROPPING 5% TO US$638BN. SPACEX, LARGEST UNICORN IN USA, UP 6 PLACES TO 75TH  WITH US$137BN VALUATION. PAYPAL WORTH US$56BN, DOWN 42%. OPENAI MAKES DEBUT WITH US$50BN. TWITTER OFF LIST AFTER VALUE DOWN 50% TO US$19BN.

Hurun Research Institute today released the 2023 Hurun Global 500

(31 January 2024, Shanghai, China and Mumbai, India) The Hurun Research Institute today released the 2023 Hurun Global 500, a list of the 500 most valuable non-state-controlled companies in the world. Companies were ranked according to their value, defined as market capitalisation for listed companies and valuations for non-listed companies. The cut-off date used was 31 October 2023. This is the 4th year of the list.

The cut-off to make the Hurun Global 500 was up 7% or US$2bn to US$30bn. Total value was up 12% or US$5.9tn to US$52.7tn. 337 companies saw their values rise, of which 48 were new to the list. 163 saw their values drop or stay the same, and there were 48 drop-offs. 56% sell direct to consumers, whilst 44% are B2B. 53% sell physical products and 47% sell software and services. By value, five industries make up half the Hurun Global 500, led by Financial Services, and followed by Consumer Goods, Software & Services, Healthcare and Retail. On average, these 500 companies are 68 years old and are worth US$105bn, derived from sales of US$50bn, 88,000 employees.

Global markets have generally had a good year, with the exception of China, where the benchmark Hang Seng Index was down 31% and Shanghai down 7%. In the year to 31 October 2023, NASDAQ led the way, surging 23%, followed by Japan's NIKKEI up 14%, France’s CAC40 up 7.3% and India's Sensex up 4.8%. The UK’s FTSE was flat.

The US dollar appreciated against most currencies in the world, up 32% against the Russian Ruble, 9% against the Japanese Yen, 3% against the Australian Dollar, 2% against the Indian Rupee and 1% against the Chinese Yuan. The Euro and the British pound both gained 3% against the dollar.

Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher of Hurun Report, said:

“The Hurun Global 500 are the backbone to the world economy and make for a really good place to understand what is really going on in the global economy. This year the Hurun Global 500 was up 12%, mainly on the back of strong gains in Software & Services, Semiconductors, and Media & Entertainment.”

“The worst-performing sectors include Financial Services, Telecomms and Energy. Financial Services have been affected by interest rate rises and global uncertainties, Telecomms by the rise in cloud services and instant messaging and Energy by a drop in oil prices and oversupply in renewables.” 

“Together these 500 companies had combined sales of US$25tn, more than the combined GDPs of China and India, and employ 44 million staff, equivalent to the working population of Germany.” 

“The USA dominates when it comes to Hurun Global 500 companies, home to 52% of the G500 with 261 companies and worth 65% of total value, significantly ahead of second-placed China with 33 companies.”

“Value is perhaps the best way to measure a company’s strength, since value takes into account a company’s future profit-making potential. Between them, the Hurun Global 500 have a combined value of US$53tn, meaning that investors believe these companies are going to deliver profits of US$53tn within the next ten years or so. This changes as new information comes to light, such as impact of innovations, interest rates, inflation, government data, regulations and economic confidence.”

“OpenAI broke into the Hurun Global 500 for the first time with a valuation of US$50bn, although it is currently in talks to raise investment at US$86bn.”

“Perhaps the single biggest winner of ChatGPT’s explosion into the world a year ago has been Nvidia, which struck gold by dominating with powerful chips for AI, data centers and emerging technologies like autonomous vehicles and the metaverse. With Nvidia breaking through the trillion-dollar mark, this means we now have five companies with a valuation of over US$1 trillion, a new record. Only two other Hurun G500 companies have previously been trillion-dollar companies: Tesla in October 2021 and Meta in June 2021.”

