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On August 5, 2024, the Fortune Global 500 list was released. The list is ranked based on the company's operating income, profit, assets and other indicators.

This year, the combined revenue of the 500 companies on the list is approximately $41 trillion, equivalent to one-third of the world’s GDP;

The minimum sales revenue for the list increased from US$30.9 billion to US$32.1 billion.

The total corporate profits of all listed companies were close to 3 trillion US dollars, an increase of 2.3% over the previous year.

The top 500 companies continue to expand, but 33 of them are seriously weak

It is reported that except for the total profit of the 500 companies on the list which is slightly lower than that of the companies on the list in the previous year (2022), other indicators, including total assets, total net assets and total number of employees employed, have reached the highest peak since the establishment of the Fortune Global 500 list.

In terms of quantity ranking, this year, the United States has 139 companies on the list, 3 more than last year, ranking first among all countries. Walmart has been the world's largest company for the eleventh consecutive year, and Amazon has returned to second place. China has a total of 133 companies on the list, 9 fewer than last year.

In the profit list, three American technology companies - Apple, Google's parent company Alphabet and Microsoft - ranked second, fourth and fifth respectively. Berkshire Hathaway ranked third in this year's profit list with a profit of more than $96.2 billion.

In the profit margin list, Visa ranked first with a net profit margin of over 52%. Among the top five companies with the highest profit margins, three are from the semiconductor and electronic components industry, namely Nvidia, TSMC and Broadcom, ranking second to fourth.

In the ROE list, Home Depot retained the top spot with a ROE of over 1,450%, Oracle jumped to second place with a ROE of over 792%, Cencora and Apple ranked third and fourth respectively.

But big does not mean strong. This year, a total of 33 companies failed to make a profit, indicating serious weakness.

British American Tobacco ranked first on the loss list, with a loss of more than $17.8 billion. Affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and EU sanctions, Gazprom ranked second, with a loss of more than $7.3 billion.

Several Chinese companies also appeared among them, including China National Chemical Corporation (Group) with a loss of US$3.666 billion, Greenland Holdings Group Co., Ltd. with a loss of RMB 1.35 billion, China Life Insurance (Group) with a loss of RMB 841 million, CPC Corporation (Taiwan) with a loss of RMB 657 million, and Dongfeng Motor Corporation with a loss of RMB 392 million.

133 Chinese companies are on the list, and their development quality needs to be improved

This year, a total of 133 Chinese companies made the list, including 128 companies from mainland China (including Hong Kong, China) and 5 companies from Taiwan, China.

In terms of operating revenue, this year, the total revenue of the 133 Chinese companies on the list in 2023 will be approximately US$11 trillion, a decrease of approximately 6% compared with the 142 companies on the list last year; the average sales revenue is approximately US$83 billion, lower than the average revenue of US companies on the list of US$99 billion, and slightly higher than the average of all 500 companies on the list.

It is worth noting that there are 112 state-owned enterprises on this year's Fortune Global 500 list, and more than two-thirds of these companies are headquartered in China.

Among them, this year is the third consecutive year that State Grid ranks third on the list and the first among Chinese companies on the list. Sinopec's ranking rose one place from last year and ranked second among Chinese companies on the list. China National Petroleum Corporation followed closely behind.

In terms of operating profit, the average profit of companies in mainland China (including Hong Kong) on ​​the list was US$3.9 billion, which was lower than the average profit of US$5.9 billion for all 500 companies on the list, and less than half of the average profit of US$8.8 billion for US companies.

Three Chinese companies made it into the top ten of the profit list, all of which are commercial banks: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China. Among them, ICBC's profit exceeded US$51.4 billion.

In terms of return on equity (ROE), only two Chinese companies made it into the top 50 - Chery Holding Group ranked 40th with a ROE of 35%, and Pinduoduo ranked 47th.

In terms of industry, among the 15 fields in which Chinese companies are listed, the development of "automobiles and auto parts" is relatively prominent. A total of 10 Chinese automobile and auto parts companies are on the list, which are:

SAIC Motor, FAW Group, BYD, GAC Group, Geely Holding, BAIC Group, Dongfeng Motor Group, CATL, Chery Holding and Xiaomi.

Benefiting from the recovery of China's Internet industry, Meituan became the Chinese company with the largest ranking improvement in the list, jumping 83 places to 384th place. JD.com, ranked 47th, entered the top 50 for the first time, replacing Ping An of China as the largest private company in mainland China.

Beijing leads the pack, Zhejiang hits new high

In 2024, Beijing had 49 companies on the Fortune Global 500 list, ranking first in the country and the world, but the number was 4 less than the previous year.

Thirteen Shanghai companies were listed in the Fortune Global 500, one more than last year, ranking second in the country in total number. The new Shanghai company on the list is Pinduoduo.

Pinduoduo made it onto the Fortune Global 500 list for the first time this year. Its success story reflects how an emerging e-commerce platform quickly gained a foothold in the market by deeply understanding the needs of users in the lower-tier markets. However, the lower-tier markets have also brought many "backlash effects" to Pinduoduo, and how to let consumers benefit from low prices in the long term has become a challenge facing the company.

A total of 17 companies from Guangdong Province made the list, with China Ping An Insurance (Group) Co., Ltd. ranking the highest at 53rd; Shenzhen-based BYD is the Chinese company with the largest ranking improvement.

In terms of city distribution, Shenzhen has 9 companies on the list, one less than last year, ranking third in the country. Guangzhou has 6 companies, and Dongguan and Foshan have 1 each.

This year, a total of 10 Zhejiang companies were shortlisted for the "Fortune Global 500", setting a historical record. They are:

Alibaba Group Holding Limited, Zhejiang Rongsheng Holding Group Co., Ltd., Wuchuang Zhongda Group Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Hengyi Group Co., Ltd., Tsingshan Holding Group Co., Ltd., Zhejiang Communications Investment Group Co., Ltd., Hangzhou Industrial Investment Group Co., Ltd., Hangzhou Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd., and Hailiang Group Co., Ltd.

Among them, Alibaba Group ranked 70th with a revenue of US$131.338 billion, with relatively stable performance, leading the Zhejiang enterprises in the Fortune Global 500; Hangzhou Industrial Investment Group Co., Ltd. entered the list for the first time, with an annual revenue of US$37.398 billion, ranking 402nd; Hailiang Group Co., Ltd. re-entered the list after a year's absence, with an annual revenue of US$35.702 billion, ranking 429th.