From https://metaculus.com/questions/15964/biggest-companies-in-2050/

At Berkshire Hathaway's 2021 annual shareholders' meeting, Warren Buffett famously highlighted the importance of understanding the uncertainty around individual stocks by comparing the top 20 global stocks in 1989 to those in 2021. Buffett emphasized that none of the companies on the 1989 list were present on the 2021 list at the time of the meeting. The 1989 list featured a heavy concentration of Japanese companies, reflecting the strong performance of the Japanese economy at that time. In contrast, the list from 2021 revealed a significant shift towards technology and innovation, with companies like Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), and Amazon dominating the rankings. Below is the list of the top 20 companies worldwide by market cap in 1989.

Ranking Company Market Cap Country 1 Industrial Bank of Japan 104.29 B 🇯🇵 Japan 2 Sumitomo Bank 73.30 B 🇯🇵 Japan 3 Fuji Bank 69.40 B 🇯🇵 Japan 4 Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank 64.04 B 🇯🇵 Japan 5 Exxon Corp 63.84 B 🇺🇸 USA 6 General Electric USA 58.19 B 🇺🇸 USA 7 Tokyo Electric Power 56.50 B 🇯🇵 Japan 8 IBM Corp 55.66 B 🇺🇸 USA 9 Toyota Motor Corp. 53.25 B 🇯🇵 Japan 10 American Tel & Tel 48.95 B 🇺🇸 USA 11 Nomura Securities 46.81 B 🇯🇵 Japan 12 Royal Dutch Petroleum 41.00 B 🇳🇱 Netherlands 13 Philip Morris Cos 38.58 B 🇺🇸 USA 14 Nippon Steel 36.59 B 🇯🇵 Japan 15 Tokai Bank 35.35 B 🇯🇵 Japan 16 Mitsui Bank 34.99 B 🇯🇵 Japan 17 Matsushita Elect Ind'l 33.36 B 🇯🇵 Japan 18 Kansai Electric Power 33.13 B 🇯🇵 Japan 19 Hitachi LTD 32.21 B 🇯🇵 Japan 20 Merck & Co 30.75 B 🇺🇸 USA

It remains an open question whether this pattern will repeat over the next decades. In 2023, the top companies in the world include a diverse mix of industries, with a very heavy country-focus on the USA. Technology giants like Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), and Amazon continue to dominate, with other sectors like healthcare and finance also represented. As of April 2023, the following companies are in the top 20:

Ranking Name Market Cap Country 1 Apple $2.613 T 🇺🇸 USA 2 Microsoft $2.129 T 🇺🇸 USA 3 Saudi Aramco $1.926 T 🇸🇦 S. Arabia 4 Alphabet (Google) $1.396 T 🇺🇸 USA 5 Amazon $1.050 T 🇺🇸 USA 6 Berkshire Hathaway $706.28 B 🇺🇸 USA 7 NVIDIA $660.92 B 🇺🇸 USA 8 Tesla $586.32 B 🇺🇸 USA 9 Meta Platforms (Facebook) $574.24 B 🇺🇸 USA 10 Johnson & Johnson $517.39 B 🇺🇸 USA 11 Visa $491.86 B 🇺🇸 USA 12 LVMH $491.42 B 🇫🇷 France 13 UnitedHealth $477.42 B 🇺🇸 USA 14 Exxon Mobil $472.43 B 🇺🇸 USA 15 TSMC $452.22 B 🇹🇼 Taiwan 16 Tencent $438.67 B 🇨🇳 China 17 JPMorgan Chase $406.68 B 🇺🇸 USA 18 Walmart $400.25 B 🇺🇸 USA 19 Novo Nordisk $379.17 B 🇩🇰 Denmark 20 Eli Lilly $356.87 B 🇺🇸 USA