The number of Global 500 company headquarters for each city is one of six key components determining each city’s overall economic clout score. The Cities of Opportunities 7 identifies the number of Global 500 firms by city.
Fortune is well-known for its benchmarking reports that rank the world’s largest 500 corporations by total revenues. During 2015, those Global 500 companies generated US$27.6 trillion in revenues and $1.5 trillion in profits while employing 67 million people worldwide spanning 33 countries.
Capital Cities with the Most Global 500 Companies Listed
Below, we present 16 nation capitals extracted from PwC’s Cities of Opportunities 7 study. They are sorted based on the number of Global 500 companies that have their headquarters in each city according to Fortune’s listing. Where there is a tie for the number of Global 500 firms, cities are presented in ascending alphabetical order.
Led by Beijing, six of these capital cities are located in Asia. Seven are European national capitals.
- Beijing, China: 30 Global 500 company headquarters
- London, United Kingdom: 28
- Paris, France: 28
- Seoul, South Korea: 25
- Moscow, Russia: 23
- Madrid, Spain: 21
- Amsterdam, Netherlands: 17
- Mexico City, Mexico: 17
- Jakarta, Indonesia: 13
- Singapore: 13
- Stockholm, Sweden: 13
- Berlin, Germany: 8
- Bogota, Colombia: 8
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: 8
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates: 4
- Tokyo, Japan: 4
The only North American country capital ranked is Mexico City. However, four American cities that are not national capitals (New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles) as well as the Canadian city Toronto do appear on PwC’s full listing of international cities ranked for economic clout.
Largest Companies Headquartered in a Capital City
The list below provides examples of a Global 500 company for each capital city in PwC’s Cities of Opportunities 7 analysis sorted by capitals with the greatest number of . Company names follow the colon after the capital city’s name while the industry to the company belongs appears within brackets. Also shown is an estimated number of employees.
- Beijing: State Grid (energy utility) 927,839 employees
- London: BP (petroleum refiner) 79,800 employees
- Paris: AXA (financial institutions) 98,279 employees
- Seoul: Hyundai Motor (vehicles, auto parts) 129,315 employees
- Moscow: Gazprom (energy conglomerate) 462,400 employees
- Madrid: Telefónica (telecommunications) 129,890 employees
- Amsterdam: ING Group (financial institutions) 57,553 employees
- Mexico City: Pemex (mining, crude oil producer) 130,447 employees
- Jakarta: Pertamina (energy conglomerate) 27,971 employees
- Singapore: Trafigura Group (wholesale traders) 5,248 employees
- Stockholm: H & M Hennes & Mauritz (specialty retailers) 104,634 employees
- Berlin: Deutsche Bahn (railroads) 297,202 employees
- Bogota: Ecopetrol (petroleum products) 9,315 employees
- Kuala Lumpur: Petronas (petroleum refiner) 53,149 employees
- Dubai: Emirates Group (airlines conglomerate) 61,205 employees
- Tokyo: Honda Motor (vehicles, auto parts) 208,399 employees
Seven of these world-leading Global 500 companies with its headquarters in a capital city are in energy-related fields, mainly petroleum. Two other conglomerates are from the automotive industry with two other transportation titans representing railroads and airliners.
A pair of gargantuan financial institutions, AXA (Paris) and ING Group (Amsterdam), have their respective home offices in European country capitals.
Research Sources:
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) Cities of Opportunities 7. Accessed on March 13, 2017
Central Intelligence Agency, World Factbook, Field Listing: Major Urban Areas (with capital cities specified). Accessed on March 13, 2017
Fortune Global 500 Ranking. Accessed on March 13, 2017
Wikipedia, Fortune Global 500. Accessed on March 13, 2017
