Tax revenue, budgets, assets, procurement, regulation, monetary power, and strategic control—not market cap alone
Working document · August 28, 2026
Who Runs the World
An organized framework for understanding the industries, institutions, people, systems, and first principles that shape the world.
Financial basis August 28, 2026Revenue window TTM / FY 2025–2026Map integrity 100% exclusive sectors
17Mutually exclusive economic sectors
100%Global GDP map, no double counting
100+Companies, agencies, leagues, and networks
8Layers from physics to belief
01 / Global economic sectors
A 100% map of annual output.
This is the project’s working map of annual global economic output. It is an analytical approximation—not an official statistical release—but the categories are designed to be mutually exclusive so they can be added together without counting the same activity twice.
Economic sector map
| Economic sector | Approximate share of global GDP | What belongs here |
|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, forestry, and fishing | 4% | Farming, livestock, fishing, forestry, and primary food production |
| Mining, oil, gas, and raw materials | 4% | Hydrocarbons, metals, minerals, and resource extraction |
| Manufacturing | 16% | Vehicles, electronics, machinery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and consumer products |
| Construction | 6% | Buildings, civil engineering, infrastructure construction, and specialty trades |
| Utilities | 3% | Electricity, gas distribution, water, waste, and grid operations |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 10% | Distribution, stores, marketplaces, dealers, and wholesale networks |
| Transportation and storage | 5% | Rail, air, shipping, trucking, parcels, ports, and warehousing |
| Technology, media, and telecommunications | 5% | Software, cloud, digital platforms, communications, publishing, and broadcasting |
| Finance and insurance | 7% | Banking, payments, securities, asset management, lending, and risk transfer |
| Real estate | 7% | Property services, leasing, ownership services, and imputed housing services |
| Professional and business services | 7% | Legal, accounting, consulting, advertising, engineering, staffing, and corporate services |
| Government, administration, and defense | 6% | Public administration, justice, defense, regulation, and collective services |
| Healthcare and social services | 7% | Care delivery, hospitals, insurance administration allocated to care, and social assistance |
| Education | 5% | Schools, universities, training, assessment, and educational services |
| Hospitality and tourism services | 3% | Lodging, restaurants, travel services, and visitor experiences |
| Arts, entertainment, and sports | 2% | Film exhibition, live entertainment, recreation, leagues, and clubs |
| Other personal, household, and nonprofit services | 3% | Repair, personal care, domestic services, membership organizations, and uncategorized services |
Cross-industry power layers
These subjects operate across the sectors above. They are not separate slices of GDP.
Split between digital services, telecommunications, manufacturing, finance, retail, media, and professional services according to the activity performed
Count production under manufacturing and sales/distribution under wholesale and retail trade
Network value, transaction volume, fees, stablecoin settlement, developer activity, and company revenue—not a standalone GDP percentage
Personal wealth, voting control, board power, and ownership stakes—not GDP contribution
Asset values and capital allocation influence—not annual GDP unless a service fee or value-added activity is produced
02 / Finance & current ledger
Finance is the economy’s operating system.
It contributes roughly 7% of measured output, but its reach is much larger: finance creates credit, prices time and risk, routes payments, and decides which projects get funded. The useful question is not only who owns the most—it is who controls the bottlenecks between money, collateral, and settlement.
System scale / latest official observations
GDP measures the sector’s direct production. Assets and transaction volume reveal the much larger system it governs.
The direct value added by finance and insurance in this project’s exclusive sector map.
Project sector mapInvestment funds, insurers, pension funds and other non-banks held 51% of monitored global financial assets in 2024.
FSB · 2025 monitoring reportAverage over-the-counter foreign-exchange trading per day in April 2025, up 28% from the 2022 survey.
BIS · 2025 triennial surveyInstitutions on the FSB’s 2025 G-SIB list, subject to extra capital, loss-absorption and resolution requirements.
FSB · 2025 G-SIB listHow capital moves
A simplified chain; real institutions often occupy several steps.
Issue
Central banks + treasuriesSet the monetary base, policy rate, liquidity backstop and supply of sovereign collateral.
Create credit
Commercial banksTurn capital, deposits and wholesale funding into loans—and create deposit money in the process.
Price risk
Markets + insurersTranslate uncertainty into interest rates, spreads, premiums, derivatives and collateral demands.
Allocate
Funds + asset ownersMove savings across companies, governments, mortgages, infrastructure and private markets.
Settle
Payment + clearing railsMove final claims through card networks, correspondent banks, exchanges, clearinghouses and ledgers.
Absorb loss
Equity + public backstopsLosses land on shareholders and creditors—or migrate to central banks and governments in a crisis.
