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Author: Bi Fengzhi, trainee reporter Yang Qiaoyu, Chen Shan

Editor: Huang Xinran

On August 5, the 2024 Fortune Global 500 list was released, and the threshold for making the list (minimum sales revenue) increased from US$30.9 billion to US$32.1 billion.

The total operating revenue of all listed companies is about 41 trillion US dollars.This is equivalent to one-third of the global GDP.This is a slight increase of about 0.1% over last year; the total net profit is about 2.97 trillion US dollars, an increase of 2.3% year-on-year. Since 1995, 140 companies have never fallen off the list.

The three countries with the largest number of companies on the list areThe United States (139), China (133), Japan (40),A total of 312 companies account for 62% of the total number of listed companies, 67% of the total revenue, and 65% of the total profits.

In terms of the distribution of urban clusters, 102 Chinese companies are headquartered inThe three major urban agglomerations of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (52 companies), Yangtze River Delta (28 companies) and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (22 companies) accounted for 76.7%.

Which is the most "handsome" company?

Walmart has the highest revenue, Saudi Aramco is the most profitable

Walmart has topped the Fortune Global 500 list for 11 consecutive years and has topped the list 19 times since 1995.As the world's largest company, Walmart had revenue of $648.1 billion last year and employs 2.1 million people worldwide.

This year, Amazon returned to the second place on the list (from fourth place last year);China's State Grid, Sinopec, and PetroChina ranked among the top ten.Ranked third, fifth and sixth respectively.

From the perspective of revenue, Saudi Aramco's overall ranking fell from second last year to fourth this year. From the perspective of profit, although Saudi Aramco's profit fell by about 24% year-on-year, it still topped the sub-list profit list with a profit of about US$120.7 billion.

Apple, UnitedHealth Group, and Berkshire Hathaway ranked seventh, eighth, and ninth on the overall list. However, in the sub-list profit list, Apple (US$97 billion) ranked second, Berkshire Hathaway (US$96.2 billion) ranked third, and Google's parent company Alphabet (US$73.8 billion) and Microsoft (US$72.4 billion) ranked fourth and fifth.

There are three Chinese companies in the top ten of the profit list, all of which are commercial banks:Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (US$51.4 billion), China Construction Bank (US$47 billion), and Agricultural Bank of China (US$38 billion).

Who has the highest "jump degree"?

Nvidia, Pinduoduo and others made the list for the first time

This year's Fortune Global 500 list includes 13 new companies and 30 returning companies.Nvidia made its debut on the list, ranking 222nd, the highest ranking among the companies making their debut this year.Fifteen companies jumped at least 100 places from last year’s ranking, with the biggest rise coming from UBS Group, which rose 165 places to 182nd this year.

This year, the total revenue of China's 133 companies on the list in 2023 is about 11 trillion US dollars, with 4 companies entering the top 20 and 30 companies entering the top 100;5 are new or re-listed companies, 6 have unchanged rankings, 46 have risen in ranking, and 76 have fallen in ranking.

Chery, Hangshi Group and Pinduoduo are all on the list for the first time.Hailiang Group and AIA Group are back on the list. Chery and Pinduoduo are still the only two Chinese companies in the top 50 of the sub-list of return on net assets.

State Grid (3rd), China Railway Construction (43rd), China Baowu Steel Group (44th), China Communications Construction (63rd), China Merchants Bank (179th), and China Aviation Oil (483rd) are ranked the same as last year.

This year, four Chinese companies rose by at least 50 places, namely Meituan (384th, up 83 places), BYD (143rd, up 69 places), Shenghong Holdings (171st, up 51 places), and Taikang Insurance Group (381st, up 50 places).

JD.com once again entered the top 50, ranking 47th this year, replacing Ping An of China as the largest private company in mainland China.

Huawei Investment and Holding Co., Ltd. ranked 103rd this year, up 8 places from last year.

Alibaba ranked 70th this year, down 2 places.

