Net Worth of a Company

Article bySayantan Mukhopadhyay
Reviewed byDheeraj Vaidya, CFA, FRM

The net worth of the company can be calculated from two methods where the first method is to deduct the total liabilities of the company from its total assets and the second method is to add the share capital of the company (both equity and preference) and the reserves and surplus of the company.

Net Worth of a Company You may have often heard about this term, don’t you? Especially when the newspapers, business magazines, and finance journals talk about significant individuals and their financial worth!

If you are someone who would like to understand your net worth or wants to find your net worth, this brief guide will help you.

In simple terms, net worth is the net assetsNet AssetsThe net asset on the balance sheet is the amount by which your total assets exceed your total liabilities and is calculated by simply adding what you own (assets) and subtract it from whatever you owe (liabilities). It is commonly known as net worth (NW).read more and earnings after deducting all the liabilities and the expenses.

Net Worth Calculation

What is Net Worth of a Company?

The company’s net worth is nothing but the Book value or Shareholders Equity of the firmShareholders Equity Of The FirmShareholder’s equity is the residual interest of the shareholders in the company and is calculated as the difference between Assets and Liabilities. The Shareholders' Equity Statement on the balance sheet details the change in the value of shareholder's equity from the beginning to the end of an accounting period.read more. The company’s net worth is the value of the assets after paying off its liabilities like debt.

Please note that net worth is different from “market value” of the company or “market capitalization.”

Let us take the example of Apple and Amazon. We note that Apple’s Net worth is $134.05 billion, and that of Amazon is $19.2 billion. However, their market capitalizationMarket CapitalizationMarket capitalization is the market value of a company’s outstanding shares. It is computed as the product of the total number of outstanding shares and the price of each share.read more (market value) is 898.5 billion (Apple) and 592.29 billion (Amazon), respectively.

Amazon-Apple-Net-Worth

Net Worth of a Company Formula

Net Worth of the company formula = Total Assets – Total Liabilities;

Net Worth Formula

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For eg:
Source: Net Worth of a Company (wallstreetmojo.com)

The above is also known as Shareholders’ Equity or the Book Value.

Also, please note that this is different from Tangible Book Value, which also removes the value of intangible assetsIntangible AssetsIntangible Assets are the identifiable assets which do not have a physical existence, i.e., you can't touch them, like goodwill, patents, copyrights, & franchise etc. They are considered as long-term or long-living assets as the Company utilizes them for over a year. read more such as goodwill, patents, etc.

Video on How to Calculate Net Worth of a Company?

 

How to calculate the Net worth of a company?

Mr. A has got hold of the balance sheet of Q Company. But while traveling, Mr. A lost the last part of the balance sheet. So how would he calculate the net worth of a company ABC?

Here’s the remainder of the document.

Balance Sheet of ABC Company

2016 (In US $)2015 (In US $)
Assets  
Current Assets300,000400,000
Investments45,00,00041,00,000
Plant & Machinery13,00,00016,00,000
Intangible Assets15,00010,000
Total Assets61,15,00061,10,000
Liabilities  
Current LiabilitiesCurrent LiabilitiesCurrent Liabilities are the payables which are likely to settled within twelve months of reporting. They're usually salaries payable, expense payable, short term loans etc.read more200,0002,70,000
Long term LiabilitiesLong Term LiabilitiesLong Term Liabilities, also known as Non-Current Liabilities, refer to a Company’s financial obligations that are due for over a year (from its operating cycle or the Balance Sheet Date). read more1,15,0001,40,000
Total Liabilities3,15,0004,10,000

Here the computation is easy. All Mr. A needs to do is calculate the Net worth of a company ABC by deducting the total liabilities from the total assets.

2016 (In US $)2015 (In US $)
Total Assets (A)61,15,00061,10,000
Total Liabilities (B)3,15,0004,10,000
Net Worth (A – B)58,00,00057,00,000

How would we interpret the growth or decrease of net worth?

Both for businesses and individuals, assets and liabilities can go down or go up.

Suppose we see that the net worth of a business or an individual has been growing. In that case, we can easily say that the increase in the assets and the earnings of the business or the individual has been more than the increase in the liabilities and the expenses, or we can also say that the decrease in the assets and the earnings of the business is smaller than the decrease in the liabilities or the expenses.

Increasing Net Worth of a company Example

Amazon’s Net worth has been increasing continuously over the past five years. This is because they have been able to increase their Assets and earnings over some time.

Amazon-Increasing-Net-worth

Decreasing Net Worth of a Company Example

Sears Holding, is a classic example of the decrease in Net worth over time. Sears has been reporting continuous losses resulting in the negative book value of the firm.

Sears-Decreasing-Net-Worth-Example

What is net worth from an individual perspective?

Recently, Chris Larsen (co-founder) of cryptocurrencyCryptocurrencyCryptocurrency refers to a technology that acts as a medium for facilitating the conduct of different financial transactions which are safe and secure. It is one of the tradable digital forms of money, allowing the person to send or receive the money from the other party without any help of the third party service.read more  company Ripple has become the fifth wealthiest person in terms of net worth. Now that we understand what net worth is to the company let us look at how net worth can be calculated in the case of an individual.

Net worth

source: fortune.com

From an individual’s perspective, net worth means the difference between how much a person owns and how much she owes.

Let’s take a simple example to illustrate this.

David has a home, a car, and a portfolio of investments. His home is worth $120,000. The car he owns is about $20,000. And the portfolio of investments is $50,000. He has taken a mortgage loan for his home, around $60,000, of which he already paid off $10,000. He has also taken a car loan of $10,000. What would be his net worth at this juncture?

This is quite a simple example.

All we need to do is to add up the assets of David and then deduct all the liabilities from that.

  • David’s total assets would be = ($120,000 + $20,000 + $50,000) = $190,000.
  • There is a twist in this example. It says that out of the $60,000 David has taken as a loan, $10,000 is already paid off. That means at this moment his mortgage loan amount is = ($60,000 – $10,000) = $50,000.
  • Now, we can add up his liabilities. It would be = ($50,000 + $10,000) = $60,000.
  • That means, at this juncture, David’s net growth would be = ($190,000 – $60,000) = $130,000.

This has been a guide to the Net Worth of a Company, its formula, and calculation, along with practical examples. If you want to learn more about such accounting topics, you may have a look at these recommended articles –

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