Where financial power concentrates
Read institutions by the bottleneck they control—not by market cap alone.
| Control point | Primary holders | What to measure | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price of money | Central banks, treasury markets, major dealers | Policy rates, yield curves, collateral eligibility and liquidity facilities | Changes the hurdle rate for almost every asset and investment decision. |
| Credit creation | Banks, mortgage agencies, private-credit funds | Assets, loan books, underwriting standards, funding mix and capital ratios | Determines who can spend tomorrow’s income today—and on what terms. |
| Capital allocation | Asset managers, pensions, insurers, sovereign funds | Assets under management, mandates, flows, ownership and voting power | Directs savings toward some companies, states and technologies instead of others. |
| Market plumbing | Payment networks, exchanges, custodians and clearinghouses | Settlement volume, concentration, collateral, uptime and substitutability | A small number of rails decide whether claims can become usable money on time. |
| Risk transfer | Insurers, reinsurers, derivatives dealers and guarantors | Premiums, reserves, insured exposure, counterparty links and tail risk | Makes activity possible by deciding which losses can be pooled, hedged or guaranteed. |
Organization ledger / August 28, 2026
The valuation and revenue book.
Currency: U.S. dollars. Figures are rounded because share prices and exchange rates move continuously. Public-company valuation means equity market capitalization—not enterprise value, assets, revenue, or GDP. Click a marked row to open its operating profile.
Finance — banking and housing credit
Market caps are rounded snapshots as of August 28, 2026. Revenue uses the latest comparable company-reported period available on that date.
| Organization | Current valuation / market cap | Latest revenue | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| JPMorgan Chase | $950.6B | $199.4B | Reported TTM through 2Q26; includes significant 2Q26 gains |
| Bank of America | About $435B | $119.2B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| China Construction Bank | $416.1B | $109.3B | FY2025 operating income; RMB translated at 6.7811/USD |
| ICBC | $381.3B | $118.2B | FY2025 operating income; RMB translated at 6.7811/USD |
| HSBC | $354.7B | $71.9B | Reported TTM through 1H26 |
| Agricultural Bank of China | $354.2B | $106.9B | FY2025 operating income; RMB translated at 6.7811/USD |
| Morgan Stanley | $337.3B | $77.8B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Goldman Sachs | $301.1B | $66.2B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Bank of China | $296.9B | $97.3B | FY2025 operating income; RMB translated at 6.7811/USD |
| Royal Bank of Canada | $282.7B | $48.5B | TTM through fiscal 3Q26; CAD translated at 0.7218 USD/CAD |
| Wells Fargo | $257.7B | $86.8B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Fannie Mae | About $7.2B common-stock quote | $29.5B | TTM net revenue through 2Q26; under conservatorship |
| Freddie Mac | About $3.7B common-stock quote | About $23.7B | TTM net revenue through 2Q26; under conservatorship |
Finance — insurance and diversified risk
Market caps are rounded snapshots as of August 28, 2026. Revenue is trailing twelve months through 2Q/1H26 unless otherwise noted; State Farm is a mutual insurer and has no traded market cap.
| Organization | Current valuation / market cap | Latest revenue | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berkshire Hathaway | $1.081T | $384.7B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Allianz | $196.8B | $166.1B | Reported TTM through 1H26; IFRS 17 revenue basis |
| State Farm | $170.0B mutual-company net worth; no market cap | $132.3B | FY2025 total revenue |
| China Life | $161.0B | $119.6B | TTM operating revenue through 1H26; includes large fair-value gains; RMB translated at 6.7811/USD |
| Ping An Insurance | $150.8B | $178.3B | Reported TTM through 1H26; RMB translated at 6.7811/USD |
| Chubb | $131.1B | $61.9B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Progressive | $127.1B | $91.1B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Zurich Insurance | $109.5B | $77.0B | Reported TTM through 1H26 in USD |
| AXA | $105.6B | $107.4B | TTM IFRS revenue through 1H26; EUR translated at 1.1645 USD/EUR |
| Munich Re | $75.5B | $69.6B | TTM insurance revenue through 1H26; EUR translated at 1.1645 USD/EUR |
| Allstate | $65.9B | $70.1B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| MetLife | $61.2B | $79.4B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Prudential Financial | $41.5B | $64.8B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
State-owned and public infrastructure
| Organization | Current valuation / market cap | Latest revenue | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saudi Aramco | $1.71T | $459.0B | TTM |
| CNPC | Not publicly traded | $401.9B | FY2025 |
| State Grid Corporation of China | Not publicly traded | $555.4B | FY2025 |
| Gazprom | About $39B on the domestic market | About $128B | Latest reported / converted |
| China Railway Group | $10.6B | $150.7B | TTM |
| United States Postal Service | Not applicable | About $80.5B | FY2025 operating revenue |
| Tennessee Valley Authority | Not applicable | About $12.4B | FY2025 operating revenue |
| Amtrak | Not applicable | About $4.2B | FY2025 operating revenue |
Retail and consumer
Ranked by market cap among primarily retail companies as of August 28, 2026. Revenue is the latest trailing-twelve-month figure available on that date. CVS Health is classified with healthcare because its insurance, pharmacy-benefit and care-delivery operations extend well beyond retail.
