What Is the Fortune 500?

The Fortune 500 is an annual list of the 500 biggest United States companies by revenue. It is compiled by Fortune magazine every year and ranks public and private for-profit companies based on their revenues from the previous 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:fiscal year.

The Fortune 500 list is available online and in the print edition of the magazine and is closely followed. Making the list and being named a Fortune 500 company is widely considered to be a mark of prestige.

Understanding the Fortune 500

Fortune was founded in 1929 by Henry Robinson Luce. The first issue was published the following year and it has since become one of the world's leading business 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:publications. The magazine was originally published monthly and now, since 2021, is issued six times a year. Fortune also has a major presence online.

The magazine compiled its first list of the most successful American companies—both 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:public and private—in 1955. It was created by editor Edgar P. Smith in an effort to measure the size and power of American businesses during a time when the country's economic power was "the envy of the world." Originally called the Fortune Industrial 500, the name of the list was later shortened to Fortune 500.

Fortune 500 Criteria

The Fortune 500 focuses on companies that are 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:incorporated and operate in the United States and file financial statements with government agencies. This includes companies that are both 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:publicly traded and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:privately held.

From this pool of companies, the 500 that register the highest total revenues for their respective fiscal years as reported on their 10-K filings or comparable financial stat꧃ements make the list. The 500 are then ranked, with the highest ranked being the company with the highest r🍬evenues.

Private companies that don't file financial statements with government agencies and foreign corporations are excluded, as are American companies 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:consolidated by other companies and those that neglect to report full financial statements for at least three quarters of the current fiscal year.

Lots of Changes Since 1955

The list has changed dramatically from the very first Fortune 500. More than 2,200 American companies have been featured on the list over the course of its history.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A), shifts in production output, and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:bankruptcies have taken companies off of the list. The impact of a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:recession can also take out multiple companies from individual sectors. The F🅘ortune 500 list can often be a telling sign of how strong the economy is and the type✃s of goods and services that are most in demand.

Fortune 500 2024

In 2024, Walmart took the top spot on the Fortune 500 list for the 12th consecutive year. The company earned revenue of $648 billion. Online retailer Amazon took the second spot with revenues of $575 billion. Apple came in third with revenues of $383 billion, while United Heath Group and Berkshire Hathaway ranked in fourth and fifth.

The three most profitable companies on the 2024 list were Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, and Alphabet.

Fourteen companies made the list for the first time in 2024. They include DoorDash, First Citizens BancShares, and Monster Beverage.

The History of the Fortune 500

As noted above, the idea for the list came from Edgar P. Smith, who was an assistant managing editor for Fortune. Smith's idea took off and provided the grounds for the popular annual list.

The original Fortune 500 lists contained only companies that were in the manufacturing, mining, and energy sectors, limiting inclusion for many big-name companies. In the original 1955 Fortune 500 list, General Motors was the top company with annual revenues of $9.8 billion. The lowest-ranked company, meanwhile, was Copperweld Steel with $49.7 million in annual revenue.

The Fortune 500 underwent its biggest change in 1995. In that year, it combined all sectors on the same list. The new list continued to include companies from the original manufacturing, mining, and energy sectors, but it also included service companies for the first time. The change greatly impacted the future of 😼the Fortune 500 list.🍸

For example, service companies made up that year. Three of the newly included service companies even made the top 10 listings in the Fortune 500. Walmart ranked fourth, AT&T was number five, and Sears Roebuck took the ninth spot on the list. Walmart has spent several years at number one—a position it would not have held if this change didn't occur.

The Bottom Line

The Fortune 500 is an annual classification of the biggest revenue generators in the U.S. Public and private companies can 🥀qualify and making the list and being named a Fortune 500 company is considered a badge of honor. One objective is to make the list. Another is to rank as highly as possible on it. The company that comes first is the one with the highest revenues from the previous fiscal year.