“Value reflects the future profit making ability of companies. Some companies had ‘relatively tiny sales’ and yet still made the Hurun Global 500. San Francisco-based cloud services platform Databricks had sales of ‘only’ US$1bn, yet was worth US$43bn. Close behind was OpenAI, with sales of US$1.3bn, yet worth US$50bn. US-based adtech The Trade Desk had sales of US$1.6 billion, yet still achieved a valuation of US$35bn.”

“Despite BYD overtaking Tesla in the last quarter of 2023 to become the world’s number one EV seller, Tesla, at US$638bn, is worth as much as the next seven carmakers combined, including Toyota, BYD, Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Stellantis, BMW and Volkswagen.”

“The Hurun Global 500 are mostly multinationals. Linde, for example, was founded in Germany, is headquartered in the UK, registered in Ireland and listed in New York. Some 20% have significantly all of their operations in a single country.” 

“Commodity trader Vitol made the list for the first time. Rising demand and limited supply led to a 30% increase in average commodity prices, allowing Vitol to make profits of just under US$20 billion on reported sales of over US$500bn.” 

“Zoom and Covid vaccine makers Moderna and BioNTech had a post-Covid ‘hangover’, seeing a sharp drop since their peak at the height of Covid.” 

“Value creation is changing rapidly. As much as one third of the Hurun Global 500 from five years ago have dropped off the list. The best performers these five years, ie since Covid, have been Apple and Microsoft, each adding over US$1tn, followed by Nvidia, Alphabet and Tesla, which each added over US$500bn. The worst performer was Alibaba, down by over US$300bn, followed by AT&T, Walt Disney, Ping An Insurance and Verizon, which each decreased by over US$100bn.”

“To create one of the Hurun Global 500 is a crowning achievement for anyone, but there are only two individuals alive today who have done it more than once. Elon Musk is co-founder or head of four: Tesla, SpaceX, PayPal and OpenAI, whilst Twitter dropped off this year. The other one is Jack Ma of Alibaba and Ant Group. Gautam Adani, Richard Liu Qiangdong and Li Ge all used to have more than one, but are now down to just one.”

“309 or 62% of the companies on the Hurun Global 500, which is ranked by value, are not on the Fortune Global 500, which is ranked by sales, such that the likes of Visa, worth US$529bn, as well as Eli Lilly and ByteDance did not make the Fortune list. Hurun does not include state-controlled companies, whilst Fortune does. Ranking by value and not including state-controlled companies meant that on the Hurun Global 500, the US dominated with 261 companies, followed by China with 33, whilst ranking by sales and including state-controlled companies meant that on the Fortune Global 500, China led with 142 companies, ahead of the US with 136 companies.”

“15 companies from the Hurun Global 500 are headquartered in countries different to where they started. By country of destination, Ireland and the UK led the way with 4 companies each, followed by the Netherlands with 3 and Switzerland with 2.”

“Hurun has been promoting entrepreneurship through its lists and research since 1999. Hurun started out by telling the story of the Chinese economy through the stories of China’s most successful entrepreneurs, ie the China Rich List, and then expanding these stories in 2012 to India and the rest of the world. Since then, Hurun has gone on to tell the story of the world’s startup ecosystems, by ranking unicorns and future unicorns, before moving on to telling the story of the world economy by the 500 most valuable companies.”

Top 10

The world’s Top 10 most valuable companies gained US$2.5tn in value and made up 23% of the total value of the Hurun Global 500. 

Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Eli Lilly and TSMC broke into the Top 10 at the expense of United Health Group, Johnson & Johnson, Exxon Mobil and Visa. All of the Top 10 are now from the USA except TSMC.

Apple, Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway are the only companies from this year’s Top 10 that made the Top 10 ten years ago.

Table 1: 2023 Hurun Global 500 Top 10

Source: Hurun Research Institute

- No Rank change yoy ↓ Rank decrease yoy * New to Top 10

Where are they based?

The Hurun Global 500 comes from 29 countries, with the United States maintaining its dominance, followed by China, Japan, and the UK. Bermuda replaced Malta, as Arch Capital made the cut and crypto exchange Binance dropped off.  

The USA is home to 52% of the G500 with 261 companies, which have 65% or US$34.2tn of the total value.