| Company | Market cap | Latest revenue | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | $2.873T | $775.7B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Walmart | $820.4B | $735.8B | Reported TTM through quarter ended July 31, 2026 |
| Costco | $419.3B | $293.6B | Reported TTM through fiscal 3Q26 |
| Home Depot | $329.4B | $169.2B | Reported TTM through fiscal 2Q26 |
| Alibaba | $295.5B | $154.1B | Reported TTM through June 2026; RMB translated at 6.7811/USD |
| Inditex | $210.3B | $47.0B | Reported TTM through fiscal 1Q27; EUR translated at 1.1643 USD/EUR |
| TJX Companies | $149.3B | $62.4B | Reported TTM through quarter ended August 1, 2026 |
| Fast Retailing | $136.5B | $24.1B | Reported TTM through fiscal 3Q26; JPY translated at 159.684/USD |
| Lowe's | $116.7B | $90.4B | Reported TTM through quarter ended July 31, 2026 |
| Target | $74.1B | $107.7B | Reported TTM through quarter ended August 1, 2026 |
Manufacturing
Ranked by market cap using CompaniesMarketCap’s manufacturing classification as of August 28, 2026. Revenue is the latest trailing-twelve-month figure available on that date.
| Company | Market cap | Latest revenue | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| TSMC | $2.166T | $139.6B | Reported TTM through 2Q26; TWD translated to USD |
| Tesla | $1.38T | $103.6B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Samsung Electronics | $1.265T | $352.7B | Reported TTM through 2Q26; KRW translated at 1,374.52/USD |
| Intel | $466.4B | $57.0B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Caterpillar | $377.8B | $74.7B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Toyota | $227.2B | $325.4B | Reported TTM through June 2026; JPY translated at 159.684/USD |
| Marvell Technology | $220.3B | $9.5B | Reported TTM through fiscal 2Q27 ended August 1, 2026 |
| Amphenol | $198.9B | $29.0B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Airbus | $190.0B | $89.6B | Reported TTM through 1H26; EUR translated at 1.1643 USD/EUR |
| Foxconn Industrial Internet | $188.6B | $162.2B | Reported TTM through 1H26; RMB translated at 6.7811/USD |
Healthcare
Broad healthcare ranking covering pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, medical technology and diagnostics, and care delivery and insurance. Market caps are rounded snapshots as of August 28, 2026; revenue is the latest trailing-twelve-month figure available on that date.
| Company | Market cap | Latest revenue | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eli Lilly | $1.048T | $79.7B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Johnson & Johnson | $640.5B | $97.9B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| AbbVie | $456.2B | $64.4B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Roche | $370.2B | $78.3B | Reported TTM through 1H26; CHF translated at 1.2434 USD/CHF |
| Merck | $368.9B | $66.6B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| UnitedHealth Group | $359.9B | $450.1B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Novartis | $293.9B | $56.7B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 in USD |
| AstraZeneca | $255.2B | $61.4B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 in USD |
| Amgen | $236.3B | $38.1B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Thermo Fisher Scientific | $233.2B | $46.3B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 ended June 27, 2026 |
Technology
Ranked by market cap using CompaniesMarketCap’s broad technology classification as of August 28, 2026. Revenue is the latest trailing-twelve-month figure available on that date. This organization ledger may overlap manufacturing and retail; the GDP sector map remains mutually exclusive.
| Company | Market cap | Latest revenue | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA | $5.25T | $303.0B | Reported TTM through fiscal 2Q27 ended July 26, 2026 |
| Apple | $4.67T | $466.8B | Reported TTM through fiscal 3Q26 ended June 27, 2026 |
| Alphabet | $4.15T | $445.9B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Microsoft | $3.81T | $331.8B | FY2026 ended June 30, 2026 |
| Amazon | $2.87T | $775.7B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| TSMC | $2.166T | $139.6B | Reported TTM through 2Q26; TWD translated to USD |
| SpaceX | $1.85T | $23.0B | Reported TTM through 2Q26; public reporting began after June 2026 IPO |
| Broadcom | $1.75T | $75.5B | Reported TTM through fiscal 2Q26 ended May 3, 2026 |
| Meta Platforms | $1.47T | $228.3B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Tesla | $1.38T | $103.6B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
Energy
Top 10 publicly traded energy companies by market cap using CompaniesMarketCap’s broad energy classification as of August 28, 2026. Revenue is the latest trailing-twelve-month figure available on that date.
