In the first of a series of bar chart race visualisations, we look at how the world’s biggest corporate borrowers have changed since the end of 2016, based on the total outstanding dollar, euro and sterling debt tracked by S&P Global iBoxx.

Including bank borrowing is an optional feature in our chart, because one can argue that banks shouldn’t be compared with non-bank borrowers. Banks lend to corporates, and fund these assets with their own bond liabilities, which unsurprisingly swamp the rankings if included.

One theme runs through the data: shareholders always come first. We’ve written before how companies like Oracle issue bonds to fund share buybacks, and it’s no surprise to see them here.