15 of The Most Powerful Boardrooms on Earth

1.

OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries): Has the buying power to purchase Bank of America in one month's worth of production, Apple Computer in a week and General Motors in just 3 days.

2.

Banco Santander: Spanish financial services company. Largest bank of all 19 countries in the European Union.

3.

Heckler & Koch: A German defense manufacturing company. Motto: "No Compromises!" Builds handguns, military rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers.

4.

BNP Paribas Bank: Financial services company headquartered in Paris. Third largest bank in the world.

5.

Google: Owns the most visited website in the world (among many other profitable properties). Headquarters (nicknamed "Googleplex") located in Mountain View, California. $66 billion in revenue in 2014.

6.

HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation): Headquartered in London (oddly enough, considering their title). Various search warrants and raids have been conducted against HSBC for alleged money laundering, but they remain the world's second largest bank.

7.

ING Group: A Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. World's 18th largest corporation by revenue.

8.

Apple: Headquartered in Cupertino, California. World's second-largest information technology company by revenue. World's third-largest mobile phone maker. Largest publicly traded corporation in the world. First U.S. company to be valued at over $700 billion. World's largest music retailer.

9.

Lukoil Russia: Headquartered in Moscow. Russia's second largest oil company. World's second largest public company. Operates in 40 countries.

10.

BP (British Petroleum): World's 5th largest revenue-producing company. Spent nearly $16 million 2009 lobbying US Congress to shape laws in its favor.

11.

Mercedes-Benz: German luxury automobile manufacturer. Owns factories in 26 countries. One of the three best-selling luxury automakers in the world.

12.

Nestle: Multinational food and beverage company headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. 29 brands. $1.1 billion in annual profits.

13.

Adidas: German multinational shoe, clothing and accessories corporation. Largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the second largest in the world. $16.2 billion revenue in 2012.

14.

Yahoo!: Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. Multinational Internet corporation with more than 700 million visits every month. $4.6 billion revenue in 2014.

15.

FIFA: International governing body of association football. Infamous for rapaciousness and corruption. $1.3 billion revenue in 2013.