[OC] Country Distribution of Top 500 Companies by Market CapitalizationSubmitted by chartbear t3_10421kr in dataisbeautiful
Ikkon t1_j32yvrv wrote
Interesting how low the EU countries are.
American companies have 15 times larger market capitalization than German ones, despite America only having 4 times more people and 5.5 times the GDP of Germany.
christian4tal t1_j33lv4j wrote
The chart contains number of top-500 companies, not market capitalisation in general.
So the US has more companies in the top-500 list perhaps because companies grow big faster in th US due to access to a huge and rich home market. Probably a whole lot of smaller companies in Europe, as the GDP is similar (I know, I know cant compre exactly like that).
Just means that American companies tend to grow to the top-500 size more often
pizzamann2472 t1_j33qvf4 wrote
To even have a market cap, a company also needs to be publicly available at the market in the first place. In many European countries, it is much more common to have privately owned billion-dollar companies than in the US, where the stock market plays a much bigger role.
Eric1491625 t1_j36hiq9 wrote
This is true. Particularly explains why China is this low -
>Of the 130 Chinese entities in the 2021 Fortune Global 500 ranking, 93 (71.5%) are unlisted, of which 75 are state-owned. By contrast, among the 130 largest non-Chinese companies in the same Fortune ranking, only 5 are unlisted - of which only one, the US Postal Service, is an SOE.
[deleted] t1_j34it1d wrote
I doubt it's more common, I also doubt many of those companies would make it into the top 500 regardless so it wouldn't effect this chart.
Yes_Primeminister t1_j353wbu wrote
I looked it up. Most of the biggest 100% family owned businesses are indeed german and they would definitely be in the top 500 of companies.
Link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_largest_family_businesses
sumsofanarchy3 t1_j358q4x wrote
This is misleading. Many of these family owned businesses are publicly traded and included in the top 500 in the chart. Walmart, Berkshire, Ford, BMW, etc.
Yes_Primeminister t1_j35bi5m wrote
It's about the private family owned businesses. They are mostly german and would appear in the top 500 if they would be publicly traded.
sumsofanarchy3 t1_j35dy79 wrote
But they are publicly traded? BMW is on your list and in the top 500.
Yes_Primeminister t1_j35f3tt wrote
I couldn't find a list of private family companies. Just look at the percentage of hold shares by the families. Those with 100% family hold shares are mostly german like Schwarz, Aldi and Bosch.
adudesthrowawayz t1_j3hbzqx wrote
Most large private companies with revenues >$10B are in the US. Germany doesn't even come close.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_private_non-governmental_companies_by_revenue
[deleted] t1_j35cl5p wrote
I don't think this would be enough to move the needle one way or the other in terms of what the percentages look like here if you were to obtain a fair market price number for 100% private companies and add them to every nation's total.
Eric1491625 t1_j36hjfg wrote
This is true. Particularly explains why China is this low -
>Of the 130 Chinese entities in the 2021 Fortune Global 500 ranking, 93 (71.5%) are unlisted, of which 75 are state-owned. By contrast, among the 130 largest non-Chinese companies in the same Fortune ranking, only 5 are unlisted - of which only one, the US Postal Service, is an SOE.
MasterFubar t1_j341i0o wrote
> access to a huge and rich home market.
Are you saying the European Union isn't huge and rich?
I would say the reason is because European corporations face more regulation hurdles that limit their growth.
Look how the percentage for Switzerland is the same as for Germany, despite Germany having almost ten times as much population.
daCampa t1_j34fv66 wrote
The US is a single market. The EU tries to be a single market, but isn't one.
Switzerland is an outlier on everything related to economics.
MasterFubar t1_j34gpjb wrote
> The US is a single market.
The US is fifty different markets, every state has its own laws.
> Switzerland is an outlier on everything related to economics.
Exactly. And the important thing is learning why and how this happens. Venezuela is another outlier in economics. Look at the laws, regulations, political and economic systems each country has and you'll know why they have different levels of development.
daCampa t1_j34u4kv wrote
>The US is fifty different markets, every state has its own laws
In worst case scenario, corporations will take the most restrictive law (aka California) and apply it throughout. The same doesn't happen in the EU. There are language requirements for packaging/instructions for instance. And things that might be approved for use in one country but not the next, you rarely find that between states.
Again on the language. If you create a digital product for the US, you have to do one site. If you create one for the EU, you have to create at least 2, one for your local market and one in english. It's not just "laws and restrictions", and in some cases the lack of "laws and restrictions" made certain products obsolete (Malaise era american cars for instance) as other markets had to innovate to comply with more demanding regulation.
>Exactly. And the important thing is learning why and how this happens. Venezuela is another outlier in economics. Look at the laws, regulations, political and economic systems each country has and you'll know why they have different levels of development.
The classic speedrun to mention Venezuela on reddit. We all know why Switzerland is rich. Centuries of "neutrality" cementing it as the bank of Europe. Then that capital being invested in high value added/luxury industries like pharmaceuticals, chocolate, watches. You can't expect to do the same thing on a country with 10x the population and arrive at the same GDP/capita, the amount of people/companies looking for what Swiss banks offer will not magically scale 10x so Germany can achieve the same numbers. And if every country focuses on making the same high value product, at some point it stops being high value.
Acrobatic-Event2721 t1_j34luqh wrote
The EU is super regulatory and has strong workers rights. The EU is cracking down on Uber and Airbnb. Workers elect almost half of the supervisory board of a company in Germany for example.
thecraftybee1981 t1_j3hin0r wrote
The US market is 50% bigger than the EU - it’s another level entirely.
JuRiOh t1_j3383o5 wrote
World war 2 was a huge setback. The comeback is often even called the "economic miracle".
US Market share is getting carried by silicon valley.
Also generally: Large population x High GDP = High Market capitalization
mynameismy111 t1_j36conl wrote
New vibrant companies r typically started by young rich people
Europe is on average 15 years older than most Americans
VorianFromDune t1_j377f1j wrote
Keep in mind it’s market cap, it mainly depends of how bullish a population is and the available financial liquidity.
European stock market is somehow much more aligned with the compagnies performances than speculation. Liquidity is also lower, European usually don’t have their retirement invested in stocks.
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