From the above inventory, we can see thatThe overall ranking of China's major Internet companies on the list has risen.Among the five Internet giants, except for Alibaba which dropped two places, the rankings of JD.com, Tencent and Meituan all improved, and Pinduoduo made the list for the first time.

Which industries have the most companies on the list?

The largest number of banks, Chinese auto companies perform well

Looking at the industry distribution of the world's top 500 companies in 2024, the five major industries of finance, energy, vehicles and parts, high technology and healthcare account for 60% of the total number of companies on the list and 65% of the total revenue. Among them, the financial industry ranks first among all industries, generating $8.6 trillion in revenue.

Specifically, the largest number of banks (commercial savings) on the list is 57, of which 9 are from China. The automotive sector is developing rapidly.There are 37 companies from the vehicle and parts industry, 10 of which are Chinese companies.They are SAIC Motor, FAW Group, BYD, GAC Group, Geely Holding, BAIC Group, Dongfeng Motor, CATL, Chery Holding, and Jardine Matheson Group. Except for Chery, which is on the list for the first time, the rankings of the other nine companies have mostly risen year-on-year.

Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that in 2023, my country's automobile production and sales reached 30.161 million and 30.094 million respectively, up 11.6% and 12% year-on-year respectively. Both production and sales exceeded 30 million for the first time, ranking first in the world for 15 consecutive years.

Among the 133 Chinese companies on the list, the largest number are not actually banks and car companies, but more from the following four industries: energy and minerals (17 companies), metal products (16 companies), information technology (14 companies), and engineering and construction (12 companies).

In addition, there are 33 high-tech companies on the Fortune Global 500 this year, with an average operating income of $88.2 billion and an average profit of $14.6 billion. The operating profit rate of high-tech companies ranks among the best in the industry. Huawei is still the leader of Chinese companies in this field, with sales of nearly $100 billion and profits of about $12.3 billion in 2023.

Where are the headquarters of the Fortune 500 companies located?

More than 70% of my country's listed companies are concentrated in three major urban agglomerations

Globally, a quarter of the Fortune Global 500 companies have their headquarters in Beijing, Tokyo, New York, Shanghai and Seoul.

As for Chinese companies on the list,The largest number of companies are headquartered in Beijing (49), Guangdong (17) and Shanghai (13), which together account for 59% of the total number of Chinese companies on the list.

From the perspective of distribution in urban agglomerations, 102 Chinese companies’ headquarters are concentrated in the three major urban agglomerations of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (52, a decrease of 3), Yangtze River Delta (28, an increase of 3) and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (22, a decrease of 3), accounting for 76.7%.

The 22 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area companies on the list this year will have a total revenue of approximately US$1.39 trillion and a total profit of US$91.9 billion in 2023;The headquarters are mainly located in Shenzhen (9), Guangzhou (6), Hong Kong (5), and there is 1 each in Dongguan and Foshan.

Among the companies in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Ping An of China ranked the highest (53rd), and has topped the list of the Greater Bay Area's Fortune Global 500 companies for six consecutive years. AIA returned to the list after a year, ranking 446th.

Guangzhou Industrial Control (394th, up 20 places) and Guangxin Group (414th, up 13 places), which made the list for the first time last year, have both risen in ranking. Luxshare Precision, which also made the list for the first time last year, dropped slightly by 9 places this year to 488th. The Bay Area companies that have risen the most in ranking are BYD (up 69 places) and Shenzhen Investment Holdings (up 21 places).

In terms of industry distribution, the listed companies in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area involve information technology, automobiles, insurance, diversified finance, pharmaceuticals and biology, industrial machinery, transportation and logistics, real estate, home appliances and other fields, including high-tech companies such as Huawei, Tencent, Lenovo, BYD, China Electronics, and Luxshare Precision. Looking to the future, driven by strategies such as "manufacturing as the master" and "high-quality development of manufacturing", more Fortune 500 companies will be born in the Greater Bay Area.

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Editor of this issue: Li Yutong

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