The 500 largest companies on the globe grew by 19% last year.
With the largest ever representation from China, the 500 companies generated $37 trillion in revenue, representing the group’s greatest increase ever.
The top ten companies on the Fortune Global 500 were Walmart, Amazon, State Grid, China National Petroleum, Sinopec Group, Saudi Aramco, Apple, Volkswagen, China State Construction Engineering, and CVS Health. Walmart has held the first place position for nine years in a row now. This is Amazon’s highest ranking on the list.
For the first time, revenues from Chinese companies—including Taiwan—on the list surpassed revenues of U.S. companies on the list.
Mainland China—including Hong Kong—had 136 companies on the list. Greater China—China plus Taiwan—had 145 companies on the list. The U.S. had 124 and Japan had 47.
“A rebound from the worst depths of the pandemic created a huge tailwind for the world’s largest companies by revenue. Aggregate sales and profits hit record levels in fiscal year 2021 for the Fortune Global 500,” wrote Fortune list editor Scott DeCarlo.
Fortune 500 companies create more than one-third of the global GDP. That amount increased 19% last year, bringing the total to $37.8 trillion. Collective profits increased by 88%, a record number.
Companies were ranked based on their reports by March 2022.