Introduction

Here, we introduce the theoretical discussion on the economic process of financialization, which is considered by several authors as the development of dependence and subordination of the productive sector to the financial sector. Moreover, financialization is also considered a change in the current conception of corporate control, for which the maximization of shareholder value becomes the main concern. In this introduction, we set out to analyze the financialization indicators in ten companies with the highest market capitalization worldwide using multicase study research and an exploratory approach. We do not intend to exhaust the debate on financialization or explain everything that happens in companies, but rather to develop the construction of indicators, from the perspective of economic sociology. Some indicators that comprise financialization can be highlighted, such as the (1) comparison between profitability sources; (2) shareholding structure, acquisitions, and sales of shares; (3) mergers and acquisitions; (4) origin of directors; (5) payment of compensation to executives; (6) dividend payments to shareholders and stock repurchases; (7) employee salaries; and (8) employment.