Welcome to the Coins2Day 500’s 71st annual edition

What’s fascinating about this list is its evolution, as new players displace old ones in an ever-shifting business landscape. Despite geopolitical turmoil, tech disruptions, economic uncertainty, and more, there are only 22 new names on this year’s list, which is the second-lowest turnover in the past three decades. Newcomers include Oscar Health, Palo Alto Networks, and spinoffs like energy giant GE Vernova and Kenvue, formerly the consumer health care division of Johnson & Johnson. Among those who dropped off: Liberty Media and timber company Weyerhaeuser.

2025 may turn out to be the calm before the storm, as AI is already making an impact. Nvidia more than doubled its revenue last year, as did server company Super Micro Computer. Chipmakers Broadcom and Micron Technology also reaped AI-driven gains. Vistra, which provides power for AI data centers, saw its stock more than triple in 2024. But the biggest gainers on that front were Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which set investors’ hopes soaring with reports that they might exit government receivership.

Finally, while the number of billion-dollar startups may have waned—remember this cover story?—a growing number of Coins2Day 500 companies are now eyeing trillion-dollar valuations. Berkshire Hathaway became the first non-tech company to join a club that counts Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta as members.

More news below.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at [email protected]

The new Coins2Day 500 ranking is here

In total, Coins2Day 500 companies represent two-thirds of U.S. GDP with $19.9 trillion in revenues, and they employ 31 million people worldwide. Last year, they combined to earn $1.87 trillion in profits, up 10% from last year—and a record in dollar terms. View the full list, read a longer overview of how it shook out this year, and learn more about the companies via the stories below.

• This year, Alphabet became the first company on the Coins2Day 500 to surpass $100 billion in profits. Take an inside look at which industries, and companies, earned the most profits on this year’s list. Read more
• UnitedHealth Group abruptly brought back former CEO Stephen Hemsley in mid-May amid a wave of legal investigations and intense stock losses. How can the insurer get back on its feet? Read more
• NRG Energy is the top-performing stock in the S&P 500 this year, gaining 68% on the back of big acquisitions and a bet on data centers. In his own words, CEO Larry Coben explains the company’s success. Read more

TOP NEWS

Keurig Dr. Pepper’s new rush

Keurig Dr. Pepper CEO Tim Cofer is making Dr. Pepper cool again and quickly adding new product offerings to keep the Coins2Day 500 company competitive with the likes of Pepsi and Coca-Cola. He recently offered Coins2Day a look inside the company’s co-headquarters and a peek into the strategies he uses to drive success.

IBM’s new path ahead

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has made big bets on AI and quantum computing to save the storied tech company from becoming a relic of the past. Coins2Day’s Sharon Goldman dissects how those bets have paid off and why Krishna is changing the company’s culture.

SiriusXM joins the Coins2Day 500

Similarly, SiriusXM CEO Jennifer Witz has led the satellite radio company to its first feature on the Coins2Day 500 by leaning into a wave of podcast popularity. She now thinks bringing the company out of your car and into your home is the next step.

China accuses U.S. Of violating trade truce

China accused Washington of “seriously violating” the trade truce that brought down the 100%+ tariffs the two countries had placed on one another. Issues include U.S. Warnings against the use of Huawei chips, a halt to sales of chip design software to China's firms, and the revoking of Chinese student visas. Beijing vowed to take strong measures to defend its interests.

Law firms punished for appeasing Trump

The Wall Street Journal  has a deeply reported story about clients leaving law firms that inked deals with the Trump administration. At least 11 big companies are taking work away from such firms, or are giving (or plan to give) more business to firms that have been targeted but refused to strike a deal, the Journal reports.

Pro-Trump nationalist wins Poland presidency

Karol Nawrocki, a nationalist candidate backed by Donald Trump, won Poland’s presidential election by a razor-thin margin, dealing a blow to the country’s pro-EU government. Nawrocki, a conservative historian and former boxer with no previous political experience, won 50.9%, while Warsaw's centrist mayor took 49.1%.

Ukraine and Russia head to talks

Russia and Ukraine are set to meet in Istanbul today for peace talks, a day after exchanging some of the most intense air attacks of the war. Russia hit Ukraine with a barrage of 500 drones and decoys on Sunday, while an ambitious, coordinated attack of Ukrainian drones struck air bases deep inside Russia.

Chinese communist officials flock to Harvard

China's communist party has for decades sent thousands of mid-career and senior bureaucrats to the U.S. For executive training and postgraduate studies. The Wall Street Journal reports Harvard University was a coveted destination some in China described as the top “party school” outside the country.

The markets

• The S&P 500 was flat Friday. The index is up 0.5% YTD. 
• S&P futures were trading down 0.4% this morning. 
• The Stoxx Europe 600 was down 0.1% in early trading. 
• Asia was down: Japan was off 1.3%. Hong Kong fell 0.6%. India’s Nifty 50 was off 0.2%.
• Big Tech was taking a hit in pre-market trading, with Tesla, Nvidia, and Palantir all off 1-2% in the early hours. 
• Bitcoin was sitting up at $105,500 this morning.

From the analysts 

• UBS on Trump and TACO: " US President Trump doubled taxes on US consumers of imported steel on Friday, and (so far) has not retreated from that tax increase. Trump reacted angrily when confronted with the Financial Times acronym 'TACO', and the implication that markets expect Trump to reverse policy rapidly. Investors may worry that Trump persists with these taxes, not because of some economic objective but instead as an emotional reaction to market perceptions of their negotiating stance," per Paul Donovan.
• Deutsche Bank on trade tension. "Two weeks ago was all about fiscal and US debt sustainability, and last week was all about trade again, so what will this week have in store? It's hard to see past trade at the moment and late on Friday night Trump doubled tariffs on imported steel and aluminium to 50%, starting this Wednesday. It is really hard to keep up or predict what's going to happen on trade at the moment, and that's before we factor in the full ramifications from the court ruling last Thursday night, and then subsequent brief stay of execution for them on appeal. For now it seems likely that the tariff uncertainty will linger for a long time ahead even if we're still likely past the peak aggressiveness of US policy," per Jim Reid. 
• Goldman Sachs on who pays metals tariffs: "In March, the S232 aluminium tariff was increased from 10% to 25% and all exemptions to the steel and aluminium tariffs were removed. Since then, the prices that US steel and aluminium consumers pay have risen, with US steel prices now accounting for 100% of the higher tariff1 and the US Midwest aluminium premium—the price paid on top of the LME price of physical delivery—accounting for ~85%2 of the current 25% tariff," per Eoin Dinsmore, et al.

AROUND THE WATERCOOLER

United’s CEO proclaims the budget airline model is dead and argues they ‘screw the customer’ by Sydney Lake

Chinese EV exec says China rollout of Tesla’s self-driving tech is a ‘DeepSeek moment’ for autonomous vehicles by Paolo Confino

Forget tacos, can Trump have his tariff cake and eat it too? Wall Street’s biggest bull thinks so by Jason Ma

Elon Musk just had his last day with DOGE, which he says became a ‘scapegoat’ for government cuts by Amanda Gerut

Stock markets dip as Beijing blasts Trump’s ‘bogus charges’ that it’s violating the Geneva trade agreement by Nicholas Gordon

CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Ian Mount.