City-wise, New York is base to 30 companies in the Hurun 500, followed by Tokyo, London, Paris and Mumbai. Toronto broke into the Top 10.

Europe’s 107 companies are split between the EU with 69, the UK with 23 and Switzerland with 15.

Table 2: Top Countries and Cities of the Hurun Global 500

Source: Hurun Research Institute

↑ Rank increase yoy ↓ Rank decrease yoy - No Rank change yoy * New to Top 20

Table 3: Continents of the Hurun Global 500

Source: Hurun Research Institute

Biggest Gainers

289 companies saw their values rise and there were 48 new faces.

By absolute value, the biggest gainers this year were Microsoft, up US$708bn, and Nvidia up US$697bn, followed by Meta Platforms up US$466bn. 

Microsoft had a strong year on the back of its investment into AI, its cloud business and a US$69bn acquisition of a fellow Hurun Global 500 company Activation Blizzard, which this year dropped off as a result. Interestingly, much of Microsoft’s US$10bn investment into OpenAI went to Nvidia to buy GPUs.

Nvidia saw its value triple to become only the eighth company in the world to break through the trillion-dollar mark, as the global chip shortage continued to drive up prices. Tesla and Meta have both been valued at over US$1tn, but have since dropped back, whilst Saudi Arabia oil giant Aramco is worth over US$2tn, but is not in the Hurun Global 500, since Hurun does not include state-controlled businesses. Other semiconductor makers that performed exceptionally included TSMC and Broadcom.

Meta Platforms more than doubled on the back of its cost-cutting as well as renewed focus on Instagram and WhatsApp.  

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly enjoyed stellar years, both rising by over US$200bn, fuelled by soaring sales of their diabetes drugs, which are also seen as effective weight-loss drugs.

Amazon grew on the back of its cloud services.

Table 4: Biggest Gainers by US$bn

Source: Hurun Research Institute

Where are the new faces coming from?

48 new companies broke into the Hurun Global 500 this year, led by Netherlands-based trading company Vitol, shooting straight into the Top 250 with a value of US$66bn and ChatGPT parent OpenAI into the Top 300 with US$50bn.

Commodity trader Vitol made the list for the first time. Rising demand and limited supply led to a 30% increase in average commodity prices, allowing Vitol to make profits of just under US$20 billion for the year.

Others of note include Swedish-retailer IKEA and US-based food delivery company DoorDash, which has – at 32 years – the youngest founder of a Hurun Global 500 company. Stripe, Meta and DoorDash contributed 6 Under40s founders of a Hurun Global 500.

Ohio-based healthcare real estate investor WellTower rebounded as care homes in the US market recovered after Covid.

Toronto-based Constellation Software, a major player in sector-specific software and services, made the Hurun 500 for the first time with US$45bn, as pre-tax profits doubled to US$725mn. 

US-based TransDigm Group, specializing in aircraft components, achieved substantial growth with net sales of US$6.6bn (up 21%) and income at US$1.3bn (up 50%). In 2023, it concluded the acquisition of Calspan Corporation for US$725mn.

12 of these companies were founded in the 2000s.

Financial Services led with 8 of the new entrants, followed by Software & Services with 7, Energy and Consumer Goods with 5 each. 

By country, 20 were from the US, followed by 5 from China and 3 each from UK, Switzerland and Netherlands. 

The China new faces were led by hybrid car manufacturer Li Auto with US$43bn, and followed by short video platform Kuaishou, Apple supplier Luxshare Precision, sportswear giant Anta and home appliance maker Haier Smart Home. For the full list of new faces, see Appendix.

Table 5: Top 5 New Entrants

Source: Hurun Research Institute

New to Top 100

13 companies broke into the Hurun Top 100 this year, led by semiconductor maker Advanced Micro Devices after seeing its value increased by 67% to US$159bn.

Shanghai-based Pinduoduo moved up 147 places to 63rd, on the back of stronger than expected sales in its domestic market and a successful launch into the US market. 

