Texas wants to launch their own stock market to clamp down on what they see as “woke” policies. While Texas can brag they stole Tesla from California and is now its most valuable firm,Texas can also point to big oil companies Exxon-Mobil, Phillips 66, and Valero Energy as three of their five top companies; they also have AT&T and McKesson in their top five by value as Tesla is not in the latest ranking.Texas number one company as of ealy 2024 is Exxon Mobile at $484 billion in revenue.
But it is hard to argue with California and specifically the Bay Area as the world leader in the number of high value companies headquartered here and several with market caps in the trillions of dollars – not billions, mostly in technology.
Forty one of the top 50 most valuable companies in California are headquartered in the Bay Area as of May 2024 and amazingly, 80 of the top 100 companies in the state have their corporate offices in the greater SF area showing the breadth of the area’s dominance.
Led by Nvidia,Apple and Alphabet (Google) these companies are also number 2,3 and 4 in the United States with Microsoft, based in Minnesota, listed as number one.
Meta (Facebook) is in the top 10, based in Palo Alto.Other top 10 companies are also from the West Coast based in Seattle including Microsoft,Amazon and Costco. Besides computer companies – California sports top financial firms Visa and Wells Fargo – both based in San Francisco.
Nationwide 4 of the top 10 companies in the US are based in the Bay Area. Another ranking adds Broadcom also hailing from the Bay Area.
As of June 2024 S- based Chevron has a market cap of $285.43 Billion ,the world’s 33th most valuable company by market cap.
Fortune report
Just this month, Fortune magazine announced that California was home to 57 of the nation’s 500 largest companies. A higher number than every other state in the country.
The news is getting the attention of Governor Gavin Newsom, who took to X to brag about the state’s lead over rivals Texas and Florida.
Of the 57 companies statewide, 44 of them are based here in the Bay Area – with the vast majority of them being tech-related.
The Chronicle wrote a story.
Experts say the Bay Area’s economic ecosystem is unique with everything from high levels of investment, innovation and a highly qualified workforce.”
“There was another release that San Franciscans have the highest level of educated employees in the country. And that’s another piece where academia is so important,” said Rodney Fong, of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.
One of the biggest contributors to California’s performance this year was the growth of artificial intelligence companies.
Nearly all of the big players in AI are based here in the Bay Area, and with the technology still in its infancy, many believe the explosion of growth is just beginning.
“There is a lot of fuel to burn here so we can go to the maturity level of AI. And if AI technology one day became mainstream, then there’s another technology that would show up here in Silicon Valley and start the cycle again,” said Ahmed Banafa. professor at San Jose State University.
There is still some bad news for San Francisco’s economic recovery. A huge office complex in the city is reportedly losing another major tenant.
He says despite the tough times both the Bay Area and California went through following the pandemic, he’s optimistic about the state long term.
“California goes through cycles. It might go down a little bit for a few years but it goes back to the top immediately,” said Banafa.
After California, New York and Texas tied for second place, with 52 companies each.
As you can read from this chart on the top 25 companies in California by market cap, 22 of them are based in the Bay Area.
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