Month: July 2018

Market Cap: $200.9 Billion

Industry: Telecommunications services

Founded: 2000

Chief Executive Officer: Lowell McAdam

Employees: 155,400

Sales: $127.99 billion

Headquartered: New York, NY

 

Summary: Verizon Communications is a popular and well-known holding company which engages in the provision of broadband and communication services. The company provides wireless and wireline services. The wireless portion provides wireless communications services and products on both a post- and prepaid basis. This is provided to consumer, business, and government customers. Conversely, the wireless segment offers broadband video and data, corporate networking solutions, data and cloud services, security and managed network services, and both local and long-distance voice services.

 

Why you should care: Verizon currently ranks as the 18^th largest country in the world. It is number seven in profit and thirty-one in market value. These numbers are incredible impressive for a company less than twenty years old. Verizon Communications is also leading the charge toward 5G communication services, which they plan to roll out in late 2018. With a safe dividend and a stable emphasis on technology, Verizon is an excellent buy for investors seeking long-term gains.

 

Market Cap: $344.1 Billion

Industry: Oil and Gas Operations

Founded: 1859

Chief Executive Officer: Darren Woods

Employees: 71.,200

Sales: $230.06 Billion

Headquarters: Irving, Texas

 

Summary: Exxon Mobil engages in and facilitates the exploration, development, and distribution of oil, gas, and petroleum products, operating through upstream, downstream, and chemical channels. Their upstream segment produces crude oil and natural gas, whereas their downstream segment manufacturers and trades petroleum products. The chemical segment offers and distributes petrochemicals. Founded by John D. Rockefeller in 1882, ExxonMobile is one of the most successful oil development and distribution companies of all time. The company is currently the thirteenth-largest in the world, number ten in sales, number sixteen in profit, and number ten in market value.

 

Why you should care: According to Bloomberg, an emerging shale oil producer is beginning to court ExxonMobil to invest in Algerian shale reserves. The producer, headed by a man named Ould Kaddour, encouraged companies to “come explore” while at the World Gas Conference in Washington. ExxonMobil’s participation in this venture could lead to massive changes in the shale oil market, as Algeria is a relatively “untapped” country. To that end, a federal judge in California recently dismissed a climate change lawsuit brought by San Francisco and Oakland against ExxonMobil. The company continues to drill worldwide and is understood to be one of the biggest contributors to global climate change.

 

Market Cap: $387.7 Billion

Industry: Banking

Founded: 1968

Chief Executive Officer: Jamie Dimon

Employees: 252,539

Sales: $118.18 Billion

Headquarters: New York, NY

 

Summary: JPMorgan Chase & Co. is a well-known financial holding company. It provides financial and investment banking services to people worldwide, offering a range of investment banking products in all major capital markets. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Advises on corporate strategy and structure, works on capital-raising in equity and debt markets, assesses sophistical risk management, partakes in market-making in cash securities and derivative instrument, and provides prime brokerage and research. The company operates through consumer and community banking, corporate and investment banking, commercial banking, and asset management. They are perhaps best-known for their mortgage banking, which includes mortgage origination and servicing activities and portfolios for residential mortgages and home equity loans.

 

Why you should care: JPMorgan Chase & Co. ranks as the third-largest company in the world. They are currently number ten in profit and number eight in assets. Consumers should care about this company because their activities in the early 2000s facilitated the 2008 financial crash. Then, in February of 2012, US Attorney General Eric Holder announced the National Mortgage Settlement, which fined JPMorgan Chase (and four other megabanks) a total of $25 billion. Allegedly, JPMorgan met part of its settlement burden by forgiving loans it no longer owned.