Chocolate, beer and soda: they’re three of our biggest vices. And they also happen to be the products powering the world’s largest food, beverage and tobacco companies.
According to the FORBES Global 2000 -- our annual and comprehensive list of the world’s most powerful public companies as measured by a composite score of revenue, profit, assets and market value –
Anheuser-Busch InBev moved up one spot to #56 on the Global 2000 and sits in second place within worldwide food and beverage companies. Anheuser is the world’s largest brewer and commands a 25% global market share – and is poised to grow even bigger. The Belgian-based company’s $100 billion-plus acquisition of
Rounding out the top three food and beverage companies in the world is
The biggest gainer in the category was neither food nor beverage-based: it was Reynolds American, the tobacco company behind Camel, Newport and Pall Mall cigarettes. Thanks in no small part to its $25 billion merger with Lorillard last year -- a merger that put Newport, the number-two cigarette brand in the U.S., into Reynolds' hands -- Reynolds jumped an impressive 332 spots to #269 on the 2016 Global 2000. This puts it above the likes of Heineken, General Mills and even Kraft Heinz.
Food, Drink and Tobacco companies account for 77 companies on the Global 2000. To see the top 25, which have an aggregate $784 billion in revenue and $87 billion in profit, click through here:
A note for those expecting to see names like McDonalds, Starbucks and Yum! Brands on this list: it’s not that they didn’t make the Global 2000. They did, but are classified as restaurant companies and fall under a different category.
For more coverage of the FORBES Global 2000 ranking of the world’s largest public companies, see below:
The World's Largest Companies 2016
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