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The Forbes Global 2000 - is an annual ranking of the top 2000 public companies in the world by Forbes magazine. The ranking is based on a mix of four metrics: Sales, Profit, Assets and Market value. The list has been published since 2003.
The Forbes Global 2000 is a useful indicator of which are the leading public companies in the world, but it is only an interpretation, as only public companies are listed. The results are not definitive; any change to the criteria would produce a different list.
2008 list
Listed below are the top 20 companies featured on the 2008 list.
Rank  | Company | Headquarters | Industry | Revenue (billion $) | Profits (billion $) | Assets (billion $) | Market Value (billion $) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1▲ | HSBC |  UK |
Banking | 146.5 | 19.1 | 2,349.0 | 180.8 |
| 2▲ | General Electric |  USA |
Conglomerate | 172.7 | 22.2 | 795.3 | 330.9 |
| 3▼ | Bank of America | USA |
Banking | 119.2 | 15.0 | 1,715.8 | 176.5 |
| 4▲ | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | USA |
Banking | 116.4 | 15.4 | 1,562.2 | 136.9 |
| 5▲ | ExxonMobil | USA |
Oil and gas | 358.6 | 40.6 | 242.1 | 465.5 |
| 6▲ | Royal Dutch Shell |  Netherlands |
Oil and gas | 355.8 | 31.3 | 266.2 | 221.1 |
| 7▲ | BP | UK |
Oil and gas | 281.0 | 20.6 | 236.1 | 204.9 |
| 8▲ | Toyota |  Japan |
Automotive | 203.8 | 14.0 | 276.4 | 175.1 |
| 9▲ | ING Group | Netherlands |
Insurance | 197.9 | 12.7 | 1,932.2 | 75.8 |
| 10=▲ | Berkshire Hathaway | USA |
Diversified Financials | 118.3 | 13.2 | 273.2 | 216.7 |
| 10=▲ | Royal Bank of Scotland | UK |
Banking | 108.5 | 14.6 | 3,807.5 | 76.6 |
| 12▲ | AT&T | USA |
Telecommunications | 118.9 | 12.0 | 275.6 | 210.2 |
| 13▲ | BNP Paribas |  France |
Banking | 116.2 | 10.7 | 2,494.4 | 81.9 |
| 14▲ | Allianz |  Germany |
Insurance | 139.1 | 10.9 | 1,547.5 | 80.3 |
| 15▲ | Total S.A. | France |
Oil and gas | 199.7 | 19.2 | 165.8 | 181.8 |
| 16▲ | Wal-Mart | USA |
Retailing | 378.8 | 12.7 | 163.4 | 198.6 |
| 17▲ | Chevron | USA |
Oil and gas | 204.0 | 18.7 | 148.8 | 180.0 |
| 18▼ | American International Group | USA |
Insurance | 110.1 | 6.2 | 1,060.5 | 118.2 |
| 19▲ | Gazprom |  Russia |
Oil and gas | 81.8 | 23.3 | 201.7 | 306.8 |
| 20▲ | AXA | France |
Insurance | 151.7 | 7.8 | 1,064.7 | 70.3 |
The complete list is available at http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/18/biz_2000global08_The-Global-2000_Rank.html.