| Company | Market cap | Latest revenue | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saudi Aramco | $1.681T | $459.0B | Latest reported TTM in 2026 |
| ExxonMobil | $650.5B | $361.1B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Chevron | $392.7B | $208.7B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| GE Vernova | $253.8B | $41.4B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Shell | $250.9B | $296.6B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| PetroChina | $231.6B | $421.4B | Reported TTM through 1Q26 |
| TotalEnergies | $192.8B | $196.4B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| NextEra Energy | $175.7B | $28.7B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| ConocoPhillips | $156.9B | $63.4B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Iberdrola | $156.8B | $51.2B | Latest reported TTM in 2026 |
Real estate
Top 10 publicly traded real-estate companies by market cap as of August 28, 2026, including listed property owners, REITs, and operators in CompaniesMarketCap’s classification. Revenue is the latest trailing-twelve-month figure available on that date.
| Company | Market cap | Latest revenue | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Welltower | $171.5B | $12.8B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Prologis | $136.8B | $9.2B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Equinix | $103.1B | $9.8B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| American Tower | $82.1B | $10.9B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Simon Property Group | $81.5B | $6.9B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Digital Realty | $70.0B | $6.8B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Realty Income | $58.6B | $6.1B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Public Storage | $58.5B | $4.9B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Ventas | $47.1B | $6.4B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Sun Hung Kai Properties | $45.1B | $11.9B | TTM through 1H26; HKD translated at 7.80/USD |
Transportation
Top 10 publicly traded transportation-and-storage companies by market cap as of August 28, 2026, using CompaniesMarketCap’s broad classification. It includes rail, mobility platforms, parcel logistics, and pipeline transportation. Revenue is the latest comparable company-reported period available on that date.
| Company | Market cap | Latest revenue | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Union Pacific | $182.9B | $25.41B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Uber | $156.8B | $55.23B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| CSX | $95.4B | $14.51B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| UPS | $90.0B | $89.93B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Canadian Pacific Kansas City | $82.5B | $10.87B | TTM through 2Q26; CAD translated to USD |
| FedEx | $78.7B | $94.72B | FY2026 ended May 31, 2026 |
| Canadian National Railway | $76.5B | $12.54B | TTM through 2Q26; CAD translated to USD |
| DHL Group | $73.4B | $95.46B | Latest reported TTM in 2026; EUR translated to USD |
| Kinder Morgan | $71.3B | $17.96B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| TC Energy | $64.4B | $11.23B | TTM through 2Q26; CAD translated to USD |
Media
Top 10 publicly traded media-and-entertainment companies by market cap as of August 28, 2026, using CompaniesMarketCap’s entertainment classification. The broad classification includes streaming, music, film and television, and interactive entertainment. Revenue is the latest trailing figure available on that date.
| Company | Market cap | Latest revenue | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netflix | $340.2B | $46.88B | Latest reported TTM in 2026 |
| Walt Disney | $186.5B | $97.26B | Latest reported TTM in 2026 |
| Sony | $145.4B | $82.12B | Latest reported TTM in 2026; JPY translated to USD |
| Spotify | $112.3B | $20.52B | Latest reported TTM in 2026; EUR translated to USD |
| Comcast | $96.1B | $125.27B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| NetEase | $78.4B | $16.25B | Latest reported TTM in 2026; CNY translated to USD |
| Sea Limited | $72.9B | $25.19B | Latest reported TTM in 2026 |
| Warner Bros. Discovery | $72.1B | $37.21B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Nintendo | $65.6B | $11.51B | Latest reported TTM in 2026; JPY translated to USD |
| Take-Two Interactive | $43.7B | $6.65B | FY2026 ended March 31, 2026 |
Telecommunications
Top 10 publicly traded telecommunications companies by market cap as of August 28, 2026, using CompaniesMarketCap’s broad classification. Telecom infrastructure and diversified owners are included; listed subsidiaries can appear alongside parent companies, so revenue is not additive. Revenue is the latest trailing figure available on that date.
| Company | Market cap | Latest revenue | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| China Mobile | $219.6B | $142.72B | Latest reported TTM in 2026; CNY translated to USD |
| Verizon | $208.2B | $139.14B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| T-Mobile US | $194.6B | $90.53B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| SoftBank Group | $183.6B | $46.13B | Latest reported TTM in 2026; JPY translated to USD |
| AT&T | $178.2B | $126.52B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Deutsche Telekom | $158.0B | $138.71B | Latest reported TTM in 2026; EUR translated to USD |
| Bharti Airtel | $123.1B | $23.30B | Latest reported TTM in 2026; INR translated to USD |
| Comcast | $96.0B | $125.27B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| NTT | $85.5B | $91.24B | Latest reported TTM in 2026; JPY translated to USD |
| American Tower | $82.1B | $10.81B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
Agriculture
Top 10 public companies by market cap in CompaniesMarketCap’s direct-agriculture classification as of August 28, 2026. Packaged food, private companies, and diversified businesses classified elsewhere are excluded. Revenue is the latest comparable company-reported period available on that date.