Following its merger with sister company mortgage provider HDFC, India-based HDFC Bank advanced 43 positions to 68th place.

Deloitte grew 18% in value, as sales grew 20% to US$59bn, making it the most valuable of the ‘Big Four’.

ServiceNow rocketed into the Hurun Global 100 with a 63% surge in valuation to US$119bn, riding the cloud workflow wave with its industry-focused solutions.

Table 6: 2023 Hurun Global 500 Top 5 New Companies to Top 100

Source: Hurun Research Institute

Biggest Losses in Value

148 companies saw their value go down and 48 companies dropped off the list completely.

The biggest losers in terms of dollar value were Johnson & Johnson, on the back of ongoing talcum powder litigation, and Pfizer, as demand for its Covid vaccine dropped.

Rising interest rates, declining asset values and global uncertainties combined to hit banks and asset managers. Bank of America was down 25%, Brookfield Asset Management down 44% and Blackstone down 37%.

In percentage terms, South Korea-based automobile company Hyundai Motor Company was the biggest loser, down 54%, on the back of competition from EV players and chip shortages.

Lower oil prices and environmental concerns affected the valuation of energy companies, with Chevron losing US$65bn of value. Huawei’s profitable mobile phone business was hit by chip sanctions, although shortly after the Hurun G500 cut-off date, Huawei surprised many with the release of a new phone with a homegrown chip.

Table 7: Top 10 Drops – by US$bn

Source: Hurun Research Institute

Drop Outs

48 companies dropped out of the list.

South Korea's messaging giant Kakao, valued at US$61bn last year, experienced a significant decline as user churn increased, and regulatory scrutiny intensified, revealing vulnerabilities in its dependence on the flagship app.

Three India-based Adani companies, Adani Transmission, Adani Green Energy and Adani Total Gas, dropped off after a report of stock manipulation and accounting fraud sparked a major sell-off. Since the cut-off date of the list, founder Gautam Adani was cleared by India’s Supreme Court, resulting in a rebound in the value of his companies. Adani Green Energy would have re-entered the list.

Covid vaccine maker BioNTech experienced a significant decline in sales post Covid. 

Amsterdam-based payments company Adyen saw its shares drop by US$20bn in a single day, on the back of an earnings-miss driven by new competitors with lower price offering in North America, and rising inflation and interest rates.

Solar panel providers struggled in the year, as competition dropped prices, resulting in Xian-based Longi, Chengdu-based Tongwei and California-based Enphase Energy all dropping off.

Two were acquired by other Hurun Global 500 companies: Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard for US$69bn and S&P Global's acquisition of IHS Markit for US$44bn.  

Two were mergers. Leading India bank HDFC Bank merged with its sister company housing mortgage provider HDFC to form the world's seventh-most-valuable bank. Warner Bros merged with Discovery.

By sector, Financial Services saw 11 companies drop out, followed by Energy with 9 and Healthcare with 6.

By country, the US lost 18 companies, China 7, India 4 and South Korea with 3. 

The Chinese companies that dropped out were solar panel maker Longi, worth US$52bn last year as well as Jingdong Digits Technology, solar panel maker Tongwei, eye clinics Aier, express delivery SF, insurance company Taikang and pig farmer Muyuan.

Table 8: 2023 Hurun Global 500 Top 10 Drop Outs

Source: Hurun Research Institute

* Current market value relates to the cut-off date of the Hurun G500, ie 31st Oct 2023

Which industries performed and which did not?

Financial Services was the biggest contributor to the Hurun Global 500 with 99 companies or 20% of the list, followed by Energy with 52, which retained its second place above healthcare.

Of the US$5.9tn of new value generated this year, 61% of the gains came from just three industries: Software & Services (US$1.4tn), Semiconductors (US$1.2tn) and Media & Entertainment (US$1tn).

Semiconductors were up as the ChatGPT and EV booms led to a global shortage of powerful chips, fueling the growth in value of Nvidia, TSMC, Broadcom, AMD, ASML Holding, Intel and Applied Materials. 

Software & Services were up as Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle and SAP continued to ride the trend of digitalisation. 

