Today, ‘Fortune’ officially released the latest Fortune Global 500 list.
This year’s Fortune Global 500 companies’ operating income reached $33 trillion, a record high, close to the combined GDP of China and the United States.
Among them, Wal-Mart became the world’s largest company for the seventh consecutive year; Sinopec still ranked second; State Grid rose to third; PetroChina ranked fourth; Shell Oil fell to fifth.
In terms of profitability, Saudi Aramco still tops the list with a profit of $88.2 billion, while Apple retreats to third place. Microsoft’s profit surged by nearly 137% year-on-year, making it into the top 10 profit list, ranking fifth.
It is worth noting that the number of companies in mainland China (including Hong Kong) reached 124 this year, surpassing the United States (121) for the first time in history. When adding the Taiwanese companies, a total of 133 companies from China are on the list.
Since 2008, the number of Chinese companies in the ranking has accelerated. First, it surpassed Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, and later surpassed Japan. In this year’s ranking, mainland Chinese companies surpassed the United States. And the number of companies on the list ranked first. According to ‘Fortune’, since 1995, it released the world’s top 500 company rankings. No other country or region has seen such rapid growth in the number of companies on the list.
Gizchina News of the week
Who Earns More? Fortune Global 500
The average sales revenue of mainland Chinese companies reached $66.9 billion, which is an increase compared to last year’s figures. Compared with the world’s top 500 companies, the two indicators of average sales revenue and average net assets of Chinese companies have reached the average level of the Fortune Global 500. However, ‘Fortune’ also pointed out that the profitability of Chinese companies is low.
On the profit margin list, TSMC ranks highest, and Alibaba ranks fifth with a profit margin of nearly 29%.
There are 7 Internet-related companies on the list this year, including Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook, and JD.com, Alibaba Group, Tencent Holdings Co., Ltd. and Xiaomi Group from China. The rankings of these major Internet companies in China and the United States have improved compared with last year. Among them, the largest increase in ranking belongs to Alibaba, which rose by 50 places.
