American Henry Luce founded Fortune magazine in 1929 against the backdrop of the recession, believing that business culture is the core of a society and expecting Fortune to paint a picture of hope for the future of the sluggish economy. Fortune gets a lot of attention because of its annual list of the world's 500 largest companies, which the Chinese have come to call the "Fortune 500".
Fortune also ranks the 500 largest companies in the United States (also known as the Fortune 500), the most admired companies in the United States and around the world, the list of America's young billionaires, and the 25 most powerful entrepreneurs in global business. rankings. At the same time, Fortune magazine also organizes the Fortune Global Forum, which has now been held three times in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing, China.
Since 1995, the biennial Fortune Global Forum has been held nine times, in Singapore, Budapest, Bangkok, Paris, Washington, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing.
In 1995, Fortune magazine created the Fortune Global Forum to bring together CEOs of global multinational corporations, policymakers, and academics to ****talk together about the difficult issues facing multinational corporations and the world economy.
In 1999, the Fortune Global Forum was held for the first time in China, in Shanghai, China's largest industrial and commercial city, under the theme "Focusing on China's Next 50 Years".
In 2001, the seventh Fortune Global Forum was held in Hong Kong, China, with the theme "Asia's Next Generation", which aimed to explore the new business prospects emerging in the region, many of which were specifically related to China.
In May 2005, the Fortune Forum came to China for the third time, and this time it chose Beijing.
Compared with Forbes and BusinessWeek, which also publish company rankings, Fortune's Fortune 500 rankings are based on sales revenues and emphasize size. Business Week, on the other hand, both use market capitalization as the main basis; Forbes considers a combination of annual sales, profits, total assets and market capitalization. In addition, Forbes' Fortune 500 ranking does not include U.S. companies. Business Week's rankings are limited to developed countries, while Fortune ranks companies in every country in the world.
[edit]2008 Fortune 500 ranking list
Ranking Company logo Common name in Chinese Location of headquarters Major businesses Operating income in millions of dollars
1 Wal-Mart U.S. General merchandise retailing 378,799
2 ExxonMobil U.S. Refining 372,824
3 Royal Shell Petroleum Netherlands Refining 355,782
4 BP UK Refining 291,438
5 Toyota Motor Japan Automotive 230,201
6 Chevron US Refining 210,783
7 Holland International Group Netherlands Bank 201,516
8 Total France Refining 187,280
9 General Motors U.S. Automotive 182,347
10 ConocoPhillips U.S. Refining 178,558
11 Daimler Germany Automotive 177,167
12 General Electric U.S. Diversified 176,656
13 Ford Motors U.S. Automotive 172,468
14 Fortis Belgian/Dutch Bank 164,877
15 AXA France Insurance 162,762
16 Sinopec China Oil Refining 159,260
17 Citigroup U.S. Banks 159,229
18 Volkswagen Germany Automotive 149,054
19 Dexia Group Belgium Bank 147 147,648
20 HSBC Holdings UK Bank 146,500
21 BNP Paribas France Bank 140,726
22 Allianz Germany Insurance 140,618
23 Crédit Agricole France Bank 138,155
24 State Grid China Utilities 132,885
25 PetroChina p>25 China National Petroleum Corporation China Oil Refining 129,798
26 Deutsche Bank Germany Banking 122,644
27 Eni Italy Oil Refining 120,565
28 Bank of America USA Banking 119,190
29 American Telephone and Telegraph American Telecommunications 118,928
30 Berkshire Hills Inc. p>30 Berkshire Hathaway U.S. insurance 118,245
31 UBS AG Swiss bank 117,206
32 JPMorgan Chase U.S. bank 116,353
33 Carrefour France food, drugstores 115,585
34 Generali Assicurazioni Italy insurance 113,813
35 American International Group USA Insurance 110,064
36 Royal Bank of Scotland UK Banking 108,392
37 Siemens Germany Electronics, electrical equipment 106,444
38 Samsung Electronics Korea Electronics, electrical equipment 106,006
39 ArcelorMittal Luxembourg Metals 105,216
40 Honda Motor Japan Automobiles 105,102
41 Hewlett-Packard U.S. Computer Office Equipment 104,286
42 Petroleos Mexicanos Mexican Crude Oil Production 103,960
43 Société Générale (Société Générale) France Banks 103,443
44 McKesson U.S. Wholesale Health Care Products 101,703
45 Halifax Bank of Scotland UK Banking 100,267
