These were the 5 biggest companies in 1999 and here are the 5 biggest companies now

I won’t keep you in suspense. The five largest public companies in the world on January 1, 1999, ranked in order from largest to smallest, were:

• Microsoft (MSFT 0.17%): market cap of $348 billion
• General Electric (GE 1.77%): market cap of $261 billion
• Intel (INTC 6.36%): market cap of $197 billion
• Walmart (WMT -0.05%): market cap of $181 billion
• ExxonMobil (XOM 1.40%): market cap of $178 billion

That being said, there are a few important things to note. First, 1999 was the height of the dot-com bubble, and there was quite a bit of movement on the list throughout the year. For example, by the end of 1999, Microsoft had reached a market capitalization of over $600 billion. Addition, Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) had catapulted its place to No. 3, while Intel had completely fallen from it.

The 5 biggest companies now

As you might expect, given that it’s been 25 years since 1999, the list of the world’s largest public companies has changed considerably. Here’s where it is as of September 7, 2024:

• Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL): $3.39 trillion
• Microsoft: 3.00 trillion dollars
• Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA): USD 2.53 trillion
• Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL)(NASDAQ: GOOG): USD 1.88 trillion
• Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN): USD 1.78 trillion

Microsoft is the only company to appear on both lists, and the size of the players on it has increased about tenfold. Notably, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, overall U.S. inflation during that period was only about 92 percent, so most of this change reflects real growth, not a decline in the value of the dollar.