Top 15 Software Companies In The World

Microsoft (MSFT

MSFT

Microsoft Corp

85.52

-0.36%

 

): The world leader in software companies, Microsoft continues to maintain its dominance with total revenues of $77.85 billion in 2013. Of this, $65.7 billion, or 84 percent, was from its software stream. Microsoft’s software revenues exceed those of its next two competitors combined.

Oracle (ORCL

ORCL

Oracle Corp

47.90

+0.17%

 

): Oracle surpassed IBM in 2013 to gain the number two spot in software revenues. Its software revenues were $29.7 billion in 2013, out of a total revenue of $34.74 billion.

International Business Machines (IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corp

152.95

-0.18%

 

): The large conglomerate offers a wide range of products and services, including both hardware and software. It consistently derives 25 to 30 percent of revenue from software. Of the total revenue of $99.75 billion for 2013, software contributed $29.1 billion.

SAP (SAP

SAP

SAP

113.16

-1.77%

 

): The Germany-based multinational software giant generated $18.9 billion in revenue from its software stream, out of the total revenue of $22.87 billion. Software represents 83 percent of its business. (SAP’s official report gives revenues in euros. For this article, we converted euros to U.S. dollars using the December 31, 2013 exchange rate of 1.36.)

Symantec (SYMC

SYMC

Symantec Corp

28.16

-0.53%

 

): Nasdaq-listed Symantec, the global leader in software security solutions, generated $6.4 billion in software revenue from total revenues of $6.9 billion.

EMC (EMC): NYSE-listed EMC takes the number six spot with $5.6 billion of software revenues out of total revenues of $23.2 billion. (EMC also owns the software company VMWare which is number eight on this list. The companies are listed as separate entities on the New York Stock Exchange. For that reason, this list treats EMC and VMWare as two separate entities.)

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ

HPQ

HP Inc

21.46

+0.19%

 

): The global giant is mainly known for printing products and solutions. From its total revenue of $112.298 billion, it derived just $4.9 billion from software. Although this is a small percentage of Hewlett‑Packard’s total revenues, it still makes the company the seventh largest software company.

VMWare (VMW

VMW

VMware Inc

128.62

+0.38%

 

): VMWare, owned by EMC, remains separately listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Its software stream revenues for 2013 were $4.8 billion, out of total revenues of $ 5.2 million. If the software revenues of EMC and VMWare considered together, the company would be the fifth largest software company in the world.

CA Technologies (CA

CA

CA Inc

33.55

-0.30%

 

): Nasdaq-listed CA Technologies has $4.2 billion from its software stream, out of total revenues of $4.643 billion.

Salesforce.com (CRM

CRM

Salesforce.com Inc

103.39

-0.83%

 

): Ironically, the NYSE-listed salesforce.com promotes itself with the motto, “No Software.” The company sells software through the software-as-a-service model. In 2013, it saw $3.8 billion in revenues from software, out of total revenues of $4.07 billion.