Fortune 500

The Fortune 500, in its 70th year in 2024, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

The Fortune 500, in its 69th year in 2023, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 68th running of the list.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 67th running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 66th running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 65th running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 64th running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 63rd running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 62nd running of the list.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 61st running of the list. Wal-Mart claims the top spot again. See who made the list.

Wal-Mart stayed on top as its sales crept closer to half-a-trillion dollars. Apple moved into the top five. And UnitedHealth Group continued its steady climb. 

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Popular (BPOP): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

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Popular (BPOP): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings | Fortune

How much does it really cost to fly private? From jet cards to fractional ownership, we break down the business model behind NetJets — the world's largest private jet operator. With demand for private aviation booming post-pandemic, here’s what it takes to fly like a Fortune 500 CEO — and why it’s becoming more popular than ever.


The Economics of Flying Private: How NetJets Became the Timeshare of Private Jets

Features

How much does it really cost to fly private? From jet cards to fractional ownership, we break down the business model behind NetJets — the world's largest private jet operator. 

What does it actually cost to fly private, and why are more people doing it than ever before? Private aviation is a multi-billion dollar business and companies like Netjets are changing how the ultra wealthy move. Even in the smallest aircraft type in our program, you're talking today about an initial capital investment of more than $800,000 to buy a piece of an airplane. We have something like 40% of the Fortune 500 that are not just customers. And as major commercial airlines are trying to win back premium customers, can commercial aviation companies successfully keep them? NetJets doesn't sell private jets. It sells fractions of jets. Customers buy a share as little as 1/16 of a specific aircraft model. That idea, splitting jet ownership like a timeshare, unlocked a new market. Today we operate nearly 1100 aircraft which if you were comparing us to a commercial airline would make us the 2nd or 3rd largest on the planet. Unlike charter services, it owns and controls its fleet, allowing tighter control over quality, scheduling, and safety. The average Net customer flies with us for about 75 to 100 hours per year. Our typical customer will be. Somebody who is a principal of a privately held company, we have something like 40% of the Fortune 500 that are our Netjet's customers. Flying with Netjets doesn't come cheap. A fractional ownership share on a light jet like the Penom 300 starts at around $850,000 upfront, plus about $325,000 per year in operating costs for 50 flight hours. For those who want a more affordable and flexible option, the NetJet's card starts at $215,000 for 25 hours annually. That $215,000 jet card, that's the cost of 4 down payments on the average American home. Within the shared ownership model, we really have three cost components for the customer. You have the initial capital investment, which is a one-time investment where somebody's buying a piece of the airplane, and then they pay a monthly management fee. If you owned your own airplane, you'd have pilot salaries and you'd have mechanics salaries, and you'd have hanger rent. So in our model, you're sharing that across the other members of the program. And then every time you fly we bill you the variable hourly costs associated with flying that trip from A to B, which covers things like the fuel expense of the aircraft, the ground charges, and the handling fees and the things that would go into operating an airplane from A to B. That business model caught the attention of Warren Buffett, and in 1998, Berkshire Hathaway bought Netjets and has held on to it since. You see in the luxury travel segment overall people are making more of an investment in experiences than in things that certainly has been a tailwind for us, you know, if I'm being honest, the commercial experience has not gotten any better over the last several years, and that has driven more people to want to fly Net jets. During the pandemic, demand for private air travel soared as people feared crowded airports and packed planes. In the US, business aviation traffic in 2021 hit record highs, surpassing the 2019 levels, and in 2021 saw over 3.3 million private jets worldwide, a 7% increase over pre-pandemic levels. Only about 10% of the people who met the financial norms or averages of private aviation were actually flying privately, and COVID certainly unlocked some portion of that addressable market. And then the big question was would they go back to the airlines when the pandemic subsided and masks came off and vaccines went in arms. After the initial COVID boom, many private airline companies saw slumps in profits, but in Q1 of 2025, Berkshire Hathaway reported a profit bump in its service division, which had contributed to its aviation services. For Netjets, we're operating at 40-45% larger than we were in 2019, so we've maintained record retention rates. Major commercial airlines are trying to claw back premium travelers by rolling out redesigned business class cabins, faster boarding, and high-end lounges. But for some flyers, the best perks aren't enough. Anonymity is key to our business. One of the appeals of flying net jets versus owning your own airplane is that you're virtually untraceable. Whether you have concerns about appearances or whether you have concerns about safety. Netjets can provide that in a way that. You can't get owning your own airplane. As the demand for private flights increases, so does the visibility of their impact. Each trip emits many times more carbon emissions per passenger than a commercial trip, and that's drawn growing scrutiny, especially as more celebrities and CEOs are called out for frequent short haul trips. When Taylor Swift's private jet usage was tracked online in 2023, it sparked a wave of backlash and highlighted the growing divide between convenience and climate responsibility. Now with the business booming, even the industry's biggest players are under pressure to address the carbon footprint. Sustainability is at the forefront for our industry right now, and the way that we're addressing it at Netchets is we are the largest buyer of sustainable aviation fuel in the industry. We offer carbon offset programs for our customers. We offset all of our own internal company flying, so anything that we do for maintenance flights or training flights or anything like that, we buy the carbon credits to offset. As commercial travel faces continued pressure from rising costs to growing delays, demand for more efficient discrete options isn't likely to vanish. Private aviation remains a niche but profitable business fueled by clients who value control more than cost.