46 International Business Machines US Information Technology Services 98,786
47 Gazprom Russia Energy 98,642
48 Hitachi Japan Electronics, Electrical Equipment 98,306
49 Valero Energy U.S. Refining 96,758
50 Nissan Motor Japan Automobiles 94,782
51 Tesco U.K. Food, Drug Stores 94,703
52 Ion Germany Energy 94,356
53 Verizon Communications U.S. Telecommunications 93,775
54 Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Japan Telecommunications 93 527
55 Deutsche Post Germany Post & Parcel 90,472
56 Metro Germany Food, Drug Stores 90,267
57 Nestlé Switzerland Food 89,630
58 Banco Internacional de Espa?a Spain Bank 89,295
59 Statoil Norway Oil Refining 89,224
60 Kartikska Kartikska Kartikska Kartikska Kartikska Kartikska Kartikska Kartikska Kartikska p>
60 Cardinal Health U.S. Healthcare Wholesale 88,364
61 Goldman Sachs U.S. Securities Brokerage 87,968
62 Morgan Stanley U.S. Securities 87,879
63 Petrobras Brazil Refining 87,735
64 Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom 85,570
65 The Home Depot US Specialty Retail 84,740
66 Peugeot France Automobiles 82,965
67 Legrand Korea Electrical & Electronic Equipment 82,096
68 Electricité de France France French Utilities 81,629
69 Ingenieur UK Insurance 81,317
70 Barclays UK Banking 80,347< /p>
71 Fiat Italy Automobiles 80,112
72 Panasonic Japan Electronics & Electrical Equipment 79,412
73 BASF Germany Chemistry 79,322
74 Credit Suisse Switzerland Banking 78,206
75 Sony Japan Electronics & Electrical Equipment 77,682
76 Telefónica International Spain Telecommunications 77,254
77 UniCredit Italy Italy Banking 77,030
78 BMW Germany Automobiles 76,675
79 Procter & Gamble U.S.A. Household & Personal Care 76,476
80 CVS Caremark U.S.A. Food, Drug Stores 76,330< /p>
81 UnitedHealth U.S. Healthcare & Insurance 75,431
82 Hyundai Motor Korea Automotive 74,900
83 USPS U.S. Postal & Parcel Express 74,778
84 France Telecom France Telecom 72,488
85 Vodafone UK Telecom 71,202
86 Sunkyoung Korea Refining 70,717
87 Kroger USA Food, Drug Stores 70,235
88 Nokia Finland Network Communications Equipment 69,886
89 ThyssenKrupp Germany Metals 68,799
90 LUKOIL Russia Refining 67,205
91 Toshiba Japan Electronics, Electrical Equipment 67,145
92 Repsol YPF Spain Refining 67,006
93 Boeing U.S. Aerospace & Defense 66,387
94 Prudential U.K. Insurance 66,358
95 PETRONAS Malaysia Refining 66,218
96 American Bergen U.S. Healthcare Wholesale 66,. 074
97 Suez France Energy 64,982
98 Munich Re Germany Insurance 64,774
99 Costco USA Specialty Retail 64,400
100 Merrill Lynch USA Securities Brokerage 64,217
101 Bosch Germany Auto Parts 63,401
102 Target USA General Merchandise Retail 63,367
103 Global Insurance Group Netherlands Insurance 62,383
104 State Farm USA Insurance 61,612
105 Wellpoint USA Healthcare 61,134
106 Dell USA Computer Office Equipment 61,133
107 Johnson & Johnson US Pharmaceuticals 61,095
108 Marathon Oil US Refining 60,044
109 Electricità Italia Italian Utilities 59,778
110 Saint-Gobain France Building Glass 59,433
111 Lloyds TSB Group UK Banking 59,226
112 National Life Insurance France Insurance 59,071
113 Lehman Brothers US Stockbroking 59,003
114 Rheinland Group Germany Energy 58,383
115 Nippon Life Japan Insurance 57,859
116 Indian Oil India Refining 57,427
117 Nippon Oil Japan Refining 57,049
118 Mitsubishi UFH Japan Banking 55,988
119 Renault France Automobiles 55,684
120 Banco Wachovia (Associated Banks) U.S. Banking 55,528
121 Zurich Financial Switzerland Insurance 55,163
122 Unilever UK/Netherlands Food, consumer goods 55,006
123 United Technologies US Aerospace & defense 54,759
124 Groupe Caisse d'epargne France Banking 53,992
125 Walgreens US Food, drug stores 53,762
126 Wells Fargo Bank USA Banks 53,593
127 EADS Netherlands Aerospace Defense 53,550
128 Dow Chemical USA Chemical 53,513
129 MetLife USA Insurance 53,150
130 Mitsubishi Corporation Japan Trade 52,808
131 Maersk Group Denmark Marine 52,381
132 Hon Hai Precision Taiwan, China Electronics, Electrical Equipment 51,828
133 Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Bank of China 51,526
134 Banco Exterior Banco de Espa?a Banco de Espa?a 51,449
135 National Petroleum of Thailand Thai Oil Refining 51,192<
136 Microsoft USA Computer Software 51,122
137 Royal Ahold Netherlands Food, Drug Stores 50,739
138 Sears USA General Merchandise Retailing 50,703
139 Auchan France Food, Drug Stores 50,465
140 Mitsui & Co Japan Trading 50,252
141 7&I Holdings Japan Retail 49,768
142 United Parcel Shipping USA Parcel Post 49,692
