Every year, the most successful commercial companies in the world compete for a place in the ranking published by the authoritative American business publication. This list shows the trends in the global economy. In the last decade, some Russian companies have been regularly included in its composition.
US rating
Fortune 500 is a list of the 500 largest American corporations. The selection criterion is the profit margin of the companies. This rating is compiled and published annually by the well-known business magazine Fortune. It includes both open and closed joint-stock companies. The basic concept behind the corporate earnings list was created by the magazine's editor, Edgar Smith. For the first time this rating was published in 1955.
History
The original version of the Fortune 500 included only corporations in manufacturing, mining, and energy. At that time, the magazine published separate lists of the largest commercial banks, insurance companies and retail chains. Compilation MethodThe ranking changed in 1994. With the addition of service-profit corporations to the Fortune 500, 292 new entrants have been added to the famed list.
Influence
In today's business world, the companies ranked by the magazine wield tremendous power and regularly influence government policy. Proof of this is the appointment of Henry Paulson, chief executive officer of the investment bank Goldman Sachs, as US Treasury Secretary.
The combined earnings of Fortune 500 companies leave a deep impression. In terms of economic power, they surpass Great Britain, Germany, France and Japan combined. Fortune 500 corporations have the financial means to buy all the goods produced in Brazil, India and South Korea.
Methodology and versions
The main rating criterion is the income received in the previous fiscal year. The end date of the tax period depends on the specific company. The magazine's publishers are not limited to the top 500. Fortune compiles and publishes additional lists that show a more detailed picture. The extended version includes one thousand corporations. The most influential members of the ranking are part of the elite Fortune 100 list.
The publishers of the famous business magazine do more than inform their readers about the commercial companies that make the most significant contribution to the economy. Information that Fortune makes available to the general publicallow you to identify the most dynamically developing areas of business. The annual list helps to pay attention to changes in the direction of investment flows and companies that are losing their leading positions in the economic race.
World Ranking
The practice of regularly evaluating corporate profitability has gone global. A similar rating, covering all countries of the world, was called the Fortune Global 500. Until 1989, it included only industrial companies registered outside the United States. Subsequently, American corporations were added to the Fortune Global 500. This contributed to a reliable display of the alignment of forces in the global economy. In 1995, the list included the leading financial institutions and the largest service companies. Currently, Fortune magazine publishes this rating in this form.
Distribution by country
During the last 15 years there have been significant changes in the composition of the global list, in terms of the geographical location of corporations. The number of companies located in the North American continent has decreased from 215 to 145. The share of Asian corporations has skyrocketed from 116 to 197. The reason for this major change is the tenfold increase in the number of companies located in China. The share of European business is 143 enterprises and remains stable.
In 2017, the top ten rankings included American, Chinese, Japanese,German, British and Dutch corporations. Their fields of activity are oil production and refining, automotive industry, insurance, information technology and power industry.
Russian companies such as Gazprom, Lukoil, Rosneft and Sberbank regularly appear on Fortune's global list. They take places in the top hundred of the ranking.
