page_title: Economy of Germany
section_title: Companies
hierarchical_section_title: Economy of Germany / Data / Companies
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Heizkraftwerk Wolfsburg Nord (Teil des Volkswagenwerks) This is a photograph of an architectural monument.It is on the list of cultural monuments of Wolfsburg
context_page_description: The economy of Germany is a highly developed social market economy. It has the largest national economy in Europe, the fourth-largest by nominal GDP in the world, and fifth by GDP. In 2017, the country accounted for 28% of the euro area economy according to the IMF. Germany is a founding member of the European Union and the Eurozone.
  In 2016, Germany recorded the highest trade surplus in the world worth $310 billion, making it the biggest capital exporter globally. Germany is one of the largest exporters globally with $1448.17 billion worth of goods and services exported in 2017. The service sector contributes around 70% of the total GDP, industry 29.1%, and agriculture 0.9%. Exports account for 41% of national output. The top 10 exports of Germany are vehicles, machinery, chemical goods, electronic products, electrical equipment, pharmaceuticals, transport equipment, basic metals, food products, and rubber and plastics.
context_section_description: Of the world's 500 largest stock-market-listed companies measured by revenue in 2010, the Fortune Global 500, 37 are headquartered in Germany. 30 Germany-based companies are included in the DAX, the German stock market index. Well-known global brands are Mercedes-Benz, BMW, SAP, Siemens, Volkswagen, Adidas, Audi, Allianz, Porsche, Bayer, BASF, Bosch, and Nivea.
  Germany is recognised for its specialised small and medium enterprises, known as the Mittelstand model. Around 1,000 of these companies are global market leaders in their segment and are labelled hidden champions.
  From 1991 to 2010, 40,301 mergers and acquisitions with an involvement of German firms with a total known value of 2,422 bil. EUR have been announced. The largest transactions since 1991 are: the acquisition of Mannesmann by Vodafone for 204.8 bil. EUR in 1999, the merger of Daimler-Benz with Chrysler to form DaimlerChrysler in 1998 valued at 36.3 bil. EUR.
  Berlin (Economy of Berlin) developed an international Startup ecosystem and became a leading location for venture capital funded firms in the European Union.
  The list includes the largest German companies by revenue in 2011:
caption: Volkswagen AG headquarters in Wolfsburg
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot G9", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6.7 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2016:11:27 11:26:13", "Image Artist": "Dietmar Rabich", "Image Copyright": "Dietmar Rabich, D\u00fclmen", "Image ExifOffset": "288", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[52, 64893/2500, 0]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "E", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[10, 236291/5000, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "798", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1006", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10841", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/800", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:04:11 10:45:22", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:04:11 10:45:22", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "602741/62500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "37/5", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "4000000/291", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1000000/73", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF CameraOwnerName": "Dietmar Rabich", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[37/5, 222/5, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "7.4-44.4 mm"}