A surge of public and private investment, combined with rapidly evolving sponsorship opportunities and the star power of female athletes has led to a rise in both popularity and viewership across women’s sports. Despite these advances, gender inequality persists when it comes to funding, media coverage, and the equal treatment of female athletes. A conversation on the challenges and thrills of breaking records, shattering taboos, and driving the world of women’s sports forward.

Playing To Win: Women, Sports, and Breaking Barriers

Conferences

Trek CEO, John Burke, takes us inside the company’s high-stakes race to stay ahead in a rapidly shifting cycling industry. As e-bikes surge in popularity, supply chains evolve, and consumer habits change, Burke shares how Trek is adapting its strategy to lead the pack. From innovation and sustainability to manufacturing and tariff trouble, Burke sheds light on the challenges and opportunities of the billion-dollar family business.

Trek built a $2B business. Now Tariffs are jeopardizing its future.

Trek CEO, John Burke, takes us inside the company’s high-stakes race to stay ahead in a rapidly shifting cycling industry.

Bikes might just have pedals, but they're powering an industry worth over $60 billion globally. High-end cycling has seen a renaissance in the past decade, fueled by a surge in e-bike popularity and a wave of amateur road racers investing in pro-level gear. Few companies have ridden that wave more successfully than Trek. Trek has doubled in size over the past decade, taking its $1 billion revenue in 2016 to $2 billion in 2024. But now the company faces global economic headwinds. Tariffs, how have they affected track? Huge. You know, we're an international business. Put in the chat GPT, chances of a successful 49-year-old company lasting 100 years, and the answer came back 8%. And so I play against that number every day. So with the increased economic uncertainty, how will Trek maneuver to stay relevant in a volatile landscape? The bicycle has always had a boom and bust relationship with American consumers from explosive growth in the 1890s and 1970s to sharp crashes just years after those. The industry has had to recover countless times, and out of the ashes, Preck was born in 1976. My first day at Trek, the training program was one day. I graduated from school, went home, got my wisdom teeth pulled, and the next day I was at Trek, and I remember my first boss, Joel Holden, he told me, he said all the great salespeople drive on Sunday, and I lived in the Rocky Mountains. And I had like 12 states and so I would always drive on Sunday um just to get be in position for Monday morning. John Burke took over as CEO in 1997 from his father, who founded the company in 1976 in Waterloo, Wisconsin. 1982 I was in college and my dad, he wanted to go on a bike trip and so we went out to Colorado. He always loved challenges. He thought it'd be super cool if we could climb Independence Pass. and so early one morning he and I climbed up Independence Pass, and that's been a famous photo. We have a saying, a track called Think Bigger Than the Barn. Tell me about the Red Barn. Well, this is where it all started. Red Barn downtown Waterloo, Wis. 1976, I think the first year there were 6 employees and they made about 700 bikes and you know, a lot of times during the day I'll just walk down to the red barn and back and I feel something when I go down there and it keeps me focused. So I love the red barn. As you were a kid, the company was rising. The day you start, it crashes. What facilitates that crash? I think it was arrogant. I think it was not focusing on the customer. It was kind of focused Trek focused on Trek and Trek didn't take care of the customer and then they got into some product issues and it kind of went downhill from there. My father came in and he took over running the business, and he studied the business for 2 or 3 months and said we're gonna have a quality product at a competitive value and we're going to deliver it on time and that's it. And it sounds so boring today, but at that time Trek was doing none of those things. Now imagine, say theoretically you're someone like me who has not ridden a bike in a while. Where would you recommend I start? If you haven't ridden a bike and you want to get into biking? One of the things I'd really recommend is an e-bike. Can I show you my favorite e-bike? Yes, I love this bike, and the reason I love it is because I have one. And the one thing about e-bikes is anyone who rides one has a huge smile on their face every single time. I mean, you get on a bike, it's unbelievable. You can do 2 X, 3 X 4X, where you could usually do. Once considered a niche product, e-bikes are now one of the fastest growing segments in cycling, projected to top $50 billion worldwide by 2030. Trek has leaned into the electric surge, expanding its e-bike lineup across mountain, road, and city models. E-bikes have been a big part of Trek's growth. It's a big part of our sales right now, but if you take a look at racing bikes, We do really well in racing bikes. The unit volume isn't that high. The dollar volume is really high, and we have a really strong brand there. When Lance Armstrong, a trek athlete, rose to fame after multiple Tour de France wins, his celebrity status had a huge impact. Not