Who Are the Largest Global 5000 Companies?

For 2008 the top 10 Global 5000 companies were (in order of revenue)

ExxonMobil
Royal Dutch Shell
Wal-Mart Stores
BP
Chevron
ConocoPhillips
Total SA
Sinopec
ING
Toyota Motors

Revenue for these top 10 grew 15% over the previous year.

A Merger Sign of Economic Times

Sooner or later this economy affects companies who find it will be better to consolidate & merge rather than go it alone. The announcement this week that Watson Wyatt and Towers Perrin will merge is one of those signs.

These two compete as professional management & HR benefit firms. They provide consulting and related services to firms around the globe. Both are about the same size – just over $ 1.5 billion. As companies tighten their belt, they pull back for spending on some of these services. Companies in this space find themselves in a no growth or slight downturn of revenues. Probably a good move to combine and make the overall business more efficient.

Global 5000 Auto Makers Re-Alignment

Here’s another sign of the shuffling that is happening in the auto industry. Tata Motors ($9 billion USD in 2007) introduced both the Jaguar and Land Rover in India this past week, bolstering the high end luxury market offerings there.

They are challenging the German auto makers who have the strongest presence in that market. Tata is aggressive at a time when their financials have been strained. And they are selling into the teeth of these tough economic times.

Tata Motors ranks as the 9th largest firm in India in the Global 5000

IPO’s and the Global Market

The Wall Street Journal today reported that VisaNet in Brazil completed and IPO and raised $4 billion (USD). It was the alrgest IPO of the year. Not on NYSE or London or Hong Kong. Came from Sao Paolo exchange.

This year, the top 3 IPO’s have been from Brazil, China and Qtar.
5 of the top 10 have been from Brazil, China and India.

Just more signs that the world is changing. Business (as well as most parts of life) are global. For marketing and sales folks — must think globally. Broaden your horizon.

China Takes a Global Leap Forward

This past week, Sinopec (China Petroleum & Chemical) NYSE: SNP announced it is acquiring Addax of Switzerland.

It is a significant deal on a number of fronts.

First, Sinopec is the largest listed company in China. It is listed also on NYSE, London and Hong Kong exchanges. And it took this step which is the largest acquisition of a Chinese company outside of the region. Showing China’s coming global reach which will be growing over time.

Secondly for the oil industry at large, a Chinese company stepping into exploration outside the region into the Mideast is big step forward not only onto a more global stage, but further highlights the importance of the region.

It also tells us that demand for energy will continue and Sinopec is taking steps to be the player in Asia for years to come.

Does Geography Matter for Global 5000 ?

In this economic mess, there is a lot of debate about which economy, which country and which industries will lead the way out of the doldrums.

Part of the interest is focused on companies and which ones are truly global and where are the companies located. In a world economy and one that has shrunk with technology and instant, constant information flow …. it matters less and less every day.

Take a company like Chevron (CVX : NYSE). It is headquartered in the US. It is in the top 10 in global revenues. But 2/3 of it’s revenue comes from outside the US. So, when thinking about marketing or selling to companies — it is less about where they say they are located. It is all about where their business comes from and therefore where their needs might be.

Growth in the Fortune 500

Every year when Fortune publishes their list of largest US companies — the Fortune 500 or 1000 — it is always interesting to get a sense of growth in business. Especially these days.

If you wanted to make the F1000 this year, your sales/revenue needed to be $1.729 billion. That honor goes to Career Education. That is 5.6% higher than last year’s #1000 on the list – -Helmerich & Payne. For the previous year, the change was 3.8% for that top spot.

Want to be in the top 500? Last year, that was SCANA at $4.621 billion. This year, it only grew by 0.3%. Legg Mason made it at #500 with revenue of $4.634 billion.

Financial Crisis Numbers Will Be Seen Next Year

All the news all the time is all about the financial crisis. It is interesting to watch the reporting of 2008 revenue data by the large global companies. Many did well in 2008. The financial spiral really started in the last 4 months of the year, so the reporting of ugly results won’t really be seen until 2009 reports are filed.

So far in 2008, we have examind filings for 826 of the Global 5000. Of those 222 (27%) show a decrease in year over year revenue – 73% increased. In 2007, only 15% of this same group showed year over year declines.

The biggest decliners in our sample so far are: (some of these names may sound familiar) AIG, Altria (they spun off part of the company) Merrill Lynch, General Motors, Ford, Goldman Sachs, Zurich Insurance.

On the plus side, the biggest gainers include: Archer Daniels Midland, Wesfarmers, Iberdolay, International Tobacco, CHS, Hewlett-Packard.

Funny how this group is not in the news these days.

Another Restructuring Thought

Most of the news regarding restructuring is about companies restructuring rather than oveall industries that we highlighted in the previous post.

The company restructuring announcements are usually code words for companies shedding jobs or closing product lines or selling business lines — in other words ….. shrinking.

And these are curious things. Makes one wonder if it really took an economic downturn to trigger these evnts. Didn’t they know that the business was struggling and needed a re-think and acton? Those were our questions last week when AT&T became one of the latest to announce they were shedding 12,000 jobs and restructuring some areas. The business was probably never really right-sized after the Cingular acquisition.

It is another signal that the old industry ways — read landline business — needs constant evaluation and action. Get nimble, get moving.

Restructuring the Global 5000 Companies

As we live through the financial market meltdown, the reality of an inter-connected global economy and the coming re-shuffle of the auto industry …. it is clear that the image of big corporations of yesterday are forever changed. We all knew it was coming, some have changed before. But now it is more real.

Looking at the top companies globally, 18 of the top 50 are in Banking and Insurance — we know those are changing and cratering. Six of them are automotive companies and they will restructure or merge or be smaller. And 11 are energy related in Oil and Gas. Will alternative energy become a factor any time soon and affet the structure of those markets.

That’s 35 of the top 50 companies under pressure.

The bottom line here for B2B marketers is that they must develop a stategy to (a) deal with these prime companies shrinking, merging and divesting divisions, etc. You may not have that same revenue stream much longer and (b) start developing plans to go after “the next big thing” and focus on the companies that will participate in that market growth.