| Company | Market cap | Latest revenue | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corteva | $56.0B | $17.88B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Sime Darby Plantation | $10.9B | $4.82B | Latest reported TTM in 2026 |
| Tongwei | $8.0B | $10.17B | Latest reported TTM in 2026 |
| AGCO | $7.9B | $10.37B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| PhosAgro | $7.7B | $5.26B | Latest tracked TTM is 2023; current comparable disclosure is unavailable |
| Kuala Lumpur Kepong | $6.1B | $6.21B | Latest reported TTM in 2026 |
| Cal-Maine Foods | $3.7B | $3.46B | Reported TTM in 2026 |
| Escorts Kubota | $3.5B | $1.26B | Reported TTM in 2026 |
| QL Resources | $3.5B | $1.70B | FY2026, translated to USD |
| Golden Agri-Resources | $3.2B | $12.95B | FY2025 company-reported revenue |
Crypto
Top 10 cryptoassets by network market cap as of August 28, 2026. These are assets or networks, not public companies: 24-hour trading volume is shown as an activity measure and is not revenue.
| Asset / network | Network market cap | 24-hour volume | Revenue treatment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin | $1.55T | $38.37B | No corporate revenue; network/token, not a company |
| Ethereum | $294.63B | $16.73B | No corporate revenue; network/token, not a company |
| Tether | $183.40B | $79.61B | No corporate revenue; token volume is not issuer revenue |
| BNB | $91.95B | $1.45B | No corporate revenue; network/token, not a company |
| XRP | $86.51B | $3.64B | No corporate revenue; network/token, not a company |
| USDC | $74.11B | $17.23B | No corporate revenue; token volume is not issuer revenue |
| Solana | $60.68B | $5.76B | No corporate revenue; network/token, not a company |
| TRON | $32.36B | $665.85M | No corporate revenue; network/token, not a company |
| Hyperliquid | $20.18B | $1.37B | No corporate revenue; network/token, not a company |
| Zcash | $13.45B | $1.31B | No corporate revenue; network/token, not a company |
Education
Top 10 public education companies by market cap as of August 28, 2026. Revenue uses the latest company-reported trailing-twelve-month or completed fiscal-year period available on that date.
| Company | Market cap | Latest revenue | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pearson | $10.06B | $4.82B | Reported TTM through 1H26; GBP converted to USD |
| New Oriental Education | $9.66B | $5.66B | FY2026 ended May 31, 2026 |
| Duolingo | $6.73B | $1.15B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| TAL Education | $6.47B | $3.19B | Reported TTM through May 31, 2026 |
| Laureate Education | $5.32B | $1.83B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Grand Canyon Education | $3.93B | $1.14B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Bright Horizons | $3.64B | $3.03B | Reported TTM through 2Q26 |
| Covista | $3.57B | $1.95B | FY2026 ended June 30; renamed from Adtalem in August 2026 |
| Stride | $3.57B | $2.52B | FY2026 ended June 30, 2026 |
| John Wiley & Sons | $2.73B | $1.68B | FY2026 ended April 30, 2026 |
Sports
Sports leagues do not have public market caps. League revenue is a better operating-scale measure; franchise value is an appraisal, not a quoted security price.
| League | Latest estimated league revenue | Leading franchise values |
|---|---|---|
| NFL | About $23B | Cowboys about $12.8B; Rams about $10.5B; Patriots about $9B |
| NBA | About $12B | Knicks about $9.75B; Lakers about $10B; Warriors about $9.4B |
| MLB | About $12B | Yankees about $8.2B; Dodgers about $6.8B; Red Sox about $4.8B |
| English Premier League | About $8B | Manchester United about $6.6B; Liverpool about $5.4B; Manchester City about $5.3B |
| NHL | About $7B | Maple Leafs about $3.8B; Rangers about $3B; Canadiens about $3B |
Tourism and hospitality
| Company | Market cap | Latest revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Booking Holdings | $157B | $27.7B TTM |
| Airbnb | $113B | $12.6B TTM |
| Marriott International | $94B | $26.6B TTM |
| Hilton Worldwide | $75B | $12.3B TTM |
| Las Vegas Sands | $30B | $13.7B TTM |
| Expedia Group | $40B | About $15B TTM |
| Carnival Corporation | $35B | $27.3B TTM |
Private-company and founder-linked assets
| Asset | Current defensible value / status | Latest revenue |
|---|---|---|
| SpaceX | Latest secondary-market estimate about $1.8T | Private; not consistently disclosed |
| The Boring Company | Last disclosed funding value about $5.7B | Not disclosed |
| Neuralink | Last disclosed funding value about $9B | Pre-commercial / not disclosed |
| X | No standalone current value after combination with xAI | Not separately disclosed |
| Blue Origin | Private; external estimates roughly $10B–$15B | Not disclosed |
| The Washington Post | Private; no reliable current standalone value | Not disclosed |
| Bezos Expeditions | Private investment vehicle; no single valuation | Not applicable |
| Zappos | Amazon subsidiary; no standalone current value | Included in Amazon |
| Bloomberg LP | Private estimates around $100B | Roughly $13B annual revenue |
03 / Companies and profitability
Scale is not the same as power.