Growth in Metals & Mining’s was led by the likes of Australia’s BHP Group, Japan’s Mitsubishi, the US’ Southern Copper, Australia’s Fortescue Metals and Russia’s Norilsk Nickel. 

For Media, Meta Platforms led, as its cost-cutting as well as renewed focus on Instagram and WhatsApp helped it more than double to US$815bn.  Others include Alphabet, which added US$232bn, Tencent US$128bn and Netflix US$51bn.

For Automobiles, it was Toyota, up US$41bn, Ferrari up US$22bn, Stellantis up US$17bn and Honda up US$16bn. Hybrid-maker Li Auto broke into the list with US$43bn.

The worst-performing sectors include Financial Services, Telecomms and Energy. Financial Services have been affected by interest rate rises, Telecomms by the rise in cloud services and instant messaging and Energy by a drop in oil prices and oversupply in renewables.

Table 9: Industry Breakdown of Hurun Global 500

Source: Hurun Research Institute

↑ Rank increase yoy ↓ Rank decrease yoy - No Rank change yoy * New to Top 20

Compared with 5 years ago

One third of the Hurun Global 500 are new faces compared with 5 years ago.  Another way of looking at it is that one third of the Hurun Global 500 from 2019 no longer make the cut.

The best performers in five years, ie since Covid, have been Apple and Microsoft, each adding over US$1tn, followed by Nvidia, Alphabet and Tesla, which each added over US$500bn.

The worst performers was Alibaba, down by over US$300bn, followed by AT&T, Walt Disney, Ping An Insurance and Verizon, which each decreased by over US$100bn.

Table 10A: Best Perfomers over 5 years

Source: Hurun Research Institute

Table 10B: Worst Perfomers over 5 years

Source: Hurun Research Institute

How old are they?

The average age of the top 500 companies is 68 years, i.e. founded in 1955. 131 companies – a quarter of the list – have a history of more than 100 years, of which five are more than 200 years old. 7 are worth more than US$100bn.

Meta Platforms is the most valuable start-up founded in the 2000s, followed by Tesla. 40 start-ups in the list were founded in the 2000s, making up US$3.8tn or 7% of the total value of the Hurun Global 500. Three of the ten from the 2000s are still private companies: ByteDance, SpaceX and Ant Group. 

Table 11: Most valuable start-ups founded in the 2000s

Source: Hurun Research Institute

* Not yet listed, ie still a unicorn

Consumer health major Haleon, worth US$37bn, which houses Sensodyne, Voltaren, Panadol and Centrum, demerged from GlaxoSmithKline, worth US$73bn, in mid-2022.

Stellantis was created from the merger of PSA and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2019, with Fiat Chrysler as the surviving entity, and was officially renamed Stellantis in January 2021. US defence contractor L3Harris Technologies was formed in 2019 through the merger of L3 Technologies and Harris Corporation. Corteva, an agri-chemical and seed company, was spun off from DowDuPont's agricultural division, becoming an independent public company in June 2019.

Of the ten youngest companies, only Pinduoduo, OpenAI and Li Auto are start-ups. The rest are mergers or demergers.

Table 12: Youngest Companies                                    Oldest Companies

Source: Hurun Research Institute

So, How big are they?

Companies from the Hurun Global 500 have combined sales of US$25tn, more than the combined GDPs of China and India, with an average of US$50bn per company.

34 have sales of less than US$5bn, remarkable when the cut-off to make the list this year was a value of US$30bn.

Some companies made the Hurun Global 500 with relatively tiny sales. Databricks had sales of ‘only’ US$1bn but made the Hurun Global 500 with an impressive valuation of US$43 billion. Close behind was OpenAI, with revenue of US$1.3bn, yet a valuation of US$50 billion. The Trade Desk had sales of US$1.6 billion, yet still achieved a valuation of US$35 billion.

At the other end of the scale, 64 had sales of over US$100bn, led by Walmart with sales of US$611bn, generating a valuation of US$440bn. Amazon followed with sales of US$514bn, but with a notably higher valuation of US$1.4tn. New face commodity trader Vitol is reported to have generated sales of US$505bn, creating a value of US$66bn.

