- In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady on Fortune’s Global 500.
- The big story: Mass shooting rocks Blackstone HQ.
- The markets: Up, again!
- Analyst notes from Macquarie on the Fed, JPMorgan on earnings beats and misses, EY-Parthenon on jobs, and JPMorgan on business sentiment.
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning. Fortune published its Global 500 list this morning, our annual ranking of the world’s largest companies. Combined, they generated $41.7 trillion in revenue last year, with $2.98 trillion in profit—the second-most-profitable year since the Global 500 launched in 1990. (Fortune’s international ranking debuted in 1976 but originally excluded U.S. companies.)
Our flagship Fortune 500 list of U.S. companies is published about two months earlier due to financial reporting deadlines. And many of the world’s largest companies are American, accounting for six of the top 10 spots. Walmart is No. 1 on both lists for 12 straight years.
There are fascinating shifts, especially as you move down the list. AI chipmaker Nvidia moved up 156 spots to No. 66 while Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD was up 52 spots to No. 91. As my colleague Vivienne Walt reports, BYD has passed Tesla (No. 106) in the electric-car race and is now taking on Volkswagen (No. 12) in Europe.
What goes up can also come down, as once-dominant players struggle to compete in a new era. Twenty years ago, BP was No. 2 on the Global 500 and a pioneer in the green energy transition. Today, as Jordan Blum reports, it’s No. 33 and struggling to regain ground as its pivot to clean energy backfired.
I’d also point you to a feature on Ping An Insurance (No. 47) by Nicholas Gordon. It’s a fascinating look at how an insurer with 242 million retail customers—dwarfing No. 7 UnitedHealth Group’s 152 million customers—is innovating to cater to China’s ageing consumers. It’s another reminder that the global business landscape is full of companies that are finding plenty of opportunity outside the U.S.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
