- The Global 500 firms recorded revenues amounting to $31.7T in 2021, which is a third of the global GDP.
- That figure is a 4.8% dip from their 2020 income of $33.3T
2021 was a challenging year for Global 500 companies. These recorded a dip in their revenues, as shown in a data presentation by BanklessTimes.com. The website has revealed that the firms’ joint income came to $31.7 Trillion (T). That was a 4.8 % decline from their 2020 revenues of $33.3T.
Analysts have pinned that drop on the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The scourge caused a slowdown in the global economy, impacting productivity and hence sales. Notwithstanding the decline, the firms still managed to raise a third of the world’s GDP. That’s quite a feat considering the difficult environment they were operating in.
American dominance
BanklessTimes' presentation of the top 10 global firms by revenue reveals a dominance by American companies. These scooped five out of the ten slots. Leading the pack was Walmart. The giant retailer earned over $559 billion to retain a stranglehold of the top position that it has held since 2017.
E-commerce giant Amazon follows in the third overall spot with some $386B. Tech giant Apple took the sixth slot with returns of around $274B. Meanwhile, health providers CVs Health and UnitedHealth Group came in seventh and eighth, respectively. While the former recorded nearly $269B in revenues, the latter’s stood at $257B.
Chinese firms were not left out in the race to the top. These took up three of the top 10 global spots. China’s electricity utility company State Grid just about pipped Amazon to second place with revenues of $386.6B. China National Petroleum ($283.9B), and Sinopec Group ($283.7B) came in fourth and fifth.
And closing the top ten list were Japanese and German automakers Toyota and Volkswagen (VW). Toyota recorded returns of $256.7B to take the ninth position on the log. That left VW to round up the list with an income of $253.9B.
Winners and losers
Several firms registered impressive returns despite the overall decline in the Global 500’s revenue. Amazon was 2021’s biggest winner. The company grew its revenues by nearly 38%. That growth netted it a profit of $21B, in itself a jump of 84% from 2020. The company owes its impressive performance to an uptick in online purchases after the COVID-19 containment restrictions kicked in.
Other firms with healthy profits were Toyota, UnitedHealth Group and CVS Health. The carmaker made a profit of $21B off of a 13% increase in profitability. Likewise, UnitedHealth and CVS Health made gains of $15B and $7B from upswings of 11% and 8%, respectively.
Conversely, VW and State Grid recorded significant dents in their profitability. VW took the worst hit, losing revenues by 10%. That saw its profits dip by 35% to stand at $10B. The German automaker attributes that performance COVID-19 induced supply bottlenecks.
On its part, The Chinese power provider reported a 30% slump in the metric. Its counterpart Sinopec Group also registered a 9% fall in its margins. It's possible that both firms’ declining fortunes arose from reduced demand for energy by manufacturers.
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