How many do they employ?

Companies from the Hurun Global 500 employ 44 million people around the world, an average of 88,000 per company. 

81 have less than 10,000 employees, remarkable when the cut-off to make the list this year was a value of US$30bn.

Despite small teams, OpenAI's disruptive AI research creates vast value through open-source tools and partnerships. Others like property owners Realty Income and Welltower, and energy resource owners like Hess and Pioneer Natural Resources own income-generating portfolios.

125 have more than 100,000 employees, led by Walmart with 2.2 million employees, Amazon with 1.1 million employees and China-based Apple supplier Hon Hai Precision (better known as Foxconn) with 1 million employees.

Table 13: Smallest Employers

Source: Hurun Research Institute

Country of origin versus headquarters

15 companies from the Hurun Global 500 are headquartered in countries different to where they started. By country of destination, Ireland and the UK led the way with 4 companies each, followed by Netherlands with 3 and Switzerland with 2.

It is unusual for a Hurun Global 500 to move its headquarters. Shell moved from the Netherlands to the UK, and changed its name from Royal Dutch Shell to Shell.

Table 14: Hurun Global 500 companies with Headquarters outside their Home Country

Source: Hurun Research Institute

Country by Country

USA: American companies occupied over half of the Hurun Global 500 places, with 261 companies, up 1 from last year. 162 saw their value increase, of which 20 were new faces. 99 saw their value drop or stay the same, and there were 18 dropouts. Together they had a combined value of US$34 trillion. New York had the highest number of companies (30), followed by San Francisco (10), Houston and Chicago (9 each). With 43 companies, Financial Services is the main sector, followed by Healthcare and Energy with 31 each.

China. 33 companies from Greater China made the Hurun Global 500, with Taiwan-based TSMC retainaing the top spot followed by Tencent and Alibaba. There were 5 new faces: Li Auto, Kuaishou, Anta, Luxshare Precision and Haier Smart Home. 7 dropped out: Longi, Jingdong Digits Technology, Tongwei, Aier, SF, Taikang Insurance and Muyuan Foods. The China companies were spread across 13 cities, led by Shenzhen and Beijing with 7 each and followed by Hangzhou 4. The average age was 27 years, much younger than the 68 average age of the whole list.

Japan retained 3rd spot on the Hurun Global 500 with 28 companies, same as last year. With a valuation of US$259bn, 86-year-old Toyota Motors was the most valuable Japanese company followed by NTT (US$112bn) and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (US$112bn). Financial Services led the way with 4 companies followed by Automobile & Auto Components, Retail, Consumer Goods and Healthcare with 3 each. The average age was 79 years, 11 years older than the average age of the whole list. Tokyo is the preferred city for 20 of the companies.

With 23 companies, UK retained 4th place on the Hurun Global 500, led by Shell (US$240bn), and followed by British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca (US$195bn). The average age was 89 years, 20 years older than the average of the list. UK is home to the oldest company on the 2023 Hurun Global 500: the London Stock Exchange Group, founded over 300 years ago. Financial Services led the way with 5 companies, followed by Consumer Goods, Professional Services, Energy and Food & Beverages with 3 each. 3 of the Big 4 accounting companies are registered in London.

Canada is home to 20 companies from the Hurun Global 500 and retained 5th place. 159-year-old Royal Bank of Canada, valued at US$120bn, is the most valuable Canadian company, ahead of 68-year-old TD Bank Group, valued at US$78bn. Shopify and Lululemon Athletica were the best performers, rising by US$23bn and US$14bn.  Financial Services led the way with 7 companies, followed by Energy with 4 companies. Retail with 3 companies. Toronto was the preferred city with 7 companies, followed by Montreal and Calgary with 4 each.

