AP Style Company Names

For a company’s formal name, consult the national stock exchanges,

  • The New York Stock Exchange
  • Nasdaq

See below for a list of 125 major U.S. companies and 75 major non-U.S. companies.

According to AP Style you do not use a comma before “Inc.” or “Ltd.,” even if it is included in the formal name.

You must include the full company name somewhere in the story. This ensures the story will be among the search results on major websites.

The formal name need not be used on first reference. For example, “Costco” is acceptable for “Costco Wholesale Corp.,” but it should contain the full name somewhere in the body of any story in which the subject matter could affect a company’s business. For example, include the corporate name in a story on an earnings report or in a story on a plane crash that could affect the airline’s stock price. However, the corporate name might be irrelevant in a story about a political candidate’s appearance at a local retail store.

When the full corporate name is NOT in the story, it should be included in a self-contained paragraph separated from the bottom of the story by a dash. For example,

  • —United Airlines is a unit of United Continental Holdings Inc.
  • —Disney’s full corporate name is The Walt Disney Co.

If more than one company is listed, each should be in a self-contained paragraph below the dash.

Generally, follow the spelling and capitalization preferred by the company. For example, “eBay.” But capitalize the first letter if it begins a sentence.

Do not use all-capital-letter names unless the letters are individually pronounced. For example, “BMW.” Other should be uppercase and lowercase. For example,

  • Ikea, not IKEA
  • USA Today, not USA TODAY

Do not use symbols such as exclamation points, plus signs, or asterisks that form contrived spelling that might distract or confuse a reader. For example,

  • Yahoo, not Yahoo!
  • Toys R Us, not Toys “R” Us
  • E-Trade, not E*Trade

Use an ampersand only if it is part of the company’s formal name but not otherwise in place of “and.”

Use “the” lowercase unless it is part of the company’s formal name.

Below is a list of 125 major U.S. Companies, listed alphabetically with ticker symbols and headquarters.

  • 3M Co. (MMM) St. Paul, Minn.
  • Abbott Laboratories (ABT) Abbot Park, Ill.
  • Aetna Inc. (AET) Hartford, Conn.
  • Alcoa Inc. (AA) Pittsburgh
  • Allstate Corp. (ALL) Northbrook, Ill.
  • Altria Corp. (MO) Richmond, Va.
  • Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) Seattle
  • American Express Co. (AXP) New York
  • American International Group Inc. (AIG) New York
  • Amgen Inc. (AMGN) Thousand Oaks, Calif.
  • Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) The Woodlands, Texas
  • Apple Inc. (AAPL) Cupertino, Calif.
  • AT&T Inc. (T) Dallas
  • Bank of America Corp. (BAC) Charlotte, N.C.
  • Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A) Omaha, Neb.
  • Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) Richfield, Minn.
  • Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) Weston, Mass.
  • Boeing Co. (BA) Chicago
  • Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co. (BMY) New York
  • Carnival Corp. (CCL) Miami
  • Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) Peoria, Ill.
  • CBS Corp. (CBS) New York
  • Chevron Corp. (CVX) San Ramon, Calif.
  • Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) San Jose, Calif.
  • Citigroup Inc. (C) New York
  • Coca-Cola Co. (KO) Atlanta
  • Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL) New York
  • Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) Philadelphia
  • ConAgra Foods Inc. (CAG) Omaha, Neb.
  • ConocoPhillips (COP) Houston
  • Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) Issaquah, Wash.
  • CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS) Woonsocket, R.I.
  • DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV) El Segundo, Calif.
  • Deere & Co. (DE) Moline, Ill.
  • Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) Atlanta
  • Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) Midland, Mich.
  • Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) Charlotte, N.C.
  • DuPont Co. (DD) Wilmington, Del.
  • eBay Inc. (EBAY) San Jose, Calif.
  • Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) Indianapolis
  • EMC Corp. (EMC) Hopkinton, Mass.
  • Exelon Corp. (EXC) Chicago
  • Express Scripts Holding Co. (ESRX) St. Louis
  • Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) Irving, Texas
  • FedEx Corp. (FDX) Memphis, Tenn.
  • Ford Motor Co. (F) Dearborn, Mich.
  • Gap Inc. (GPS) San Francisco
  • General Dynamics Corp. (GD) Falls Church, Va.
  • General Electric Co. (GE) Fairfield, Conn.
  • General Mills Inc. (GIS) Minneapolis
  • General Motors Co. (GM) Detroit
  • Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) New York
  • Google Inc. (GOOG) Mountain View, Calif.
  • Halliburton Co. (HAL) Houston
  • Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) Palo Alto, Calif.
  • Home Depot Inc. (HD) Atlanta
  • Honeywell International Inc. (HON) Morristown, N.J.
  • Intel Corp. (INTC) Santa Clara, Calif.
  • International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) Armonk, N.Y.
  • J.C. Penney & Co. (JCP) Plano, Texas
  • Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) New Brunswick, N.J.
  • JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) New York
  • Kellogg Co. (K) Battle Creek, Mich.
  • Kimberly-Clark Corp (KMB) Irving, Texas
  • Kraft Food Group Inc. (KRFT) Northfield, Ill.
  • Kroger Co., The (KR) Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) Bethesda, Md.
  • Lowe’s Cos. (LOW) Mooresville, N.C.
  • Macy’s Inc. (M) Cincinnati
  • Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) Houston
  • MasterCard Inc. (MA) Purchase, N.Y.
  • McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) Oak Brook, Ill.
  • McKesson Corp. (MCK) San Francisco
  • Medtronic Inc. (MDT) Minneapolis
  • Merck & Co. (MRK) Whitehouse Station, N.Y.
  • MetLife Inc. (MET) New York
  • Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) Redmond Wash.
  • Mondelez International Inc. (MDLZ) Deerfield, Ill.
  • Monsanto Co. (MON) St. Louis
  • Morgan Stanley (MS) New York
  • News Corp. (NWSA) New York
  • Nike Inc. (NKE) Beaverton, Ore.
  • Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC) Norfolk, Va.
  • Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC) Falls Church, Va.
  • Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) Los Angeles
  • Oracle Corp. (ORCL) Redwood City, Calif.
  • PepsiCo. Inc. (PEP) Purchase, N.Y.
  • Pfizer Inc. (PFE) New York
  • Phillips 66 (PSX) Houston
  • PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNS) Pittsburgh
  • Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) Cincinnati
  • Prudential Financial Inc. (PRU) Newark, N.J.
  • Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) San Diego
  • Raytheon Co. (RTN) Waltham, Mass.
  • Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) Houston
  • Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) Hoffman Estates, Ill.
  • Simon Property Group Inc. (SPG) Indianapolis
  • Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) Dallas
  • Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) Reston, Va.
  • Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) Seattle
  • Staples Inc. (SPLS) Framingham, Mass.
  • Target Corp. (TGT) Minneapolis
  • Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) Dallas
  • Time Warner Inc. (TWX) New York
  • Travelers Cos. (TRV) St. Paul, Minn.
  • Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) Springdale, Ark.
  • Union Pacific Corp. (UNP) Omaha, Neb.
  • United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) Chicago
  • UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) Minnetonka, Minn.
  • United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS) Atlanta
  • United States Steel Corp. (X) Pittsburgh
  • United Technologies Corp. (UTX) Hartford, Conn.
  • US Bancorp (USB) Minneapolis
  • Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) New York
  • Viacom Inc. (VIA) New York
  • Visa Inc. (V) Foster City, Calif.
  • Walgreen Co. (WAG) Deerfield, Ill.
  • Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) Bentonville, Ark.
  • Walt Disney Co., The (DIS) Burbank, Calif.
  • WellPoint Inc. (WLP) Indianapolis
  • Walls Fargo & Co. (WFC) San Francisco
  • Whole Foods Market Inc. (WFM) Austin, Texas
  • Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) Benton Harbor, Mich.
  • Xerox Corp. (XRX) Norwalk, Conn.
  • Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) Sunnyvale, Calif.

