Over the past two to three decades, Chinese companies have grown from strength to strength to become one of the largest in the world. Due to the influence of the Chinese government in the economy of the country, most of the largest companies in the country, are state-owned. At the same time, as per Forbes, 5 of the 10 largest public companies in the world were Chinese companies for the year 2020.
Presented are 2 lists of the largest Chinese companies in the world. The first one is listed by Forbes with largest publicly traded companies as criteria, while the second list by Fortune is based on annual revenue.
The 2020 Forbes Global List ranks 2000 of the largest publicly traded companies in the world. The list takes into varied factors such as total assets, revenue, market value of company, and net profit, with weightage, as per importance of each factor.
As per this list, the 5 largest publicly traded companies in China are.
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List of Largest Chinese Companies, Publicly Traded
5. The Bank of China (BOC)
Founded in 1912, it is the second oldest bank in China, and a part of, the Big Four. From 1912 to 1942, it used to issue currency on the government’s behalf. It is the second biggest lender in the country, with headquarters in Beijing.
For the year 2020, it generated revenue of $135.4 billion, turned a profit of $27.2 billion, has assets worth $3,837.6 billion, and a market value of $112.8 billion.
4. Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd
Also known as Ping An Insurance or Ping An of China, it is a holding company with subsidiaries, in the banking, insurance, and financial services sectors.
Headquartered in Shenzhen and founded in 1988, it is one of the top 50 companies in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Shanghai stock exchange. It was the first Chinese insurance company to be chosen on the Dow Jones Sustainability Emerging Markets Index for 2019.
In July 2019, it was the second largest insurer in the world behind Berkshire Hathaway.
For the year 2020, it generated revenue of $155.8 billion, turned a profit of $18.8 billion, has assets worth $1,218.6 billion, and a market value of $187.2 billion.
3. Agricultural Bank of China (ABC)
Founded in 1951 and headquartered in Beijing, this ‘Big Four’ bank is one of the largest lenders in China, in terms of assets. In the mid 2010, its IPO was the biggest ever in the world. Since then, the IPO record has been overtaken by Saudi Arabia’s petroleum company Aramco.
Also referred to as AgBank, it generated revenue of $148.7 billion, turned a profit of $30.9 billion, has assets worth $3,697.5 billion, and a market value of $147.2 billion for the year 2020.
2. China Construction Bank (CCB)
It is one of the ‘Big Four’ banks in the country with its headquarters in Beijing. It has over 13,600 branches in China, a fully-owned subsidiary in London, and international branches around the globe. For the year 2020, it generated revenue of $162.1 billion, turned a profit of $38.9 billion, has assets worth $3,822 billion, and a market value of $203.8 billion.
1. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (ICBC)
It is a state-owned multinational commercial bank. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Beijing, it has consistently ranked as the largest bank in the world (in terms of total assets) since the early 2011s.
For the year 2020, it generated revenue of $177.2 billion, turned a profit of $45.3 billion, has assets worth $4,322.5 billion, and a market value of $242.3 billion.
List of Largest Chinese Companies by Revenue
The 2020 Fortune Global 500 List
This Fortune Global list ranks 500 of the largest companies in the world by annual revenue. As per the criteria of this list, the 5 largest companies in China are
At Number 5, we have Ping An Insurance, which we already covered earlier. Incidentally, the the literal meaning of ‘Ping An’ is ‘safe and well’.
4. China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC)
This state-owned company is the largest construction company on the planet in terms of revenue. A large chunk of CSCEC assets were floated in stock exchanges CSCECL, but some assets and shares in China Construction International Corporation were retained by the company.
For the year 2020, it generated revenue of $205,839 million; made a profit of $3,333 million; has assets valued at $294,070; and employs over 300,000 people.
3. The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)
Headquartered in Beijing, it is a key oil and gas corporation in China. The state-owned company is one of the world’s largest integrated energy groups.
It was ranked as the world’s 4th largest corporation by revenue in 2019 in the Fortune Global 500 list. For the year 2020, it generated revenue of $379,130 million; made a profit of $4,443.2 million; has assets valued at $608,085.6; and employs over 1,340,000 people.
2. State Grid Corporation of China
Also known as the State Grid, it is an electric utility corporation owned and run by the state with Beijing as the headquarters. In 2019, it was the 5th largest company in the world by revenue and the largest utilities company on the planet. For the year 2020, it generated revenue of $383,906 million; made a profit of $7,970 million; has assets valued at $596,616.3; and employs over 900,000 people.
Also known as the Sinopec Group, it is the largest petroleum, gas, and oil refining conglomerate in the world. It is state-owned and headquartered in Beijing. Between 1988 and 2015, it was responsible for 0.29 percent of the industrial greenhouse gas emissions in the world. It is the second largest corporation on the planet by revenue and the world’s 60th largest public company.
For the year 2020, it generated revenue of $407,009 million; made a profit of $6,793.2 million; has assets valued at $317,515.7; and employs over 580,000 people.