GlobalData’s Company Profiles Database reveals that Microsoft gained the most market value in 2021, rising by $843.5 billion to reach $2.5 trillion, while Alibaba saw the biggest loss, with a drop to $322.9 billion after a loss of around $307 billion in 2021.
Parth Vala, Company Profiles Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “In October 2021, Microsoft surpassed Apple as the world’s most valuable company. It beat revenue expectations in its first fiscal quarter, while Apple fell short of Wall Street’s expectations in its fourth fiscal quarter.”
Other top gainers included Alphabet, NVIDIA, Tesla, and Meta Platforms. These companies collectively gained market value of more than $150 billion.
Semiconductor and chip companies, such as ASML, Taiwan Semiconductor and NVIDIA, also gained significant market value due to the booming demand for semiconductor chips across the globe.
Of the 25 companies that lost the most market value, 14 were from China, as the country’s regulatory crackdown saw technology giants losing billions of dollars.
Vala continues: “Alibaba was the first casualty of China’s crackdown. The government prevented Alibaba’s Ant Group from going public and imposed hefty fines on the company for unfair competitive practices. At the same time, Evergrande Group’s financial woes came as a double whammy for the Chinese stock market.”
Meanwhile, SoftBank Group, which lost around $77.5 billion in market value, was largely affected by losses at its Vision Fund unit. This was due to the value of some of its holdings in companies such as Coupang, Didi Global, WeWork, and KE Holdings, which declined significantly during 2021.
Notable non-Chinese market value losers were Visa, PayPal, Walt Disney, and Zoom Video Communications, which collectively lost more than $40 billion over 2021.
Vala adds: “Visa’s high transaction fees caused Amazon to announce that it would stop accepting Visa credit cards for UK payments, a move that gained traction among smaller retailers that had previously complained about the company’s high transaction fees.
“Meanwhile, lower footfall in its theme parks and cruises caused a drop in Walt Disney’s market value, while Zoom Video Communications was affected by the return to office.”
It is expected that global markets are going to remain volatile considering several factors at play including Russia-Ukraine conflict, high energy prices, inflationary pressure and an increase in interest rates.
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