Most valuable companies in history, adjusted for inflation

9. Exxon-Mobil in 2007
Value then: $513.3 billion // Adjusted to 2012 dollars: U.S. $572.9 billion

HOW IT GOT SO BIG: Exxon-Mobil is the energy industry’s poster child for growth by acquisition. The most outsized product of a decades-long energy industry consolidation trend, the 1999 merger closed a loop first opened in 1911 with the government-imposed breakup of Standard Oil. The two companies that resulted, Jersey Standard and Socony, ultimately evolved into Exxon and Mobil. The combined organization topped the charts thanks to broad reserves, consistent production growth, and the runup in global energy indices.

WHAT’S HAPPENED SINCE: Its star has faded somewhat as oil prices have subsided from historic highs. But it hasn’t mis-stepped so much as remained vulnerable to volatile commodity pricing.

VALUE TODAY: $421 billion (#2 on current NASDAQ rankings)

Image: Business Insider

9. Exxon-Mobil in 2007
Value then: $513.3 billion // Adjusted to 2012 dollars: U.S. $572.9 billion

HOW IT GOT SO BIG: Exxon-Mobil is the energy industry’s poster child for growth by acquisition. The most outsized product of a decades-long energy industry consolidation trend, the 1999 merger closed a loop first opened in 1911 with the government-imposed breakup of Standard Oil. The two companies that resulted, Jersey Standard and Socony, ultimately evolved into Exxon and Mobil. The combined organization topped the charts thanks to broad reserves, consistent production growth, and the runup in global energy indices.

WHAT’S HAPPENED SINCE: Its star has faded somewhat as oil prices have subsided from historic highs. But it hasn’t mis-stepped so much as remained vulnerable to volatile commodity pricing.

VALUE TODAY: $421 billion (#2 on current NASDAQ rankings)

Image: Wikimedia Commons

8. Apple in August 2012
Value then: $661.6 billion // Adjusted to 2012 dollars: U.S. $661.6 billion

HOW IT GOT SO BIG: After a near-death experience in the mid-1990s thanks to aimless products, incompatible platforms and a price structure that appealed only to dedicated Macphiles, Apple bounced back with the return of co-founder Steve Jobs. He slashed and simplified the product portfolio, introduced a style-forward design ethic and drove the company’s reinvention of the media player, smartphone and tablet markets.

WHAT’S HAPPENED SINCE: Job’s retirement and subsequent passing in 2011 prompted widespread questioning of the company’s long-term trajectory. Subsequent updates to Apple’s core iPhone and iPad devices – and the introduction of a new iPad mini – have fuelled sales and driven continued revenue growth. But longer-term doubts remain as the company continues to evolve existing product lines instead of introducing revolutionary new ones. Amid growing dissension in the executive ranks, the company’s stock has sunk 15% since September.

VALUE TODAY: $560 billion (#1 on current NASDAQ rankings)

Image: Yahoo Finance

7. Microsoft in 1999
Value then: $620.6 billion // Adjusted to 2012 dollars: U.S. $851 billion

HOW IT GOT SO BIG: Instead of selling its DOS operating system outright to IBM when it released its original Personal Computer in 1981, Microsoft struck a licensing deal with the computing giant. As PC and clone sales took off, Microsoft earned revenue for every machine sold, and its growth exploded atop the ensuing revenue stream. The process continued as the market transitioned to Windows a decade later.

WHAT HAPPENED: The world changed – mobile devices slowly took over from PCs as industry growth drivers – and Microsoft didn’t adapt as quickly as it could have. As a result, the company’s value has languished for much of the last decade as PC growth flattened out. The company has struggled to carve out a presence in smartphones and tablets, and now looks to Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 to plot a path toward a post-PC future.

VALUE TODAY: $273.5 billion ( #42 on the Forbes Global 2000 list)

Image: Wikimedia Commons

6. PetroChina in 2007
Value then: $1 trillion // Adjusted to 2012 dollars: U.S. $1.12 trillion

HOW IT GOT SO BIG: Founded in 1999 as China’s largest oil producer, the state-owned organization went public on the Shanghai stock exchange in 2007. First-day valuations, fuelled by investor speculation over accelerating growth in reserves and unchecked production capacity, turned PetroChina into the world’s first trillion-dollar company. Share values quickly retreated to more realistic and sustainable levels.

WHAT’S HAPPENED SINCE: The company continues to ink global deals, including partnerships with Exxon-Mobil and Encana, and in 2009 opened China’s largest refinery to further support Asian market growth.

VALUE TODAY: $294.7 billion ( #7 on the Forbes Global 2000 list)

Image: Business Insider

5. IBM in 1967
Value then: $193 billion // Adjusted to 2012 dollars: U.S. $1.3 trillion

HOW IT GOT SO BIG: The company’s early focus on research and development allowed it to bring new technologies to market before its competitors. An extensive and standards-setting sales force helped IBM build deep and lasting relationships with business and government. It developed SABRE, the first successful airline reservation system, for American Airlines, and partnered with NASA to deliver leading-edge computing power to the Mercury, Gemini, Saturn and Space Shuttle programs. This deep level of trust made IBM the gold standard for enterprises looking for both hardware and services support.

