4 ms·

Farewell oil, hello tech: the world’s 5 most valuable companies in 2006 and 2016

13 points by bootload 10y ago

arcanus 10y ago
Oil is certainly 'high tech'. These firms employ literally thousands of engineers.
- bootload 10y ago
  Is the product hi-tech though? If we use the "Five types of software" as a comparison, I'd rate engineers in oil as #2, internal. [0] [0] http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FiveWorlds.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FiveWorlds.html
wrong_variable 10y ago
Oil never was that valuable. It was propped by a OPEC cartel. If you go back in time and watch any press release from the saudis when asked about the idea of "peak oil" - they always said it was nonsense. It was too easy to earn money just from the oil production capacity in place that they saw no reason to increase it. The reason why the party was over for the OPEC countries was because of a petroleum engineer from texas who didn't even get rich or famous from completely changing the norms in international trade and global geopolitics [1] even spider man cannot pull something like that off. The reduction in oil prices is doing wonders throughout the developing world. India for example had to spend huge amount of tax-payer's money to provide support to poor families. In a single year they saved 50 billion dollars [2] ! It might not seem that much, but a dollar in india can get you much further then a dollar anywhere else ( especially if its taken from saudi pockets ) ( Modi for example needs 100 billion dollars in investment to kickstart a process that he thinks will allow india to reach china's level of capacity in manufacturing ) Open economies is good - and tech was always the king, from the invention of the printing press. Its just investors who were dumb to think that paying for a monopoly is a good idea. http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/08/17/490375230/oil-3-how-fracking-changed-the-world http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/08/17/490375230/oil-3... [1] http://www.news18.com/news/business/global-crude-oil-price-crash-who-gains-the-most-in-india-1186520.html http://www.news18.com/news/business/global-crude-oil-price-c... [2]
qwrusz 10y ago
Going back to 1996 shows Intel, IBM, Softy and G.E. among the largest firms...so hello tech, again? Source: http://etfdb.com/history-of-the-s-and-p-500/#1996 http://etfdb.com/history-of-the-s-and-p-500/#1996 Site appears to have market cap data back to the 1980s. Interesting shifts over the years (Philip Morris even appears "in the pack") I realize the article might be just a WEF staffer fill piece, but it's unfortunate to see the WEF using market cap as the proxy for valuable companies here. This might get downvoted as too pedantic: but oil and tech companies valuations use different accounting methods. Similar to stock and flow issues - they are ~incommensurable. e.g. depletion of oil reserves (regardless of measurement and spot prices) is value realization and is not an apples to apples comparison to tech companies future growth/innovation value creation assumptions.

13 points by bootload 10y ago

arcanus 10y ago

Oil is certainly 'high tech'. These firms employ literally thousands of engineers.

bootload 10y ago
Is the product hi-tech though? If we use the "Five types of software" as a comparison, I'd rate engineers in oil as #2, internal. [0] [0] http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FiveWorlds.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/FiveWorlds.html

wrong_variable 10y ago

Oil never was that valuable. It was propped by a OPEC cartel. If you go back in time and watch any press release from the saudis when asked about the idea of "peak oil" - they always said it was nonsense. It was too easy to earn money just from the oil production capacity in place that they saw no reason to increase it. The reason why the party was over for the OPEC countries was because of a petroleum engineer from texas who didn't even get rich or famous from completely changing the norms in international trade and global geopolitics [1] even spider man cannot pull something like that off. The reduction in oil prices is doing wonders throughout the developing world. India for example had to spend huge amount of tax-payer's money to provide support to poor families. In a single year they saved 50 billion dollars [2] ! It might not seem that much, but a dollar in india can get you much further then a dollar anywhere else ( especially if its taken from saudi pockets ) ( Modi for example needs 100 billion dollars in investment to kickstart a process that he thinks will allow india to reach china's level of capacity in manufacturing ) Open economies is good - and tech was always the king, from the invention of the printing press. Its just investors who were dumb to think that paying for a monopoly is a good idea. http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/08/17/490375230/oil-3-how-fracking-changed-the-world http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/08/17/490375230/oil-3... [1] http://www.news18.com/news/business/global-crude-oil-price-crash-who-gains-the-most-in-india-1186520.html http://www.news18.com/news/business/global-crude-oil-price-c... [2]

qwrusz 10y ago

Going back to 1996 shows Intel, IBM, Softy and G.E. among the largest firms...so hello tech, again? Source: http://etfdb.com/history-of-the-s-and-p-500/#1996 http://etfdb.com/history-of-the-s-and-p-500/#1996 Site appears to have market cap data back to the 1980s. Interesting shifts over the years (Philip Morris even appears "in the pack") I realize the article might be just a WEF staffer fill piece, but it's unfortunate to see the WEF using market cap as the proxy for valuable companies here. This might get downvoted as too pedantic: but oil and tech companies valuations use different accounting methods. Similar to stock and flow issues - they are ~incommensurable. e.g. depletion of oil reserves (regardless of measurement and spot prices) is value realization and is not an apples to apples comparison to tech companies future growth/innovation value creation assumptions.