How CloudKings calculates market capitalization

Market capitalization is the value the stock market places on a company's equity: the share price multiplied by the number of shares. CloudKings uses total equity market capitalization, not the free-float measure some index providers use, because we are comparing the overall size of companies rather than how many shares are available to trade. For large, global companies, getting the calculation right means handling five complications.

1. Companies can have several classes of shares

Alphabet has three. At 15 July 2026 its quarterly report listed about 5,868 million Class A shares (traded as GOOGL), 835 million Class B shares, which are not listed, and 5,527 million Class C shares (traded as GOOG). We add the value of every class. Because Class B shares convert one-for-one into Class A shares, we value them at the Class A price.

Shopify works the same way: about 78 million unlisted Class B shares sit alongside its 1.21 billion listed Class A shares. Shopify also has a single Founder share that carries voting rights only, which we do not value.

2. Treasury shares are excluded

Companies that buy back their own stock sometimes keep the shares in treasury rather than cancelling them. Those shares are held by the company itself, so we leave them out. SAP is an example: at 30 June 2026 it had about 1,228.5 million shares in issue, of which 74.3 million were held in treasury, leaving 1,154.2 million outstanding. Because buybacks continue between reports, we always record the date of the share count we use.

3. Depositary receipts and cross-listings are counted once

Many companies are listed in more than one place. Alibaba trades in Hong Kong and in New York, where each American depositary share represents eight ordinary shares. SAP trades in Frankfurt and as American depositary shares in New York, one for one. The depositary receipts are claims on the same underlying shares, so we count the ordinary shares once and never add the two listings together.

4. Everything is converted to US dollars on the same date

To compare a company listed in Hong Kong with one listed in Frankfurt or New York, we convert every market capitalization to US dollars using official reference rates for the same date. We use the euro reference rates published by the European Central Bank. Because the ECB quotes rates against the euro, a Hong Kong dollar rate is derived from two ECB rates. On 15 October 2026, for example, the ECB published 1.1208 US dollars and 8.7953 Hong Kong dollars per euro, giving 7.84734 Hong Kong dollars per US dollar. We say so whenever a rate is derived.

5. Share counts lag behind events

Share counts come from companies' filings, which are published quarterly or monthly, so they can miss recent changes. Oracle's share count rose by about 141 million in the quarter to 31 August 2026 after it sold shares through an at-the-market equity program. For every ranking we record which filing each share count came from and its date, so readers can see exactly what the figures reflect.

What we do not do

• We do not publish live prices. Rankings are published as dated snapshots.
• We do not use free-float adjustments.
• We publish a ranking only after every input has been checked against its source, and we keep each published ranking as a dated snapshot.