Suburban firms make Forbes Global 2000 list

Several suburban-based companies made Forbes magazine's 15th annual Global 2000 list of the biggest, most powerful and most valuable companies in the world.

Deerfield-based Walgreens Boots Alliance ranked the highest among suburban-based firms, at No. 94. Other companies making the list were North Chicago-based AbbVie (143), Northbrook-based Allstate Corporation (200), Deerfield-based Mondlez International (213), Oak Brook-based McDonald's Corp. (215), Libertyville Township-based Abbott Laboratories (242), Riverwoods-based Discover Financial Services (317), Glenview-based Illinois Tool Works (465), and Deerfield-based Baxter International (520).

Chicago-based Boeing Co. was the highest ranked Illinois-based company at No. 73, while Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway was the highest-ranked U.S. company at No. 3. Two China-based financial companies were ranked 1 and 2.

Caterpillar Inc., which recently announced it is moving its headquarters from Peoria to Northbrook, dropped to No. 503 on the list. It was ranked at 155 last year.

The annual list of the top 2,000 companies is based a mix of sales, profits, assets and market value. Forbes uses an equal weighting of all four metrics to rank companies according to size. Each company receives a separate score for each metric. Forbes adds up the scores to compile a composite score. The highest composite score gets the highest rank.

In addition to Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Apple were the U.S. companies on the Top 10 list.

"Forbes' 2017 Global 2000 list faces much pressure amid unsteady geopolitical climates and slowing economies. Yet, in aggregate, these 2,000 companies have managed to come out stronger than last year, with increased sales, profits, assets and market values," said Halah Touryalai, deputy editor of investing at Forbes Media. "Despite slowing GDP figures, China and the U.S., whose companies make up more than 40 percent of the list, continue to dominate the top 10 list with financial giants,

"This list illustrates that in spite of headwinds, the world's dominant companies remain a steady force in an unpredictable and challenging environment," Touryalai added.