only did the bike industry see a boost in interest, Trek specifically saw an increase in sales and cultural interest, dubbing it the Lance effect. The global racing bike market is now valued at $7 billion. Tell me a little bit about Trek's customer. Some of these bikes are thousands of dollars. Who is a Trek customer? Well, you know, just a quote that it's always stuck into my head is, you can judge the greatness of a person not at one extremity, but by their ability to touch both at the same time. We saw a lot of kids' bikes, really cool kids' bikes. But then we sell a lot of $15,000 Project one custom bikes. We touch both extremities and everything in between. Are you looking to expand in those categories, or are you still right sizing after the pandemic? Oh, we're always looking to expand. When COVID-19 hit in 2020, global supply chains ground to a halt, but bike demand exploded. With gyms closed and mass transit viewed as a health risk, people turned to bicycles and droves. For many, it was a safe solo way to stay active or simply get outside. For others, it became a critical form of urban transport. The explosion of interest made bike companies. Ramp up manufacturing. What was happening is a lot of retailers were placing just a ton of orders because they couldn't get everything they wanted, so they just kept placing orders and we're like, God, we're geniuses, and we were not geniuses. And so we kept producing more and more and then the music stopped and there were 5060 day lead times had grown to 500. lead times and so you had this massive amount of inventory. I was reading somewhere where you sort of said something to the effect of trek has to be an international business. That's part of what success looks like, but it is a very difficult time to be an international business. brutal. OK, so yeah, I love how we're we're already here. Yeah, tariffs, how have they affected trek? Huge. You know, we're an international business. We design products in the United States, we build products in the United States, we source products in Asia. We have a large factory in Europe. We do more than 50% of our business outside the United States. We're a global company. And we've got tariff policies that are changing on a constant basis. I'm just telling you, we just increased our prices last week 10%. Tariffs can have a massive impact on a company that potentially can have a huge impact on employment levels. Over 50% of Trek's business is done outside the United States. Why would it be difficult for Trek to move all of its manufacturing to the United States? Yeah, you know, we actually This goes back to the mid 90s. We actually had a manufacturing plant that built a lot of volume bikes in the US and it's really hard because the infrastructure doesn't exist. There are not frame manufacturers. There aren't parts manufacturers. Like you can't buy tires, you don't have rim suppliers. You don't have brake suppliers, you don't have crank suppliers. All that business is gone. It hasn't been in the US for 40 years. It doesn't exist. So to snap your fingers and go, let's reshore everything. By the time you resor stuff and started at that, you're 5 years down the road. And for people to think that you can just go like that, you can't. So what are we looking at here? This is one of the most famous moments in trek history. It was maybe 6 or 7 years ago somebody came back and they said, Do you really know what's going on with women's cycling? And I said, No. And they said, Well, they don't make any money. They stay in the worst hotels. They get the worst amount of support, and I was like, Oh, brutal. And I said well why don't we buy a team and we'll do it the right way. And so we started our own cycling team and there's a race called Perry Rubay and it's only for men and it is the most difficult roads in Belgium in that area and it's all cobbles and it's just really hard. They added a women's event. It was 2019 and that's Lizzie Begman and that's the year Lizzie won the first Perry Rube. What does the future of bicycling in the US look like and where does that intersect with the future of track? I think bicycling in the United States is important for a bunch of different reasons. Number one is just exercise. If you take a look at it today, 42% of Americans are obese. The government helped to bring smoking down. The government helped take care of drunk driving. I think the government can play a Bigger role with the health of the American people and the biggest aspect of that is getting people outside and getting people exercising. So I think that's one thing, you know, I just take a look at transportation, you know, a majority of car trips are 2 miles or less, and would you rather drive a car 2 miles or less, or would you rather be on a bike or would you rather be walking in the United States, if we define a car trip. And we say going to work, going to school, going to the restaurant, going to the market, 1.5% of trips are taken by bicycle. If you go to Holland, that number is 25%, and you have to say from a societal standpoint, do we want more and more people driving cars. or would it be really good if people rode their bikes or walked? And I think for physical health, mental health, healthcare costs, we need to get the country moving, and I think cycling is one way that you can do that.

