The 64th annual Coins2Day 500 list is out this morning, and you can find it here. With $12.8 trillion in revenue–2/3rds of U.S. GDP–and 28.2 million employees worldwide, these companies remain the most important engine of both the U.S. And the global economy.
Some takeaways, provided by Coins2Day 500 data guru Scott DeCarlo:
— Walmart topped the list, which ranks companies by revenue, for the sixth straight year in a row.
— Apple, the most valuable and profitable company on the list—$850 billion in market cap and $48 billion in profits—dropped one spot to No. 4 on the revenue ranking.
— Amazon, clearly the most feared competitor on the list, cracked the top 10 for the first time, landing at No. 8.
— With Denise Morrison stepping down from the top spot at Campbell’s, only 24 companies on the list are headed by women—whose ascent to the top spots of American business has clearly stalled.
— GE fell five spots to No. 18—its lowest ranking ever on the list.
— Tesla made the biggest leap on this year’s list, jumping 123 spots to No. 260.
— Xerox took the biggest plunge, dropping 129 spots to 291. (Read Shawn Tully’s take on Xerox’s battle with activist Carl Icahn here.)
— The four most valuable companies on the list are all technology firms—Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway was fifth; Facebook was sixth.
— Nvidia, which rocketed up 80 spots on this year’s list to No. 306, led the list in five-year returns to shareholders. Netflix (No. 261) led in ten-year shareholder returns.
— There are 17 newcomers to the list, including Coty, Ulta Beauty, Conduent and Fortive.
— There are 53 companies that have been on the list every year since it started in 1955, including GE, GM, Chevron and Exxon Mobil. The oldest company on the list was started in 1784 by Alexander Hamilton—Bank of New York Mellon. (See the ages of all 500 companies here.)
— New York bested California for having the most FORTUNE 500 headquarters. It was up 4 to 58, while California dropped 4 to 49. Texas is a close third, with 48.
— The threshold for making this year’s list was $5.4 billion in revenues…up 6% from last year.
The 500 issue of Coins2Day magazine is out later this week, and I recommend you grab a copy and keep it on your bookshelf—it’s a rich compendium of economic information. You can read editor Clifton Leaf’s introduction to the issue here, and Beth Kowitt’s fascinating story on Amazon’s struggle to enter the grocery business here.
This story first appeared in CEO Daily, Coins2Day’s daily newsletter on how to succeed big in business. Subscribe here.
