Top 5 Tech Companies in the World

This article highlights the top 5 tech companies in the world popularly referred to as the 'Big Tech’. These companies represent some of the most successful technology companies in the world with a collective worth in trillions of dollars. These companies have changed the way things are done in every aspect of life, from the corporate world to health, entertainment, and basic day-to-day activities of people.

In a world where everything can be done on the computer or a mobile phone, tech companies need to keep coming up with gadgets and software to make day-to-day activities better. I will be reviewing five of the biggest tech companies in the world that have made immense contributions to the tech space.

The top 5 tech companies in the world

1. Microsoft

Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. It is the third-highest global tech brand in the world and one of the biggest software producers in the world. An operation that began with two childhood friends and programmers designing a Basic interpreter for the Altair microcomputer, developed into an operating system magnate. Major breakthrough came for the company after yey developed the Microsoft Windows operating system in 1985.

The success of the release and their venture into the  United States Stock exchange market as a publicly traded company made thousands of Microsoft employees millionaires and four people became billionaires. Microsoft has been able to constantly reinvent itself by venturing into different aspects of technology. They have over the years ventured into producing the Xbox, a gaming device. They also own Linkedin, Skype, and Nokia. The company is currently valued at over 1 trillion dollars.

2. Apple

The computer company was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in Jobs' family home. They produced the Apple 1 which they sold as a motherboard. The company became a corporation a year later but without the third founding partner Ronald Wayne, who sold his share in the company for Eight hundred dollars.

Apple produced its first computer The Apple 2 in 1977. The product was masterminded by Steve Wozniak while Jobs handled marketing. Due to disagreements with Apple's Board of directors, Steve Jobs and Wozniak left the company in 1985. This marked the beginning of a steady decline for the company.

Upon the return of Steve Jobs to the company in 1997 as an advisor and later C.E.O, the company began to prosper again. First with the release of the iMac, the iPod, and iTunes store. The company began its sojourn into the production of mobile phones in 2007. The phone was regarded as a game-changer, selling over 200 thousand units hours after its release.

Apple has achieved more successes with the release of the iPad, MacBook, and apple tv. Apple Ceo, Steve jobs died in 2011 and was replaced by Tim Cook. Since then, the company has gone on to dominate the U.S market with its mobile phone tablet series. Apple is currently valued at over two trillion dollars, becoming the first company in the world to cross the trillion-dollar mark in 2018.

3. Facebook

The social media application was founded in 2004 by then Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg and his colleagues in Zuckerberg's room at the school. Originally limited to students of Havard, Facebook became a feature amongst all the universities in the United States. The app became available to the world in 2006 and got its biggest investor, Microsoft a year later. Microsoft bought shares worth 250 million dollars in the company.

Facebook began to include other services such as instant and private messaging, pages for corporations, and ads. By 2010 users on the platform had grown to over 500 million. Facebook has continued to grow consistently over the years, purchasing other social media apps like Instagram, WhatsApp in deals worth billions. As of 2021, the application has over 2 billion users and is worth over 900 billion dollars. A movie was made about the company's creation in 2010 titled "The Social Network".

4. Google

The search engine was created in 1998 by then Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The company started majorly as a search engine and has gone on to create other services and products such as Gmail, Google docs, Google sheets, the acquisition of YouTube, Google Android, and a range of mobile phones called Google Pixel. As of 2021 google is the most visited website in the world and has a market cap of over 1 trillion dollars.

5. Amazon

Amazon is one of the first successful E-commerce pioneers in the world and one of the top 5 tech companies. It was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 as an online store that sells books. Amazon extended its services to music sales, games, toys, whole foods, and cloud computing. The company is the second-largest private employer of labour in the United States and is currently the most valuable company in the world. It has a market cap of over 1.2 trillion dollars.