WHAT HAPPENED: IBM didn’t invent the personal computer, but it lit the fire under the PC revolution with the first mass market, relatively affordable machine. After spinning off its Lexmark printer unit in 1991, IBM sold the PC business to China’s Lenovo in 2005 amid intensifying commoditization and competition. It purchased PwC in 20012 and is now the world’s dominant technology services company.

VALUE TODAY: $238.7 billion ( #32 on the Forbes Global 2000 list)

Image: Wikimedia Commons

4. Saudi Aramco in 2012
Value today: U.S. $3.6 trillion. Adjusted to 2012 dollars: U.S. $3.6 trillion.

HOW IT GOT SO BIG: The company’s growth was largely due to it sitting on top of the world’s largest oil reserves, and controlling access to them as they were initially developed. It began operations in Saudi Arabia in 1933 after the Saudi government granted Standard Oil permission to start drilling. The state gradually bought out its in-country assets until achieving 100% ownership by 1980. Saudi Aramco now tops virtually all world’s-largest lists all thanks to its globe-leading reserves of 260 billion barrels and 7.9 billion barrel annual production rate. At recent baselines of $90/barrel, it’s sitting on a $23.4 trillion in potential revenue that makes University of Texas finance professor Sheridan Titman’s $3.6 trillion valuation seem relatively conservative.

WHAT’S HAPPENED SINCE: The company continues to aggressively invest in driving up production capacity.



Image: Business Insider

3. The South Sea Company in 1720
Value then: 200 million British Pounds // Adjusted to 2012 dollars: U.S. $4 trillion

HOW IT GOT SO BIG: The South Sea Company’s history largely aligned with that of the Mississippi Company. It, too, saw hyperinflation of its share price on misplaced speculation over future business growth. But there was a difference: the British government was pulling the strings instead of the French, and company’s monopoly extended over Spanish-controlled South America and not French colonies further north. And it was able to fall back on its legitimate underlying trade business after the house of cards collapsed.

WHAT HAPPENED: Share value crashed in 1720 as investors realized that returns would never match the superheated expectations. The South Sea Company evolved away from trading, focusing on government debt management until it was dissolved in the mid-19th century.

VALUE TODAY: nil

Image: Wikimedia Commons

3. The South Sea Company in 1720
Value then: 200 million British Pounds // Adjusted to 2012 dollars: U.S. $4 trillion

HOW IT GOT SO BIG: The South Sea Company’s history largely aligned with that of the Mississippi Company. It, too, saw hyperinflation of its share price on misplaced speculation over future business growth. But there was a difference: the British government was pulling the strings instead of the French, and company’s monopoly extended over Spanish-controlled South America and not French colonies further north. And it was able to fall back on its legitimate underlying trade business after the house of cards collapsed.

WHAT HAPPENED: Share value crashed in 1720 as investors realized that returns would never match the superheated expectations. The South Sea Company evolved away from trading, focusing on government debt management until it was dissolved in the mid-19th century.

VALUE TODAY: nil

Image: Wikimedia Commons

2. The Mississippi Company in 1720
Value then: 300 million British Pounds // Adjusted to 2012 dollars: U.S. $6 trillion

HOW IT GOT SO BIG: The Mississippi Company was founded in 1684 to facilitate trade with the then-New World. By 1717, it was foundering, and was bought up by John Law, controller of the French National Bank, who renamed it the Compagnie d’Occident and refocused it on monopolizing trade with emerging French colonies in Louisiana and North America. Rampant land value speculation drove its stock up twentyfold.

WHAT HAPPENED: What goes up must come down. When the real estate bubble burst, in 1720, the Mississippi Company collapsed. The company declared bankruptcy after the French government declared its shares worthless.

VALUE TODAY: nil

Image: Wikimedia Commons

1. The Dutch East India Company in 1637
Value then: 78 million Dutch Guilders // Adjusted to 2012 dollars: $7.4 trillion

HOW IT GOT SO BIG: Founded in 1602, the world’s first publicly traded company on the world’s first stock exchange started off as a spice trader. Its competitive edge: The largest fleet shipping goods between Europe and Asia. In the 17th century, it grew tremendously thanks to rampant speculation on the value of tulip bulbs. The so-called tulipmania craze foreshadowed the Internet dot.com bubble, and, like its modern equivalent, it eventually burst. But not before making the company the most valuable in world history.

WHAT HAPPENED: When tulipmania crashed in 1637, the company went back to its spice trading roots. It ceased operations in 1800.

VALUE TODAY: nil

Image: Wikimedia Commons