8 ms·

Adjusted for inflation, the Dutch East India Company had a peak market capitalisation of $7.9t. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/most-valuable-companies-all-ti

• mistersquid 6y ago
  Thank you for this deconfirming (denying?) example! The Dutch East India Company and, as another commenter mentioned, colonialism give much food for thought.
  • lkbm 6y ago
    "Refuting" works best here. It's mind-boggling to really look at the size and power of colonial trading companies. I've been meaning to re-try reading the Baroque Cycle -- started once, but gave up a ways in.
• zeroonetwothree 6y ago
  Though prices were much less efficient then so this has much larger error bars. Plus our inflation estimates that far back are very rough.
• em500 6y ago
  Only according to fantasy inflation adjustments, see my earlier comment on this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19622046 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19622046
  • sudosysgen 6y ago
    How much do you think just the land that the Dutch East India company owned would be worth? (Hint: multiple trillion dollars)