The US now accounts for 20 of the world’s 25 most valuable companies — Europe only has one

 

The US now accounts for 20 of the world’s 25 most valuable companies — Europe only has one

The global corporate leaderboard is increasingly dominated by US firms, so much so that 80% of the world’s largest 25 companies are based in America. Conversely, Europe has just one single entrant squeaking onto the list — Dutch chip-equipment maker ASML, which lands at No. 25, according to data from CompaniesMarketCap.com. Zooming out, the world's top 100 list also skews heavily towards North America: 58 US companies, and two from Canada, make up $40.1 trillion in market value, far more than the rest of the regions combined.

The main driver behind that dominance is the US-centric AI boom, with Big Tech’s eight biggest leaders, or the BATMMAAN stocks, now collectively worth a staggering $22.5 trillion. Europe, by contrast, lacks comparable hyperscalers or chip designers to ride that AI wave. Its corporate heavyweights instead lean into luxury retail (LVMH, Hermès), industrials (Siemens, Shell), and pharmaceuticals (Roche, AstraZeneca) — slower-growth sectors compared to tech. And Novo Nordisk is the latest name to add to the continent’s woes: once Europe's crown jewel, the pharma giant has erased more than 60% of its market value since its peak last year, as the Ozempic maker faces rising competition. The transatlantic chasm has only widened over the past decade. According to PwC, the combined market value of US companies among the top 100 was 2.6x Europe's in March 2015, 4.5x in March 2020, and 7.6x in March 2025. At the time of writing, that gap has now grown to almost 9x. Of course, valuations don't tell the full story, as they reflect expectations as much as, if not more than, earnings. In fact, the S&P 500 has never been this expensive, trading at ~23x forward earnings, near dot-com era highs, while Europe's STOXX 600 trades at roughly 15x.