Forbes magazine has, until lately, rated the size (or power, if you prefer) of publicly-listed companies according to their value in the market (market capitalisation) on any specific date. Now it’s adopted three further criteria – sales, profits, and assets – to provide what’s arguably a more accurate picture of the financial muscle of such outfits, as of April 20 2011.
Making an assessment that employs all four of these metrics, Forbes ranks JP Morgan Chase and HSBC banks as numbers 1 and 2 among the world’s biggest publicly-listed companies, followed by General Electric, Exxon, Shell, and PetroChina.
The only three mining companies in Forbes’ Global TOP ONE HUNDRED are: VALE (at number 53), RIO TINTO (at number 58), and BHP BILLITON (at number 67). Rio Tinto has overtaken BHP Billiton and Brazilian Vale tops the list. But London remains well ahead of the listing pack.
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=10891.