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The ''Fortune'' Global 500, also known as Global 500, is an annual ranking of the top 500
corporation A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and ...
s worldwide as measured by
revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive rev ...
. The list is compiled and published annually by ''
Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
'' magazine.


Methodology

Until 1989, it listed only non-
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
industrial corporations under the title "International 500" while the ''Fortune'' 500 contained and still contains exclusively United States corporations. In 1990, United States companies were added to compile a truly global list of top industrial corporations as ranked by sales. Since 1995, the list has had its current form, listing also top financial corporations and service providers by revenue. Several inconsistencies exist in ''Fortune'' ranking of cities with the most ''Fortune'' 500 headquarters. On June 3, 2011, the ''
Atlanta Business Chronicle The ''Atlanta Business Chronicle'' is a weekly newspaper covering business news in Atlanta, Georgia, published by American City Business Journals. The paper has both a weekly print edition and an online edition. History The ''Atlanta Busine ...
'' stated examples of ''Fortune'' including regional headquarters for some cities, excluding regional headquarters for other cities and in some cases excluding headquarters that are physically located inside a city limit.


Geographical distribution

Since 2001, there has been a significant change in the geographical distribution of the companies in the Global 500 rankings. Most of this growth is accounted for by the rapid increase in the number of Chinese Global 500 companies, of which there were 135 by 2021, increasing from only 10 in 2001. The share of
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an-based companies also declined, from 158 to 143, over the same period.


Fortune Global 500 of 2022

The following is the list of top 10 companies in 2022.


Breakdown by country

, this is the list of the top 10 countries with the highest revenues top 500 companies.


Breakdown by region

, 26 (5%) of the Fortune Global 500 companies are located outside
East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea ...
,
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
, and
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
.


Leadership by sector

The following are the top-ranked companies in 2022 for each sector.


Fortune Global 500 of 2021

The following is the list of top 10 companies.


Breakdown by country

, this is the list of the top 10 countries with the highest revenues top 500 companies.


Breakdown by region

, just 21 (4%) of the Fortune Global 500 companies are located outside East Asia, North America, and Europe.


''Fortune'' Global 500 list of 2020

The following is the list of top 10 companies.


Breakdown by country

, this is the list of the top 10 countries with the highest earning top 500 companies. The Global 500 includes
Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...
under the heading "Britain/Netherlands", as the company is counted in the tally for both countries.


Leadership by sector

The following are the top-ranked companies in 2020 for each sector.


Breakdown by region

, just 24 (5%) of the Fortune Global 500 companies are located outside East Asia, North America, and Europe.


''Fortune'' Global 500 list of 2019

The following is the list of top 10 companies.


Breakdown by country

, this is the list of the top 10 countries with the most Global 500 companies. The Global 500 includes
Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...
&
Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...
under the heading "Britain/Netherlands", as the company is counted in the tally for both countries.


Leadership by sector

The following are the top-ranked companies in 2019 for each sector.


''Fortune'' Global 500 list of 2018

The following is the list of top 10 companies.


Breakdown by country

, this is the list of the top 10 countries with the most Global 500 companies. The Global 500 includes
Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...
under the heading "Britain/Netherlands", as the company is counted in the tally for both countries. As shown in the table above, 436 (87.2%) of the Global 500 are represented by only 10 countries: two in North America (Canada and United States), five in Western Europe (France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) and three in East Asia (China, Japan and South Korea). Moreover, the top six (United States, China, Japan, Germany, France and the United Kingdom) are the world's largest economies as estimated by the IMF (
List of countries by GDP (nominal) Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. Countries are sorted by nominal GDP estimates from financial and statistical institutions, which are calculated at market or go ...
). Among the Global 500, 379 companies (75.8%) are from these six countries.


Leadership by sector

The following are the top-ranked companies in 2018 for each sector.


Breakdown by industry

The following are the top-ranked companies in 2018 for each industry. Most profitable The following is the global 500 list sorted by profits.


''Fortune'' Global 500 list of 2017

The following is the list of top 10 companies. ''Fortune'' had previously listed Shell as a British/Dutch company, but as of the 2016 listing it is listed as Dutch.


Breakdown by country

, this is the list of the top 10 countries with the most Global 500 companies. Number of companies data taken from the "Country" box. The Global 500 includes
Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...
under the heading "Britain/Netherlands", as the company is counted in the tally for both countries. As can be seen from the table above, 425 (85.0%) of the Global 500 are represented by only 10 countries: two in North America (Canada and United States), five in Western Europe (France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, and The United Kingdom) and three in East Asia (China, Japan and South Korea). Moreover, the top six (United States, China, Japan, France, Germany and The United Kingdom) are some of the world's largest economies as estimated by the IMF (
List of countries by GDP (nominal) Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. Countries are sorted by nominal GDP estimates from financial and statistical institutions, which are calculated at market or go ...
). Among the Fortune Global 500, 371 companies (74.2%) are from these six countries.


Leadership by sector

The top-ranked companies in each sector are as follows:


See also

* 40 Under 40 * Fortune India 500 * Forbes Global 2000 * Fortune 500 *
Fortune 1000 The Fortune 1000 are the 1,000 largest American companies ranked by revenues, as compiled by the American business magazine '' Fortune''. It only includes companies which are incorporated or authorized to do business in the United States, and fo ...
* List of largest companies by revenue *
List of largest employers The largest employers in the world include companies, militaries, and governments. Largest employers Companies and institutions are included in this list. Largest private and semiprivate employers The rankings below are the six private-sect ...
* List of public corporations by market capitalization


References

{{Reflist


External links


Fortune.com: full Fortune Global 500 listings
Global 500 Lists of companies by revenue Corporation-related lists International rankings Top lists Annual magazine issues *