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The Fortune 500 is an inventory of the biggest 500 firms in the US ranked by whole income. Since 1955, Fortune journal has revealed the annual checklist, and it’s thought of one of the crucial well-known company rankings. The Fortune 500 checklist may be discovered on-line and within the print version of the journal.
Corporations on the checklist come from a wide range of sectors, resembling know-how, retail, healthcare and finance. These firms are often called a number of the most influential on this planet, and the checklist consists of each privately-held and publicly-traded firms.
Right here’s how firms make the checklist, the historical past behind the rating and the highest 10 firms for the previous two years.
What qualifies a Fortune 500 firm?
To be eligible for the Fortune 500 checklist, an organization should be for-profit, publicly traded or privately held, and be a U.S.-based entity with monetary statements filed with a U.S. authorities company. The corporate should have income that positioned it within the prime 500 U.S. firms.
What’s the rating methodology?
To create the checklist, the biggest U.S. firms are ranked by whole revenues for his or her respective fiscal years. For example, the 2023 checklist makes use of numbers from 2022. Every firm included should function throughout the U.S. and have filed monetary statements with a authorities company for a minimum of three quarters of the present fiscal 12 months. Income numbers come from firm filings and embrace consolidated subsidiaries in addition to revenues from discontinued operations (with an exception for spin-off firms that make the checklist — they’re excluded). Earnings are proven after taxes and earlier than most well-liked dividends of the corporate.
An editor supervises the preparation of the checklist and an accounting specialist sometimes evaluations and verifies firm earnings statements and steadiness sheets. You could find the names and particulars of who was concerned in creating the checklist underneath the “credit” part on the methodology web page on Fortune.
The highest 10 Fortune 500 firms
The highest-ranked firms for 2023 and 2022 are listed beneath. Walmart has topped the checklist for the previous 11 consecutive years. The 2024 checklist will probably be introduced in late Might.
| Rank | High 10 Fortune 500 Corporations 2023 | High 10 Fortune 500 Corporations 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Walmart | Walmart |
| 2 | Amazon | Amazon |
| 3 | Exxon Mobil | Apple |
| 4 | Apple | CVS Well being |
| 5 | UnitedHealth Group | UnitedHealth Group |
| 6 | CVS Well being | Exxon Mobil |
| 7 | Berkshire Hathaway | Berkshire Hathaway |
| 8 | Alphabet | Alphabet |
| 9 | McKesson | McKesson |
| 10 | Chevron | AmerisourceBergen |
The historical past of the Fortune 500 checklist
Whereas the journal was based in 1929 with the beginning of the Nice Melancholy, the primary Fortune 500 checklist wasn’t revealed till 1955. Edgar P. Smith, the assistant managing editor of Fortune, is credited for the concept.
Initially, the checklist solely included mining, manufacturing and vitality trade firms. The highest three firms in 1955 have been Common Motors (with annual revenues of $9.8 billion), Exxon Mobil (with $5.6 billion), and U.S. Metal (with $3.2 billion).
In 1995, Fortune introduced it could be together with service firms, resembling McDonald’s, Walmart and AT&T. Because the change, service firms had primarily made up nearly all of the checklist.
The place can you discover the Fortune 500 firm checklist?
The Fortune 500 checklist is often launched in late Might of every 12 months and may be discovered on-line or within the June/July print problem. Non-subscribers should purchase a single print copy if they like a bodily model.
Backside line
The Fortune 500 checklist is a complete and influential information to the present state of the American economic system. Printed yearly by Fortune journal, it ranks the highest 500 firms in the US by whole income. The 2024 checklist will get launched in late Might.