The 2026 Fortune Global 500 generated approximately $43.1 trillion of revenue and $3.39 trillion of profit from fiscal 2025 results. Amazon became the world’s largest company by revenue, ending Walmart’s 12-year run.
Money flowing in. Reveals scale and control of transactions, not economic efficiency.
What remains after costs, interest, taxes, and other charges. Reveals how much value the company captures.
Cash the business can reinvest, distribute, or use to repay debt.
Especially important for banks, insurers, utilities, and real estate, where the balance sheet is the business.
The stock market’s valuation of future cash flows. Not revenue, profit, personal wealth, or GDP.
Broader than ownership. Governments, founders, boards, lenders, regulators, and platforms all exercise power.
World’s largest companies by revenue — fiscal 2025
| Rank | Company | Revenue | Net profit | Net margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amazon | $716.9B | $77.7B | 10.8% |
| 2 | Walmart | $713.2B | $21.9B | 3.1% |
| 3 | State Grid | $555.4B | $11.1B | 2.0% |
| 4 | UnitedHealth Group | $447.6B | $12.1B | 2.7% |
| 5 | Saudi Aramco | $445.5B | $92.8B | 20.8% |
| 6 | Apple | $416.2B | $112.0B | 26.9% |
| 7 | McKesson | $403.4B | $4.8B | 1.2% |
| 8 | Alphabet | $402.8B | $132.2B | 32.8% |
| 9 | CVS Health | $402.1B | $1.8B | 0.4% |
| 10 | China National Petroleum | $401.9B | $21.2B | 5.3% |
| 11 | Berkshire Hathaway | $371.4B | $67.0B | 18.0% |
| 12 | Sinopec Group | $364.0B | $5.1B | 1.4% |
The top 50 companies generated roughly one-third of Global 500 revenue and 39% of its profits. Corporate power is highly concentrated.
Move the most commercial volume. Their power comes from consumer demand, logistics, marketplace access, data, and supplier leverage.
Controls indispensable infrastructure. Its power comes from physical electricity transmission and state backing, not a high profit margin.
Sit inside healthcare’s payment and distribution system. Revenue is enormous because they intermediate insurance, care, drugs, and claims, even when margins are thin.
Converts control of scarce natural resources into extraordinary profit. Energy is upstream of nearly every other industry.
Capture the most profit among the current top-revenue companies through intellectual property, software, platforms, advertising, and ecosystems.
Combines insurance float with long-term ownership of operating businesses and securities. Its power comes from patient capital and a massive balance sheet.
Verified 2025 operating snapshots
| Industry | Company | Revenue | Net profit | How it makes money |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail and cloud | Amazon | $716.9B | $77.7B | Product sales, marketplace fees, AWS, advertising, and subscriptions |
| Retail | Walmart | $713.2B | $21.9B | Grocery and merchandise volume, stores, e-commerce, advertising, and memberships |
| Public infrastructure | State Grid | $555.4B | $11.1B | Electricity transmission and distribution |
| Healthcare | UnitedHealth Group | $447.6B | $12.1B | Insurance premiums, care delivery, pharmacy benefits, and healthcare technology |
| Energy | Saudi Aramco | $445.5B | $92.8B | Oil, gas, refining, chemicals, and control of low-cost reserves |
| Technology | Apple | $416.2B | $112.0B | Devices, services, software distribution, subscriptions, and ecosystem lock-in |
| Technology | Alphabet | $402.8B | $132.2B | Search advertising, YouTube, cloud computing, subscriptions, and platforms |
| Insurance and investments | Berkshire Hathaway | $371.4B | $67.0B | Insurance float, operating businesses, investments, energy, and rail |
| Transportation | UPS | $88.7B | $5.6B | Package delivery, freight, logistics, and pricing density across its network |
| Food and agriculture | Nestlé | CHF 89.5B | CHF 9.0B | Branded food, coffee, pet care, nutrition, and global distribution |
| Real-estate services | CBRE | $40.6B | — | Brokerage, facilities management, project management, investment management, and development |
| Travel | Booking Holdings | $26.9B | $5.4B | Travel commissions, merchant payments, advertising, and insurance |
| Education | New Oriental | $4.9B | $0.38B | Courses, tutoring, test preparation, consulting, and educational products |
| Public crypto platform | Coinbase | $7.18B | $1.26B | Transaction fees, custody, stablecoin economics, subscriptions, and services |
2024 profitability graphic — sector highlights
Historical snapshot of after-tax profits for fiscal years ending on or before March 31, 2024.
