The 25 Most Profitable Companies in the World

Turning a profit is an admirable thing for any company, but some companies do it significantly better than others. According to Fortune's Global 500 list, the world’s 500 largest companies earned a total of $33.3 trillion in revenues and $2.1 trillion in profits in 2019.

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For this piece, GOBankingRates looked at the Fortune 500 companies for 2020 and found the 25 companies with the most total profits, as well as revenues, assets, employees and years on the Global 500 list. Read on to see who's making bank.

25. Johnson & Johnson

• Revenues: $82,059,000,000
• Profits: $15,119,000,000
• Assets: $157,728,000,000
• Employees: 132,200
• Years on Global 500 List: 20
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 104

24. Volkswagen

• Revenues: $282,760,000,000
• Profits: $15,542,000,000
• Assets: $547,810,000,000
• Employees: 671,205
• Years on Global 500 List: 26
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 7

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23. Royal Dutch Shell

• Revenues: $352,106,000,000
• Profits: $15,842,000,000
• Assets: $404,336,000,000
• Employees: 83,000
• Years on Global 500 List: 26
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 5

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22. Pfizer

• Revenues: $51,750,000,000
• Profits: $16,273,000,000
• Assets: $167,489,000,000
• Employees: 88,300
• Years on Global 500 List: 26
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 215

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21. Samsung Electronics

• Revenues: $197,705,000,000
• Profits: $18,453,300,000
• Assets: $304,907,500,000
• Employees: 287,439
• Years on Global 500 List: 26
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 19

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20. Facebook

• Revenues: $70,697,000,000
• Profits: $18,485,000,000
• Assets: $133,376,000,000
• Employees: 44,942
• Years on Global 500 List: 4
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 144

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19. Gazprom

• Revenues: $118,009,000,000
• Profits: $18,593,000,000
• Assets: $352,397,700,000
• Employees: 473,800
• Years on Global 500 List: 24
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 55

More: Companies That Performed Exceptionally Well in 2020

18. Toyota Motor

• Revenues: $275,288,000,000
• Profits: $19,096,200,000
• Assets: $487,465,900,000
• Employees: 359,542
• Years on Global 500 List: 26
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 10

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17. Verizon Communications

• Revenues: $131,868,000,000
• Profits: $19,265,000,000
• Assets: $291,727,000,000
• Employees: 135,000
• Years on Global 500 List: 26
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 44

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16. Citigroup

• Revenues: $103,449,000,000
• Profits: $19,401,000,000
• Assets: $1,951,158,000,000
• Employees: 200,000
• Years on Global 500 List: 26
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 70

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15. Wells Fargo

• Revenues: $103,915,000,000
• Profits: $19,549,000,000
• Assets: $1,927,555,000,000
• Employees: 259,800
• Years on Global 500 List: 23
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 69

Read: Coronavirus Has Made These 100+ Brands More Valuable Than Ever

14. Intel

• Revenues: $71,965,000,000
• Profits: $21,048,000,000
• Assets: $136,524,000,000
• Employees: 110,800
• Years on Global 500 List: 26
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 138

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13. Alibaba Group Holding

• Revenues: $73,166,000,000
• Profits: $21,450,000,000
• Assets: $185,026,500,000
• Employees: 117,600
• Years on Global 500 List: 4
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 132

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12. Ping An Insurance

• Revenues: $184,280,000,000
• Profits: $21,626,700,000
• Assets: $1,180,488,500,000
• Employees: 372,194
• Years on Global 500 List: 11
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 21

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11. Bank of China

• Revenues: $135,091,000,000
• Profits: $27,126,900,000
• Assets: $3,268,837,900,000
• Employees: 309,384
• Years on Global 500 List: 26
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 43

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10. Bank of America

• Revenues: $113,589,000,000
• Profits: $27,430,000,000
• Assets: $2,434,079,000,000
• Employees: 208,131
• Years on Global 500 List: 26
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 58

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9. Agricultural Bank of China

• Revenues: $147,313,000,000
• Profits: $30,701,200,000
• Assets: $3,571,541,700,000
• Employees: 467,631
• Years on Global 500 List: 21
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 35

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8. Alphabet

• Revenues: $161,857,000,000
• Profits: $34,343,000,000
• Assets: $275,909,000,000
• Employees: 118,899
• Years on Global 500 List: 12
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 29

Read: 15 of Your Favorite Companies That Have Gone Out of Business

7. JP Morgan Chase

• Revenues: $142,422,000,000
• Profits: $36,431,000,000
• Assets: $2,687,379,000,000
• Employees: 256,981
• Years on Global 500 List: 26
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 38

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6. China Construction Bank

• Revenues: $158,884,000,000
• Profits: $38,609,700,000
• Assets: $3,651,644,600,000
• Employees: 370,1691
• Years on Global 500 List: 21
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 30

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5. Microsoft

• Revenues: $125,843,000,000
• Profits: $39,240,000,000
• Assets: $286,556,000,000
• Employees: 144,000
• Years on Global 500 List: 23
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 47

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4. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China

• Revenues: $177,069,000,000
• Profits: $45,194,500,000
• Assets: $4,322,528,400,000
• Employees: 445,106
• Years on Global 500 List: 22
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 24

Read: Why It’s Never a Bad Idea To Invest In Apple and These Other Companies

3. Apple

• Revenues: $260,174,000,000
• Profits: $55,256,000,000
• Assets: $338,516,000,000
• Employees: 137,000
• Years on Global 500 List: 18
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 12

See: 14 Famous Companies That Aren’t Profitable

2. Berkshire Hathaway

• Revenues: $254,616,000,000
• Profits: $81,417,000,000
• Assets: $817,729,000,000
• Employees: 391,500
• Years on Global 500 List: 24
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 14

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1. Saudi Aramco

• Revenues: $329,784,000,000
• Profits: $88,210,900,000
• Assets: $398,348,600,000
• Employees: 79,000
• Years on Global 500 List: 2
• Fortune 500 2020 rank: 6

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Methodology: For this piece, GOBankingRates looked at the Fortune 500 companies for 2020 and found the 25 companies with the most (1) total profits. For the 25 most profitable companies GOBankingRates also found: (2) total revenues; (3) total assets; (4) total employees; (5) years on the global 500 list; and (6) the companies current rank on the 2020 list. All data was collected and is up to date as of March 2, 2021.

About the Author

Jordan Rosenfeld

Jordan Rosenfeld is a freelance writer and author of nine books. She holds a B.A. from Sonoma State University and an MFA from Bennington College. Her articles and essays about finances and other topics has appeared in a wide range of publications and clients, including The Atlantic, The Billfold, Good Magazine, GoBanking Rates, Daily Worth, Quartz, Medical Economics, The New York Times, Ozy, Paypal, The Washington Post and for numerous business clients. As someone who had to learn many of her lessons about money the hard way, she enjoys writing about personal finance to empower and educate people on how to make the most of what they have and live a better quality of life.

 

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