A prestigious annual list compiled and published by Fortune Magazine, ranking the 500 most successful companies based on revenue.
The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the 500 largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years [1]. It’s a prestigious designation and a widely recognized indicator of a company’s size and influence.
Here’s a deeper look at the Fortune 500:
- Focus on Revenue: The ranking is based solely on a company’s total revenue for a given fiscal year. Publicly traded and privately held companies with publicly available revenue data are eligible for inclusion [2].
- History and Significance: First published in 1955, the Fortune 500 has become a benchmark for measuring corporate success in the United States. It provides valuable insights into the health and trends of the American economy [3].
- Composition: The companies on the Fortune 500 list represent a diverse range of industries, including technology, retail, healthcare, finance, and manufacturing [4].
- Influence: Collectively, Fortune 500 companies wield significant economic power. They employ millions of people worldwide and contribute a large portion of the US gross domestic product (GDP) [5].
Here are some additional points to consider:
- Fortune Global 500: Fortune magazine also publishes a broader ranking, the Fortune Global 500, which includes the top 500 corporations worldwide based on revenue [6].
- Subsets and Supersets: The Fortune 500 is a subset of a larger ranking, the Fortune 1000, which encompasses the top 1000 US corporations by revenue. There’s also the Fortune 100, a subset of the 500, featuring the top 100 companies [7].
- Limitations: While revenue is a key indicator of size, it doesn’t necessarily reflect a company’s profitability or overall financial health.