Saudi Aramco $120.7B; ExxonMobil $36.0B; Petrobras $24.9B; TotalEnergies and Chevron $21.4B each; CNPC $21.3B; Shell $19.4B
Apple $97.0B; Alphabet $73.8B; Microsoft $72.4B; Meta $39.1B; NVIDIA $29.8B; TSMC $27.4B
Berkshire Hathaway $96.2B; ICBC $51.4B; JPMorgan Chase $49.6B; China Construction Bank $47.0B; Agricultural Bank of China $38.0B
Johnson & Johnson $35.2B; UnitedHealth Group $22.4B; Novartis $14.9B
Toyota $34.2B; Stellantis $20.1B; Volkswagen $17.9B; Mercedes-Benz $15.4B; Tesla $15.0B
Amazon $30.4B; Walmart $15.5B; Home Depot $15.1B; Procter & Gamble $14.7B
Deutsche Telekom $19.2B; Comcast $15.4B; China Mobile $15.3B; AT&T $14.4B
04 / People
Ownership, value, and control are not the same.
A founder does not personally own the entire market capitalization of a company, and a company’s market capitalization is not a percentage contribution to GDP. The useful question is which systems a person influences, what percentage they own, and what bottleneck that system controls.
Elon Musk
Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Neuralink, X
Tesla: electric vehicles, batteries, charging infrastructure, and energy products
SpaceX: private aerospace, launch, satellite, and communications infrastructure
The Boring Company, Neuralink, and X: tunnels, brain-computer interfaces, and social distribution
Jeff Bezos
Amazon, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, Bezos Expeditions
Amazon: e-commerce, logistics, cloud computing, advertising, and subscriptions
Blue Origin: private aerospace and launch infrastructure
The Washington Post and Bezos Expeditions: media influence and venture capital
Bill Gates
Microsoft-derived wealth, investments, and philanthropy
Primary economic system: Microsoft — enterprise software, cloud, operating systems, productivity, and AI infrastructure
No longer controls day-to-day operations; present influence also runs through investments and philanthropy
Warren Buffett
Berkshire Hathaway
Control points: insurance float, railroads, utilities, industrials, consumer businesses, and public-equity holdings
Notable holdings historically include Apple, Coca-Cola, and American Express
Mark Zuckerberg
Meta Platforms
Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, digital advertising, social graphs, communication, and virtual-reality investment
Larry Page and Sergey Brin
Alphabet
Search, online advertising, YouTube, Android, cloud computing, maps, AI, and information discovery
Steve Ballmer
Microsoft-derived wealth and the Los Angeles Clippers
Present influence is primarily capital ownership and sports rather than operational control of Microsoft
Larry Ellison
Oracle
Enterprise databases, cloud infrastructure, business software, and critical corporate data systems
Tim Cook
Apple
An executive rather than a founder-controller; power comes from operating authority over Apple’s supply chain, product ecosystem, capital allocation, and platform rules
Michael Bloomberg
Bloomberg LP
Financial terminals, market data, news, analytics, and the information layer used by global finance
Reed Hastings
Netflix
The global streaming model
Jack Dorsey
Block and prior influence over Twitter
Payments, financial software, Bitcoin advocacy, and social-media infrastructure
05 / First principles
The world economy is a stack.
Each layer depends on the layer below it. No financial claim can escape physical constraints indefinitely. The deepest power belongs to institutions that control a bottleneck other systems cannot easily avoid.
01 / Physics and the atmosphere
Matter, energy, climate, geography, water, and the constraints of distance and time.
02 / Natural resources
Land, minerals, hydrocarbons, agriculture, and access to habitable environments.
03 / Energy and infrastructure
Electricity, fuels, grids, ports, roads, rail, satellites, data centers, and telecommunications.
04 / Production and logistics
Manufacturing, industrial tooling, supply chains, transportation, warehousing, and labor.
05 / Institutions
Governments, law, property rights, money, taxation, contracts, military power, and regulation.
06 / Finance and risk
Banks, central banks, credit, insurance, securities markets, payment systems, and asset managers.
07 / Distribution and platforms
Retailers, marketplaces, app stores, search engines, social networks, healthcare intermediaries, and media.
08 / Information and belief
Education, science, religion, culture, media, brands, narratives, and trust.
Every economic system ultimately converts energy and matter into goods, services, movement, computation, or human experience. The atmosphere and biosphere are productive infrastructure that companies generally do not own but depend upon. Human coordination depends on shared belief: religion, nationalism, brands, corporate cultures, political ideologies, and confidence in money.
