The stock market has evolved significantly over time, and that's even true over the past decade. While some of the top companies have remained the same, the scale has changed, and the industries in the "megacap" world have consolidated into just one.
For this comparison, I'm only going to look at publicly traded companies that trade on major U.S. stock exchanges. You might be surprised by what has stayed the same and what has changed over the past decade.
The largest U.S. companies in 2014
The stock market looked quite different a decade ago. Tech stocks didn't completely dominate the S&P 500 as they do today, and the idea of a trillion-dollar company seemed outlandish.
With that in mind, here were the five largest publicly traded U.S. companies in 2014:
|
Rank |
Company |
Market Cap ($Billions) |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) |
$469 |
|
2 |
ExxonMobil |
$416 |
|
3 |
Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL)(NASDAQ: GOOG) (then known as Google) |
$409 |
|
4 |
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) |
$318 |
|
5 |
Berkshire Hathaway |
$286 |
Data source: Pwc. As of 3/14/2014.
The largest U.S. companies in 2024
Fast-forward to the present. As of this writing, here are the five largest U.S. publicly traded companies and the market cap of each.
|
Rank |
Company |
Market Cap ($Billions) |
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Apple |
$3,190 |
|
2 |
Microsoft |
$2,961 |
|
3 |
Nvidia |
$2,433 |
|
4 |
Alphabet |
$1,966 |
|
5 |
Amazon |
$1,708 |
Data source: CNBC. Market caps as of 8/8/2024.
The biggest changes
There is some significant overlap between the two lists. Three of the stocks in the top five today were in the top five a decade ago. However, the scale has changed. Although Apple was the largest stock a decade ago, its market cap in 2014 would barely crack a top 20 list today.
In addition, notice just how dominant the technology sector has become. Only three of the top 10 companies in 2014 were in the tech sector, but eight of today's top 10 (and the entire top five) are tech stocks.
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Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Matt Frankel has positions in Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
