In the past year, tariffs, AI, and changing consumer sentiments have made once-dominant companies reshuffle their growth strategies. New giants emerged amid this shift.
Nvidia, which this summer became the first public company to hit $4 trillion in market value, tops TIME and Statista’s 2025 statistical ranking of the World’s Best Companies. The ranking measures employee satisfaction, revenue growth, and sustainability transparency. Nvidia rose through the ranks on a wave of growing AI demand and a well-performing gaming division.
Methodology: How TIME and Statista Determined the World’s Best Companies of 2025
Many companies ranked high on the list have benefitted from that enthusiasm for AI. Microsoft, ranked second on this list and right behind Nvidia in market value, also saw surges in revenue throughout 2024 driven by AI and cloud computing. Apple—which topped the World’s Best Companies list in 2024—is notably absent this year due to a decline in revenue from 2022 to 2024, which many Wall Street analysts have postulated could be due to the company falling behind on AI. But tides may be turning as the behemoth figures out its footing in the new tech landscape; CEO Tim Cook said on a third quarter earnings call that the company is significantly growing investments in AI, embedding it across devices and platforms. In July, after the study period for this list, Apple reported a 10% year-over-year revenue growth—the biggest bump since 2021.
Nike (no. 14) is the highest ranked Apparel, Footwear & Sporting Goods company, surpassing luxury giant LVMH (no. 21) and athleisure queen Lululemon (no. 36). The company faced a few rocky years due to competition from breakout brands like On and Hoka, and last year brought in a new CEO, Elliott Hill, to invest “heavily in big sport moments and key product launches to win back our brand voice,” Hill said in an earnings call in June. In summer, game day looks for tennis champions Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner bumped sales.
Drugmaker Novo Nordisk (no. 15) is also innovating to stay ahead. Building on the popularity of its game-changing diabetes and weightloss treatments Ozempic and Wegovy, the company is now launching an oral semaglutide to retain its lead against rivals like Eli Lilly. “When we think about the obesity market in the U.S., everyone knows we’re in a competitive environment,” David Moore, EVP of US operations at Novo Nordisk, said in an earnings call in August. “We’re still growing. The market’s growing.”
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