• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
Tech

The 5 Most Valuable Companies in the World Are Now Tech Firms

By
Mack Gelber
Mack Gelber
and
Monster
Down Arrow Button Icon
September 2, 2016, 10:00 AM ET
Pokemon Go around Paris
PARIS, FRANCE - AUGUST 17: A man plays Nintendo Co.'s Pokemon Go augmented-reality game on August 17, 2016 in Paris, France. His smartphone screen displays his avatar watching a Pokemon near a Pokestop. (Photo by Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)Edward Berthelot — Getty Images

This piece originally appeared on Monster.com.

If you’ve been waiting for cut-and-dried evidence that the tech industry is one of the nation’s healthiest, here it is. For the first time ever, according to Bloomberg data, the five highest-value companies in the world are all in the tech industry. The players are the ones you’d expect—Apple, Google, Microsoft (MSFT) and so on—but it marks a milestone that should be encouraging to investors and job seekers alike.

Apple (AAPL) leads, with a $571B market capitalization, followed by Alphabet (Google) (GOOG) at $540B and Microsoft at $441B. Amazon (AMZN) followed at $364B, and Facebook rounded out the top five at $357B.

Amazon and Facebook (FB) are the big news here. The companies knocked oil giant ExxonMobil (XOM) out of the top five, where it’s held a spot since 1980—even during the early-2000s dot-com bubble. Literally: This has never happened before.

Job seekers should take note. Market cap can serve as a barometer of a potential employer’s health, and while few people will be surprised to hear that the Apples and Googles of the world are hiring at scale (they are), the news speaks to the world-beating ascendance of the tech industry as a whole.

For more on Tech, watch this Fortune video:

Look at Nintendo, for instance. The runaway success of Pokémon Go has doubled the company’s market cap to the equivalent of $42.4B—success that has been marked by an uptick in jobs at Nintendo-licensed distributor The Pokémon Company. Monster data, provided by CEB TalentNeuron, also reveals an upward trend in job postings from Apple and Amazon over the past quarter, with the latter adding over 450 listings.

More from Monster:
• 100 companies making big hires in August
• 5 cool startups that are hiring right now
• 5 “Internet of Things” jobs you can apply for right now

Industry strength is also evident in the tech earnings that have been coming out over the past few weeks, as more and more companies release their quarterly revenues. Craft marketplace Etsy is expected to report around $80M in Q2, while videogame publisher Electronic Arts (EA) beat earnings expectations by over 30%.

Read more from Fortune: Tech Companies Chase the Ultimate Milestone: A Billion Users

Earnings are so good, in fact, that the Wall Street Journal has pointed to the tech sector as one of the few bright spots of an underwhelming quarter, with the highest upward earnings revision of any industry. In terms of beating sales estimates, only health care ranked higher.

About the Authors
By Mack Gelber
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By Monster
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Latest in

arctic
Environmentclimate
‘I opened her door and the wind caught me, and I went flying’: The U.S. Arctic air surge is sweeping northerners off their feet
By Holly Ramer and The Associated PressDecember 30, 2025
12 hours ago
Zuckerberg
AIM&A
Meta claims ‘no continuing Chinese ownership interests in Manus AI’ after reported $2 billion deal to shore up in AI agent race
By The Associated PressDecember 30, 2025
12 hours ago
Kennedy
PoliticsCancer
‘Our beautiful Tatiana passed away this morning. She will always be in our hearts’: Kennedy family mourns yet another tragic death
By Marc Levy, Sarah Brumfield and The Associated PressDecember 30, 2025
12 hours ago
Tatiana
PoliticsObituary
Tatiana Schlossberg, granddaughter of JFK and cousin of Health Secretary RFK Jr., dies of cancer at 35
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 30, 2025
13 hours ago
Gaza
Middle EastIsrael
Doctors Without Borders kicked out of Gaza: Israel suspends dozens of humanitarian organizations over new registration rules
By Melanie Lidman, Sam Mednick and The Associated PressDecember 30, 2025
14 hours ago
buddhist
PoliticsReligion
Buddhist monks peace-walking from Texas to DC persist even after being run over on highway outside Houston
By The Associated PressDecember 30, 2025
14 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Success
Gen Z could wave goodbye to résumés because most companies have turned to skills-based recruitment—and find it more effective, research shows
By Orianna Rosa RoyleDecember 29, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Europe
George Clooney moves to France and sends a strong message about the American Dream
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 30, 2025
16 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Arts & Entertainment
Gen Zers and millennials flock to so-called analog islands 'because so little of their life feels tangible'
By Michael Liedtke and The Associated PressDecember 28, 2025
3 days ago
placeholder alt text
Success
African millennials and Gen Z are quitting their big-city dreams to go make more money back on the farm
By Mark Banchereau and The Associated PressDecember 29, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Law
YouTuber’s viral ‘Somali day care’ video spurs sweeping federal fraud probe in Minnesota as Walz defends oversight of $18 billion
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 30, 2025
20 hours ago
placeholder alt text
C-Suite
Exiting CEO left each employee at his family-owned company a $443,000 gift—but they have to stay 5 more years to get all of it
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 30, 2025
17 hours ago