Fortune Releases Global 500 List, Total Operating Income Reaches $37.8 Trillion

On August 3, the 2022 Fortune Global 500 list was released. This year, the total operating income of Fortune Global 500 companies is about $37.8 trillion, an increase of 19.2% over the previous year, equivalent to two-fifths of the global GDP, close to the sum total of China and the United States’ GDPs.

The entry threshold (minimum sales revenue) also jumped from $24 billion to $28.6 billion. At the same time, the total net profit of all listed companies this year is about $3.1 trillion, a sharp increase of 88% year-on-year, which is the biggest increase since 2004.

Walmart became the world’s largest company for the ninth consecutive year, Amazon rose to second place, and the State Grid Corporation of China ranked third. China National Petroleum Corporation and Sinopec Group ranked fourth and fifth respectively. JD.com, Alibaba, and Tencent ranked 46th, 55th, and 121th respectively. Huawei ranked 96th this year, dropping 52 places from last year.

There are 33 automobile and parts manufacturers on the list, with total revenue increasing by 16% and total profit rising by 242%. Among them, there are 23 enterprises mainly engaged in automobiles, and 7 of them are from China. Compared with 2021, except Geely and BYD, the rankings of the other five Chinese automobile companies all declined.

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The growth of the number of companies from the Chinese mainland (including Hong Kong) declined this year, adding only one to 136 companies. Together with China’s Taiwanese enterprises, there are 145 companies in China on the list. By contrast, the U.S. has 124 companies on the list this year, an increase of 2 from the previous year.

This year, the average operating income of enterprises in Chinese mainland (including Hong Kong) reached $80.98 billion, which was greatly improved compared with last year. In addition, their average total assets are $358 billion and average net assets are $43.18 billion, both exceeding the average level of the Fortune Top 500 companies.

However, the gap between the profitability of Chinese companies and the average level of Fortune 500 companies is widening. The average profit of 145 Chinese companies on the list is about $4.1 billion, which is an improvement within its own ranks, but the average profit of the Fortune Top 500 companies is $6.2 billion in the same period.