Almost five years after the COVID-19 pandemic normalized remote work, companies like Amazon are attempting to pull their employees back into the office five days a week. But despite mandates from some of the biggest companies, most CEOs we talked to prefer a different model.

We Asked CEOs About RTO Mandates—Hybrid Work Won by a Landslide

Leadership

Nearly five years after the COVID-19 pandemic popularized remote work, companies like Amazon are pushing for a full return to the office. However, most CEOs we talked to prefer a different model.

The days of everyone heading into the same office to work 5 days a week came to a dramatic halt in 2020 as COVID shook the world. But this year, another shift has been happening for many organizations that continued allowing employees to work remotely beyond the pandemic. Here come the employees back to work in the city, no more working from home. Amazon is demanding its corporate employees return to the. Of 5 days a week forcing employees to come back into the office. They're being ordered back to the office. This year's slew of return to office mandates have made headlines as some of the biggest companies, including Amazon and Walmart, have announced full 5 day a week returns to office for their workforces, and Elon Musk, a CEO known for railing against remote work, has shared plans to mandate a return to office for all. US federal employees once President-elect Trump takes office through the proposed Department of Government Efficiency. But research suggests that these mandates lead to an exodus of high performing employees, and not all CEOs and business leaders agree. In fact, the vast majority of executives we spoke to at last month's Fortune Global Forum said that a version of remote work was here to stay, the hybrid work model. I'm thinking it's going to be hybrid forever. I'm thinking the all in or the all out doesn't work. I think people get motivated by being with each other. I think they also have incredibly complex lives and they need to balance. The hybrid model brings together new and old ways of working, combining the flexibility and autonomy of remote work with the culture and collaboration that comes along with face to face office environments. Workers spend their own money and time each day they head to an office, so remote days mitigate that burden while also making it easier for them to handle kids. Appointments and other responsibilities. Some companies are leaving the decision up to the employees. In our office space where people could be remote, we've allowed people to make that decision themselves. and about 70% of our workforce that's adopted to the fact that they don't have to commute, they don't have to buy work clothes, they don't have to have that chunk out of their day. They can do their Work when it fits for them. One thing we know is if our workforce likes it, they do a better job for our customers. So the hybrid way in our conclusion is the best balance between the two sides. What one has to realize is that extreme of either side is bad. This motivation to avoid extremes turned out to be a prime factor for many in finding balance through a hybrid work model. CEOs agree that there is an element of creativity and collaboration that just can't be replicated in a fully remote environment. Being in person, collaborating, learning from each other was really important to me and and important to how I grew up as a as a leader. So that is an important part of collaboration. It's an important part of leadership development, and I think we've we've sort of lost some of that over the last few years. It's not just staying in your lane and doing the work you have to do today. We can be very efficient at doing that over Zoom and remotely, but it's when we're together, we get the creativity, so it's critically important to have people together. We value the time we spend together and so we try to make those 3 days the same 3 days so that we can all work together and then understanding the realities of life outside of the office and the difficulties of commuting. And providing some flexibility on the on the edges, I think is important. It allows us to retain, attract and retain a really talented workforce. While there are benefits to working together in person, some see the return to office mandates as a thinly veiled way to reduce headcount by getting employees to resign in protest. You're seeing a whole lot of pushback from major corporations where they're trying to bring people back into the office, and they know that as a part of that. Will further reduce their workforce. Elon Musk even admitted this is a reason behind his plan to end remote work for federal employees. Requiring federal employees to come to the office 5 days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome. But whether headcount reduction is the goal behind these decisions or not, it's turning out to be the result. Amazon employees began mass applying for new positions, and a survey found that 73% of these workers were considering quitting. And following Walmart's return to office announcement, Sam's Club chief technology officer resigned in protest. But despite the rise of hardline stances to in-office mandates, the leaders we spoke to praised the best of both worlds approach. We've all learned as employers that you can be really, really productive even when you're not in the same physical location. So I expect that this is a trend that is here to stay. People have different work styles. Lifestyles and approaches as long as we're in pursuit of the same mission, as long as we are keeping pace with each other, uh, it's up to them. I believe that the flexibility is probably something that needs to be there for a lot of people in order to make their everyday life work even better, so. I like the fact that they have that flexibility, but I also like when we're all together in the in the office, magic happens when people come together, so I like that we get together in the office as well.

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