India down from 5th rank to 6th with 18 companies: 11 in Mumbai and Bengaluru with two. With US$198bn, Reliance Industries is the most valuable company followed by Tata Consultancy Services (US$158bn) and HDFC Bank (US$143bn). Financial Services led the way with 6 companies followed by Software & Services with 3 companies. 235 or 49% of the non-India Hurun Global 500 have a regional presence in India, spread across 12 cities, led by Mumbai with 78, and followed by Bengaluru with 53, Gurugram 35, New Delhi 20 and Pune with 13. Titan Company made the Hurun Global 500 on the back of an expansion with 90 new stores, while Sun Pharmaceutical Industries' inclusion was fueled by key acquisitions in Israel.

France rose to 6th rank with 18 companies, up by 1. With US$354bn, LVMH was the most valuable company in France followed by L'Oreal (US$223bn) and Hermes (US$194bn). The combined value of French companies increased by 23% to US$1.9tn. The average age was 97 years, 29 years older than the average age of the list. Consumer Goods led the way with 6 companies, followed by Financial Services, Software & Services, Energy and Food & Beverages with 2 companies each. Paris was the preferred HQ.

With 16 companies, Germany retained 8th place, led by SAP (US$165bn) followed by Robert Bosch (US$134bn) and Deutsche Telekom (US$107bn). Automobile & Auto Components led with 4 companies followed by Financial Services with 3 and Healthcare with 2 companies. Germany-founded Linde would have been second but for changing its head office to the UK. 

Switzerland was home to 15 companies, shares 9th in the list. The combined value of the companies was US$1.3tn. Zurich was home to 5 companies followed by Basel and Baar with 2 companies each. Nestle and Roche Holding were the two most valuable Swiss companies, both valued at over US$200bn, followed by Novartis (US$180bn). Financial Services led the way with 4 followed by Healthcare and Industrial Products with 2 companies each.

Australia retained 10th spot with 12 companies, with 5 in Melbourne, 4 in Sydney and 3 in Perth. With US$202bn, BHP Group was the most valuable company in Australia, followed by Commonwealth Bank (US$113bn) and Rio Tinto (US$85bn). Financial Services led the way with 5 companies, followed by Metals & Mining with 3 companies. 188-year-old ANZ was the oldest Australian company in the list and at 20 years, Fortescue Metals Group the youngest. The combined value of the ‘kangaroos’ was US$869bn up 12%.

What about state-controlled companies?

The Hurun Global 500 focuses exclusively on non-state-controlled companies, meaning that state-controlled companies like Saudi Arabia’s Aramco (US$2.1tn) or China’s Kweichow Moutai (US$308bn) were out of contention to make the list.

Only 48 listed state-controlled companies would have made the cut, up from 40 last year, of which 29 were from China, 5 from the UAE, 4 from Saudi Arabia, 3 from Russia, 2 from India and 1 each from Indonesia, Norway, Qatar, France and Germany.

Table 15: Most valuable listed state-controlled companies in the world

Source: Hurun Research Institute

Statistics

Source: Hurun Research Institute

Cut-off evolutions

Disclaimer. All the data collection and the research has been carried out by Hurun Research. This report is meant for information purposes only. Reasonable care and caution have been taken in preparing this report. The information contained in this report has been obtained from sources that are considered reliable. By accessing and/or using any part of the report, the user accepts this disclaimer and exclusion of liability which operates to the benefit of Hurun. Hurun does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information contained in the report and neither shall it be responsible for any errors or omissions in or for the results obtained from the use of such information. No third party whose information is referenced in this report under the credit to it assumes any liability towards the user with respect to its information. Hurun shall not be liable for any decisions made by the user based on this report (including those of investment or divestiture) and the user takes full responsibility for their decisions made based on this report. Hurun shall not be liable to any user of this report (and expressly disclaim liability) for any loss, damage of any nature, including but not limited to direct, indirect, punitive, special, exemplary, consequential losses, loss of profit, lost business and economic loss regardless of the cause or form of action and regardless of whether or not any such loss could have been foreseen.

2023 Hurun Global 500 Top 100

For the full list, please see www.hurun.net

Source: Hurun Research Institute

Appendix: 2023 Hurun Global 500 New Faces

Source: Hurun Research Institute