Most valuable companies 1989–2026: an interactive history

In May 1989, the leading companies in this dataset were NTT ($163.86B), Industrial Bank of Japan ($71.59B), Sumitomo Bank ($69.59B). By Sep 2026, the leaders were NVIDIA ($5.40T), Apple ($4.55T), Alphabet ($4.03T).

1. 1 Sept 1989 — 🚘 Meet Lexus. Toyota launches Lexus in the United States, challenging Mercedes-Benz and BMW with its new luxury cars. Source
2. 29 Dec 1989 — 🫧 Japan’s stock bubble peaks. Japan’s stock bubble peaks. The Nikkei closes at 38,915.87. Source
3. 16 Jan 1991 — 🪖 Tonight, the battle has been joined. US-led forces begin the Gulf War air campaign against Iraq and occupied Kuwait. Oil prices plunge the next day. Source
4. 16 Sept 1992 — 💷 Sterling leaves the ERM. Black Wednesday: Britain withdraws sterling from the European exchange-rate system. Source
5. 24 Aug 1995 — 🖥️ Meet your new desktop. Microsoft launches Windows 95, bringing the Start menu to millions of PCs. Source
6. 2 Jul 1997 — 🌏 A currency crisis begins. Thailand floats the baht. The Asian financial crisis begins. Source
7. 15 Sept 1997 — 🔎 Meet Google Search. Page and Brin register Google.com for their search engine, which ranks pages by links. Source
8. 10 Mar 2000 — 🫧 Peak dot-com fever. The dot-com bubble peaks. A historic tech-stock collapse follows. Source
9. 11 Sept 2001 — 🕯️ A day of terror. Al-Qaeda carries out the September 11 attacks. US stock markets close. Source
10. 19 Aug 2004 — 🔎 Google goes public. Google begins trading on Nasdaq after pricing its IPO at $85 a share. Source
11. 9 Jan 2007 — 📱 revolutionary and magical Apple unveils the iPhone, combining a phone, an iPod and an internet device. Source
12. 15 Sept 2008 — 🏦 Wall Street in crisis. Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy. The global financial crisis deepens. Source
13. 20 Apr 2010 — ⚠️ Disaster in the Gulf. Deepwater Horizon explodes at BP’s Macondo well, triggering a major oil spill. Source
14. 5 Aug 2011 — 📉 AAA no more. The US loses its AAA credit rating. S&P lowers it to AA+. Source
15. 27 Nov 2014 — 🛢️ Oil prices plunge. OPEC refuses to cut production despite oversupply. Oil prices tumble, dragging energy stocks down. Source
16. 31 Mar 2016 — 🚘 Let’s bring them out. Tesla unveils the Model 3, promising an electric car starting at $35,000. Source
17. 24 Jun 2016 — 🇬🇧 their will must be respected Britain votes to leave the EU. Sterling and global stocks tumble as results emerge. Source
18. 6 Jul 2018 — ⚖️ Tariffs meet retaliation. US and Chinese tariffs take effect, escalating the trade war. Source
19. 11 Dec 2019 — 🛢️ Aramco joins the market. Saudi Aramco begins trading on the Saudi stock exchange. Source
20. 11 Mar 2020 — 🦠 We’re in this together The World Health Organization (WHO) characterizes COVID-19 as a pandemic. Source
21. 24 Feb 2022 — 🪖 Russia invades Ukraine Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, disrupting global energy markets. Source
22. 16 Mar 2022 — 📊 restore price stability The Fed begins raising interest rates to fight high inflation. Source
23. 30 Nov 2022 — 🤖 Meet ChatGPT. OpenAI releases ChatGPT to the public as a research preview. Source
24. 24 May 2023 — 💻 surging demand NVIDIA forecasts $11 billion in quarterly revenue as AI demand surges. Source
25. 27 Jan 2025 — 🧠 A new AI challenger. DeepSeek sparks an AI-stock selloff. NVIDIA loses $593 billion in market value. Source
26. 2 Apr 2025 — 🇺🇸 this is Liberation Day Trump announces sweeping new tariffs on US imports. Source
27. 12 Jun 2026 — 🚀 take you to the Moon … and ultimately beyond SpaceX begins trading on Nasdaq as SPCX after pricing its IPO at $135 and opening at $150. Source