The following is a list of 75 major non-U.S. companies also listed alphabetically with headquarters.

  • Allianz SE, Munich
  • America Movil SAB de CV, Mexico City
  • Anheuser-Busch InBev, Leuven, Belgium
  • ArcelorMittal, Luxembourg
  • AstraZeneca PLC, London
  • Baidu Inc., Beijing
  • Banco Santander SA, Madrid
  • Bank of China Ltd., Beijing
  • Barclays PLC, London
  • Barrick Gold Corp., Toronto
  • Bayer AG, Leverkusen, Germany
  • BHP Billiton Ltd., Melbourne, Australia
  • BMW Group, Munich
  • BP PLC, London
  • Carrefour SA, Boulonge Billancort, France
  • China Construction Bank Corp., Beijing
  • China Mobile Ltd., Beijing
  • China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. or Sinopec, Beijing
  • CNOOC Ltd., Beijing
  • Credit Suisse Group AG, Zurich
  • Daimler AG, Stuttgart, Germany
  • Deutsche Bank AG, Frankfurt
  • Deutsche Telekom AG, Bonn, Germany
  • Diageo PLC, London
  • Electricite de France, SA, Paris
  • ELF Aquitaine Group, Paris
  • Eni SpA, Rome
  • E.ON AG, Dusseldorf, Germany
  • European Aeronautic Defence &Space Co., Leiden, Netherlands
  • France Telecom, Paris
  • OAO Gazprom, Moscow
  • GlaxoSmithKline PLC, London
  • Hennes & Mauritz AB, Stockholm, Sweden
  • Honda Motor Co., Tokyo
  • HSBC Holdings PLC, London
  • Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd., Beijing
  • ING Groep NV, Amsterdam
  • L’Oreal SA, Paris
  • LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Paris
  • Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Tokyo
  • Nestle SA, Vevey, Switzerland
  • Nintendo Co., Kyoto, Japan
  • Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., Tokyo
  • Nokia Corp., Espoo, Finland
  • Novartis AG, Basel, Switzerland
  • Novo Nordisk A/S, Bagsvaerd, Denmark
  • PetroChina Ltd., Beijing
  • Petroleo Brasileiro, Rio de Janeiro
  • Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., New Delhi
  • Reliance Industries Ltd., Mumbai, India
  • Rio Tinto Group, London
  • Roche Holding AG, Basel, Switzerland
  • Royal Dutch Shell PLC, The Hague, Netherlands
  • SABMiller PLC, London
  • Samsung Electronics Co. Seoul, South Korea
  • Sanofi, Paris
  • SAP AG, Walldorf, Germany
  • Siemens AG, Munich
  • Societe Generale Group, Paris
  • Sony Corp., Tokyo
  • Tata Group, Mumbai, India
  • Telefonica, SA, Madrid
  • Tesco PLC, Hertfordshire, UK
  • Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Petach Tikvah, Israel
  • ThyssenKrupp, Essen, Germany
  • Total SA, Paris
  • Toyota Motor Corp., Toyota City, Japan
  • UBS AG, Zurich
  • Unilever NV, London and Rotterdam, Netherlands
  • Vale, SA, Paris
  • Vodafone Group PLC, Newbury, UK
  • Volkswagen AG, Wolfsburg, Germany
  • Xstrata PLC, Zug, Switzerland

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