The US continues to dominate, with 54 companies in the Global Top 100, representing 63% of overall value, up from 51% ten years ago.  Europe’s roster reduced by 11 companies, with a decline in its value share of 12% over the same period.

The market capitalisation of the Global Top 100 companies has increased by 5% since last year, more subdued than 15% growth in 2017/2018. The MSCI World Index remained flat at 45.2, compared to 45.4 last year.

Microsoft has overtaken Apple to take top position, the first time in eight years that Apple has not been the Global Top 100 number one. Microsoft’s market capitalisation increased by 29% to $905bn, fueled by its transformation into a cloud computing company – compared to Apple’s increase of 5%. The top four companies are unchanged from last year. Exxon Mobil returned to the top ten this year, for the first time since 2017, replacing JP Morgan, the PwC report says.

For the third year in a row, technology was the largest sector in terms of market capitalisation ($5,691bn). However in terms of percentage value increase, the healthcare, telecommunications and consumer services sectors grew by 15% each compared to 6% for technology. The worst performing sector was financials, with a 3% decline in market capitalisation, although companies included in the Global Top 100 still managed to do better than the rest of the sector, the analysis says.

>> Read full report by PwC.