Anyone ever heard of a successful Greek multinational company? Indeed!
There you have the reason why the Greeks have a real problem with their $US450 billion debt and the Americans won’t have any trouble servicing its $US14.3 trillion debt.
Below is a list of the 38 companies, which, on Friday night on various stock exchanges around the world, were valued at more than $US100 billion. All numbers are in US dollars.
1. 1. Exxon-Mobil: the Texas-based oil giant has a market capitalisation of $393 billion after revealing $30.5 billion annual profit in 2010 on revenue of $383 billion. Have bought back a world record $175 billion worth of shares over the past decade.
2. Apple: market capitalisation of $362 billion and has $70 billion in cash but never paid a dividend. Revenue in 2009-10 was $65 billion and net profit $14 billion.
3. Microsoft: market capitalisation of $229 billion and holds $41 billion of cash. In 2010 delivered a profit of $18.76 billion on revenue of $62.5 billion.
4. BHP-Billiton market capitalisation of $226 billion. $10.5 billion net profit for December 2010 half on revenue of $34 billion. Returned $29 billion through dividends and buy backs over past five years.
5. Nestle: Europe’s largest food company has a market capitalisation of $220 billion and partly explains the amazing success of the Swiss economy.
6. IBM: the original US computer company has a market capitalisation of $217 billion.
7. Petrobras: the partially state-owned Brazilian energy giant has a market capitalisation of $209 billion.
8. Chevron: another US oil giant with a market capitalisation of $209 billion. 2008 was its record year with annual profit of $24 billion on revenue of $264 billion.
9. China Construction Bank Corp: only a limited free float given dominant government shareholding but based on Hong Kong listing has a nominal market capitalisation of $200.7 billion.
10. China Mobile: only a limited free float given dominant government shareholding but based on Hong Kong listing has a nominal market capitalisation of $199.7 billion.
11. General Electric: the original US conglomerate, which still has a market capitalisation of $198 billion and in 2010 delivered annual profit of $12.6 billion on revenue of $150 billion.
12. Google: market capitalisation of $195 billion and holds $40 billion in cash because doesn’t pay dividends or do buybacks. In 2010, revenues hit $29 billion and generated net profit of $8.5 billion.
13. Berkshire Hathaway: Warren Buffett’s investment vehicle has a market capitalisation of $183 billion and has almost $50 billion in cash but never paid a dividend. Annual revenue of about $60 billion and net profits average about $4 billion.
14. Walmart: the biggest US retailer has a market capitalisation of $183 billion with sales of more than $400 billion annual earnings of about $15 billion.
15. Johnson & Johnson: US healthcare products giant with a market capitalisation of $178 billion.
16. AT&T: the most valuable US telco with a market capitalisation of $173 billion.
17. Gazprom: the state-controlled Russian energy giant has a market capitalisation of $172 billion.
18. Proctor & Gamble: US fast-moving consumer goods giant has a market capitalisation of $172 billion
19. Novartis: Swiss-based pharmaceutical company with market capitalisation of $168 billion.
20. Vale: the Brazilian iron ore giant has a market capitalisation of $168 billion.
21. Royal Dutch Shell: Europe’s biggest energy company has a market capitalisation of $160 billion.
22. Roche: Swiss-based pharmaceutical giant with market capitalisation of $157 billion.
23. Wells Fargo: the most valuable US bank has a market capitalisation of $148 billion.
24. Oracle: US software giant with market capitalisation of $154 billion.
25. Pfizer: New York-based pharmaceutical giant with a market capitalisation of $152 billion and generates about $50 billion a year in revenue and annual profits of $8 billion.
26. Rio Tinto: London-based mining giant with a market capitalisation of $144 billion. The majority of this value comes from Australian resources.
27. BP: the London-based oil giant has a market capitalisation of $143 billion.
28. Vodafone: London-based mobiles giant with a market capitalisation of $141 billion.
29. Toyota: Japan’s most valuable company and the world’s biggest car maker. Has a market capitalisation of $141 billion.
30. Siemens: the German giant has a market capitalisation of $111 billion.
31. Citi: recovering US banking giant now has a market capitalisation of $110 billion.
32. JP Morgan: Wall Street banking giant has a market capitalisation of $107 billion
33. HSBC: British-controlled but Hong Kong-based banking giant with a market capitalisation of $106 billion.
34. Hewlett Packard: US computer and IT giant has a market capitalisation of $105 billion.
35. Merck: US pharmaceutical giant with market capitalisation of $105 billion.
36. Cisco Systems: US IT company with a market capitalisation of $103 billion.
37. Conoco-Phillips: another US oil giant with a market capitalisation of $101 billion
38. Amazon: another US technology success story. The world’s biggest online retailer has a market capitalisation of $101 billion.
These numbers don’t lie. With 22 of the 38 companies valued at more than $100 billion, the US has ample corporate firepower to draw on when it comes to servicing government debt.
*Crikey founder Stephen Mayne will be appearing on Q&A tonight, with Christine Nixon, Tanya Plibersek, Peter Dutton, Heather Ridout and Brendan O’Neil.
This list spectacularly misses the point. It’s based on the false assumption that governments still wield the power to tax global corporations. Why do you think corporate tax rates keep falling? Because governments have no choice. Profit can be realised (in an accounting sense) anywhere in the world, i.e. where tax rates are the lowest. Microsoft managed to reduce their tax rate to just 7% in their recent results by realising their profit in corporate tax havens such as Puerto Rico, Singapore and Switzerland. Thanks to gaps in global governance, multinational corporations and rich private citizens are now largely beyond the reach of any national tax system. This is why the middle class will get more and more squeezed because they are the only ones left to pay.
Make no mistake, the US is just as insolvent as Greece (just google “USA Inc” by Mary Meeker) with one fundamental difference: they didn’t borrow money in a currency they can’t print.
Sorry Stephen but as an old simpleton please elaborate how corporate wealth helps service Govt debt.