Fortune has come out with its Global 500 issue. Based on revenue, Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT | WMT Price Prediction) tops the rankings at $681 billion. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) trails at $638 billion. Many of the top 50 are based in China. The United States has 138 companies on the list, while China has 130.
The U.S. still holds most of the top 10 companies. UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) is in seventh place with revenue of $400 billion. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) takes the eighth spot ($381 billion), and CVS Health Corp. (NYSE: CVS) is in ninth place ($373 billion). Rounding out the top 10 is Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) with $371 billion in revenue.
Most of the balance of the largest U.S. companies on the list are in tech, financial services, or automotive. The fact that JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) make the high end of the list is a sign that core financial services and manufacturing are far from dead in America.
Taken together, the Global 500 have massive revenue: “The corporations on our annual list of the world’s 500 largest companies combined to generate $41.7 trillion in revenue in 2024, up 1.8% from the previous year.” This year’s number is over 30% of global gross domestic product. Together, the companies employ 71 million people. That is more people than live in the United Kingdom.
The list shows that global commerce and finance are dominated by a very few companies, given that the global total has to be tens of millions of businesses.
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