Fortune Global 500 is published (22.07.2019)
The new Fortune Global 500 list goes live this morning, and marks an important world power transition. The number of companies on the list based in China, including the 10 in Taiwan, reached a record 129—exceeding for the first time the number of companies based in the U.S. (121).
The Fortune Global 500 ranks companies on size, and of course, size is not everything. Many of the largest Chinese companies are state-owned enterprises which owe their heft to government-supported monopolies in the world’s most populous market, and aren’t necessarily the world’s most dynamic companies. Nevertheless, the list signals a significant global power shift. Ten years ago, there were only 43 Chinese companies on the list. Twenty years ago, there were just eight. And a boatload of fast-growing private Chinese companies are rapidly working their way up the ranks.
Fortune Global 500 facts:
Fortune Global 500 companies generated $32.7 trillion in revenues, up 9% from the previous year, and equal to more than one-third of the world’s GDP.
There are only 14 female CEOs on the Fortune Global 500, up from 12 last year. That goes to 15 in September, when Julie Sweet takes the helm at Accenture.
Walmart claimed the top spot on the Fortune Global 500 for the sixth consecutive year, and for the fourteenth time since 1995.
Newcomer Saudi Aramco (No. 6) netted $111 billion in profits, nearly double Apple’s (No. 11) earnings, ending Apple’s three-year reign as the Fortune Global 500’s most profitable company.
You can find the full list here .
And check - how the ranking looks starting from 1955.