How money is actually made
Own low-cost oil, valuable land, spectrum, mineral deposits, intellectual property, or exclusive rights.
Become the marketplace where buyers already are, then charge sellers for access.
Increase value and reduce unit costs as more users, routes, devices, or merchants join.
Make customers depend on proprietary data, workflows, ecosystems, or contracts.
Banks, insurers, asset managers, and marketplaces earn spreads or fees on money and transactions they do not fully fund themselves.
Collect recurring payments on electricity, cloud computing, towers, warehouses, payments, logistics, or communications.
Brands, insurance, professional services, education, and media monetize credibility and reduced uncertainty.
Advertising platforms turn time and behavioral data into revenue.
Manufacturers and software companies spread large fixed costs across enormous global volume.
Who runs the world?
No single person or company does. Power is distributed.
Create and enforce law, money, taxation, borders, and military security.
Control the physical systems everything else requires.
Decide where capital flows and who receives credit.
Govern access to customers, information, software, and digital infrastructure.
Turn resources into usable goods and deliver them.
Shape what people believe, desire, and consider legitimate.
06 / Government and public power
States do not have a market cap.
The U.S. government’s economic power runs through the dollar, the Treasury market, taxation, law, military force, and procurement. State-owned enterprises such as State Grid, Saudi Aramco, and China National Petroleum combine commercial scale with national strategy.
The primary reserve currency and core collateral of global finance.
The power to redirect national resources through budgets, transfers, procurement, and subsidies.
Control over property rights, competition, securities, banking, healthcare, communications, labor, and environmental rules.
Protection of trade routes, alliances, sanctions, export controls, and access to markets.
The ability to create or sustain markets in defense, aerospace, healthcare, infrastructure, and technology.
Funding of science and the establishment of rules that private industry builds upon.
Governments can tolerate lower financial returns when an enterprise provides energy security, employment, infrastructure, geopolitical leverage, or industrial policy. That makes a direct comparison with ordinary public companies incomplete.
07 / Reusable research prompt
The brief that keeps the work honest.
Use this prompt to refresh the ledger, keep sectors from overlapping, and force every figure back onto the right unit of measure.
Build an evidence-based report titled “Who Runs the World?” with a clearly stated as-of date. Use same-day market capitalizations for public companies and the latest trailing-12-month revenue, then also show the latest audited full fiscal year so market value and operating performance are not mixed across dates. Analyze the global economy through first principles, beginning with physics, energy, natural resources, infrastructure, government, money, finance, production, logistics, distribution, technology, information, culture, and belief. For each major industry, identify: (1) the economic function it performs; (2) its best defensible share or footprint in the global economy, without double-counting overlapping sectors; (3) the ten largest organizations by annual revenue; (4) the ten most profitable organizations by net income and free cash flow; (5) current market capitalization or enterprise value; (6) total assets where relevant for banks, insurers, real estate, and governments; (7) exactly how each organization earns revenue, broken into major products and segments; (8) its major cost structure; (9) profit and free-cash-flow margins; (10) the bottleneck, network effect, scarce resource, regulation, intellectual property, or distribution advantage it controls; (11) the people, governments, boards, and major shareholders that exercise effective control; and (12) the principal risks that could weaken that power. Separate revenue, profit, free cash flow, assets, market capitalization, enterprise value, private transaction valuation, personal wealth, network value, and GDP contribution—never use them interchangeably. For private companies, give the date and terms of the latest disclosed financing or tender estimate. For state agencies and leagues, write “no market cap” and use revenue, budget, assets, or franchise appraisals instead. For cryptocurrencies, label the figure “network market cap” and do not call it company revenue. Use audited annual reports, regulatory filings, government statistics, exchange data, and reputable global rankings. Cite every table, convert currencies consistently, flag estimates, distinguish fiscal years, and avoid adding overlapping industry percentages. Finish with: a global top-25 revenue table, a global top-25 profit table, a global top-25 market-value table, a sector-by-sector power map, a first-principles explanation of how money flows through the economy, and a concise answer to “Who runs the world, who makes the most money, and why?”
08 / Project status
A living working document.
The original outline underrepresented construction, professional and business services, wholesale trade, mining and raw materials, utilities, and other personal or nonprofit services. They are now included in the 100% map.
- Cutoff
August 28, 2026. Market values as of this date, paired with the latest available trailing-12-month or complete fiscal-year revenue.
- Authority
The current ledger supersedes every older figure retained in the descriptive profiles.
- Correction
Overlapping industry percentages that totaled about 122% have been replaced with a mutually exclusive 100% sector map.
- Measures
Revenue, profit, assets, market value, personal wealth, network value, and GDP are never used interchangeably.