Samsung Electronics ranks 14th in Forbes Global 2000

Samsung Electronics Co. ranked 14th in this year's Forbes Global 2000, up one notch from last year.

Samsung was the only Korean company to make the top 100 list. Other Korean companies that made the Global 2000 included Hyundai Motor Co., which placed 147th, and SK hynix which ranked 200th. They were followed by KB Financial, POSCO, Shinhan Financial, SK Innovation Co, Hana Financial, KEPCO, Samsung Life Insurance, LG Electronics and Hyundai Mobis.

Among global ICT companies, Samsung was second only to Apple Inc., which placed eighth. It was ahead of such giants as Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp. and Facebook.

Samsung stood at 11th place in terms of sales, fourth in profits, 114th in assets and 12th in market value this year.

Of the top 10 companies in this year’s list, seven are banks and just one company, Apple, is a non-financial institution. Of the seven banks, four are from China, including the top-seeded Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank (2), Agricultural Bank of China (5) and Bank of China (9).

The remaining three banks are from the US, including JPMorgan Chase (3), Bank of America (6) and Wells Fargo (7).

The other two firms in the top 10 list are Berkshire Hathaway (4) and Ping An Insurance Group (10), which are both non-bank financial institutions.

Forbes attributes the dominance of banks in the top 10 list to “the relentless growth of financial services in emerging and developed markets” in an era marked by technological change and industry disruption.