China, including Hong Kong, occupies 324 spots in the 2024 Forbes Global 2000 ranking of the world’s top publicly traded companies unveiled Thursday. That’s the second consecutive decline from a record 351 members from the country in 2022; China had 346 spots a year ago.
As was the case last year, China has the second largest number of companies on the list following the United States, which has 621 members. Falling stock prices and a real estate glut contributed to the fall in the number of Chinese listees this year.
Forbes’ Global 2000 list assigns equal weight to 12-month sales, assets, profit and market value of publicly traded companies, using the most recent financial data available as of May 17.
Big state-controlled banks led the way for China again this year, winning three of the top 10 spots on the list. The highest-ranking Chinese company, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, came in at No. 4, slipping one spot from No. 3 last year and No. 2 in 2022. Prior to 2022, the bank held the No. 1 spot on the list for nine consecutive years.
Also in the top 10: state-controlled China Construction Bank fell to No. 7 from No. 4 last year, and the Agricultural Bank of China slid to No. 9 from No. 5 in 2023.
Two other Chinese firms made it in the top 20, namely Bank of China (No. 13) and PetroChina (No. 18), one of the world’s largest oil businesses.
China automakers – among the world’s largest – also chalked up some of the country’s best performances on the Global 2000 list this year, notably in the electric vehicle (EV) supply chain. Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world’s largest supplier of batteries for electric cars, ranked No. 130, though that was down from No. 121 last year. BYD, the country’s biggest EV maker, jumped to No. 152 from No. 170 in 2023. Among other EV manufacturers, Li Auto leaped to No. 701 from No. 1,691 last year. Auto glass supplier Fuyao Glass rose to No. 1,532 from No. 1,938. (See related post here.)
Leading solar panel makers that rose a year ago lost ground amid lower stock prices. LONGi Green Energy Technology fell to No. 872 from No. 530; Tongwei dropped to No. 971 from No. 494 in 2023.
China’s iconic Internet giants mostly climbed on the list following an earlier tech crackdown by the government and a difficult advertising market that hurt their list performance. Tencent, the highest-ranking Chinese Internet company to make this year’s Global 2000, fell to No. 38 from No. 35 last year. However, Alibaba, an e-commerce leader, rose to No. 41 from No. 54 on a 149% increase in profit to $11.2 billion; JD.com likewise climbed to No. 180 from No. 224. Search leader Baidu rose to No. 376 from No. 455.
Mainland real estate companies once again this year suffered some of the biggest losses amid excess supply, slack demand and towering debt. Developers Country Garden and Agile Group both dropped off of this year’s list. Longfor, whose stock is down about a third in the past 12 months, fell to No. 494 from No. 306. Among Hong Kong-headquartered companies, real estate firms were mixed. Sun Hong Kai Properties fell to No. 483 from No. 459 last year; Henderson Land declined to No. 879 from No. 817.
Among the 19 Chinese listees to make the 2024 list that didn’t appear a year earlier, Seres Group, a maker of mini-trucks, came in at No. 1,686, and Tianshan Material, a supplier of building materials, ranked No. 1,313.
Two notable Chinese companies that didn’t make the list because they are not publicly traded and thus do not qualify: telecommunications hardware maker Huawei and ByteDance, the owner of wildly popular social media app TikTok.
See related posts:
Global 2000: China Glass Maker Rides Auto Industry Boom
China Takes 16 Spots On New Forbes Midas List; Neil Shen Slips To No. 3
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