Thread by @Jarushub

Top 10 Most Profitable Companies in the World

Sector, Country, Revenue, PBT, and Gross Margin in bracket

1. Apple (American, Tech, $274b, $58b, 21%)
2. Microsoft (American, Tech, $143b, $44b, 31%)
3. Industrial & Commercial Bank (Chinese, Banking, $122b, $42b, 34%)

4. China Construction Bank (Chinese, Banking, $104b, $36b, 35%)
5. Google (American, Tech, $166b, $32b, 19%)
6. Agric Bank of China (Chinese, Banking, $92b, $28b, 30%)
7. JP Morgan (American, Banking, $119b, $25b, 21%)
8. Alibaba Group (Chinese, Tech, $80b, $25b, 31%)

9. Bank of China (Chinese, Banking, $79b, $25b, 32%)
10. Intel Corp. (American, Tech, $79b, $24b, 30%)

Source of data is Investopedia and the data straddles 12 months Sept 2019-Aug 2020.

Comments
1. As usual with such lists, it's a competition btw the 2 world largest economies - America & China - each having 5 reps on the list

2. Also a competition btw Tech & Banking, with each having 5 reps. America has 4 Tech and 1 Investment Bank, Chinese, 4 banks and 1 Tech

3. No oil company on the list. However, Saudi Aramco could have made the list, possibly topping it, but 2020 was its 1st year as a public company and its data not fully public at the beginning of the period covered. Exxon (American) made loss, while Shell (Dutch/British) made $5b

4. Chinese governments have interests in all the 4 China banks that made the list.

5. Despite topping in absolute net income criterion used to rank, Apple ranks joint 8th in gross profit margin. In other words, Apple (and Google) spent a lot of money to make their profits

6. Notice all the Chinese companies on the list had gross margin > 30%? In fact, it was ranked by Gross Margin, these Chinese companies would take 5 of the Top 6 positions.

In other words, these Chinese firms spend $70 to make $100, while the American

counterparts (except Microsoft and Intel) spend $80 to make $100

Does this seeming cost efficiency of Chinese have anything to do with cheap labour and material?

Does Apple's relatively low 21% margin have anything to do with the superior technology it deploys and the niche?

You were blaming Nigerian banks few days ago for the "devilish" margin that was as high as 50% in some of them, the banks here (except JPM) also all have margin above 30%, could it simply be a matter of global sector rather than "evil" of Nigerian banks?

Why is JP Morgan margin so low, compared to the Chinese commercial and development banks? American labour and material cost culture?

Any other deduction I have missed?

Over to you