143 Pfizer USA Pharmaceuticals 48,418
144 Banco Unione di San Paolo Italy Banking 48,305
145 Lloyd's USA Specialty Retailing 48, 283
146 Tokyo Electric Power Japan Utilities 47,980
147 Rabobank Netherlands Bank 47,388
148 China Mobile China Telecom 47,055
149 Fujitsu Japan Computer Office Equipment 46,680
150 Time Warner U.S. Entertainment 46,615
151 GlaxoSmithKline U.K. Pharmaceuticals 45,447
152 Caterpillar U.S. Industrial and Agricultural Equipment 44,958
153 Veolia France Utilities 44,750
154 Aeon Japan Food and Drug Stores 44,706
155 Bayer Germany Chemical 44,664
156 Mecox Healthcare USA Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare 44,506
157 Supervalu USA Food, Drug Stores 44,048
158 Archer Daniels Midland USA Food Manufacturing 44,018
159 China Life China Insurance 43,440
160 Telecom Italia Telecom Italia 43,394
161 Fannie Mae U.S. Finance 43,355
162 Freddie Mac U.S. Finance 43,104
163 Deutsche Bundesbahn Germany Railway Transportation 42,855
164 Sivway U.S. Food, Drug Stores 42,286
165 Nippon Steel Corp. Japan Metals 42,267
166 British Telecom United Kingdom Telecommunications 42,252
167 Volvo Sweden Automotive 42,230
168 Sun Oil United States Oil Refining 42,101
169 Vancy France Engineering & Construction 41,969
170 Lockheed Martin United States Aerospace Defense 41 41,862
171 China Construction Bank Bank of China 41,307
172 Bouygues France Engineering & Construction 40,721
173 Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Bank of Japan 40,486
174 Nippon Electric Company Japan Computer & Office Equipment 40,430
175 Roche Switzerland Pharmaceuticals 40,315
168 Roche Switzerland Pharmaceuticals 40,315
176 Sprint Nextel U.S. Telecommunications 40,146
177 Best Buy U.S. Specialty Retail 40,023
178 Sanofi Aventis France Pharmaceuticals 39,977
179 Harnier Group Germany Healthcare Wholesale 39,931
180 Dai-ichi Life Japan Insurance 39,863
181 Novartis Switzerland Pharmaceuticals 39,800
182 Mizuho Financial Group Japan Banking 39,610
183 BHP Billiton Group Australia Mining, Crude Oil Production 39,498
184 PepsiCo U.S. Foods, Consumer Goods 39,474
185 Baden-Württemberg State Bank Germany Banking 39,459
186 KOC Group Turkey Automobiles and Parts 39,392
187 Bank of China China Banking 38,904
188 Intel U.S.A. Semiconductors and Other Electronic Components 38,334
189 Canon Japan Picture and Video Equipment, Office Equipment 38, 060
190 Ochoa Group (Altria) U.S. Tobacco 38,051
191 Bunge U.S. Food Manufacturing 37,842
192 Tyco International U.S. Electronics, Electrical Equipment 37,747
193 Gaz de France France Utilities 37,541
194 Royal Bank of Canada Canada Bank 37,526
194 Royal Bank of Canada Bank of Canada Bank of Canada 37,526
195 Kraft USA Food, Consumer Goods 37,241
196 Commerzbank Germany Bank 37,143
197 Royal Philips Electronics Netherlands Electronics, Electrical Equipment 37,007
198 Goodwill USA Insurance 36,769
199 Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau Germany Bank 36,769
199 KfW Germany Banking 36,757
200 Motorola USA Network Communications Equipment 36,622
201 Marubeni Japan Trading 36,481
202 Fathom Insurance UK Insurance 36,416
203 Rosneft Russia Refining 36,184
204 Banco Bradesco Brazil Banking 36,118
205 Fachelle France General Merchandise Retail 36,115
206 Reliance Industries (Reliance Industries) India Oil Refining 35,915
207 Walt Disney USA Entertainment 35,882
208 Sainsbury's (Sainsbury's) United Kingdom Food, Drug Stores 35,797
209 Swiss Re Swiss Insurance 35,730
210 Mitsubishi Electric Japan Electronics, Electrical Equipment 35,462
211 Australia Bank Australia Bank 35,410
212 Denso Japan Automotive Parts 35,245
213 Union Bank of Belgium Belgium Bank 35,224
214 FedEx US Parcel Post 35,214
215 Nippon Mining Japan Oil Refining 35,140
216 Ingram Micro US Wholesale Electronic Office Equipment 35,047
217 Sysco US Wholesale Grocery 35,042
218 Cisco Systems US Network Communications Equipment 34,922
219 Johnson Controls U.S. Automotive Parts 34,678
220 Honeywell International U.S. Aerospace & Defense 34589
221 Prudential Financial U.S. Insurance 34,401
222 AIR FRANCE-KLM Group French airline 34,130
223 Agricultural Bank of China Chinese bank 34,059
224 Wholesale Iron & Steel Korea Metals 34,014
225 Sage UK insurance 33,917
226 China Southern Power Grid Chinese utility 33,861
227 Saudi Basic Industries Co. Industries Saudi Arabia Chemical 33,678
228 Woolworths Australia Food, Drug Stores 33,442
229 Deutsche Zentralversicherungsbank Germany Banking 33,360
230 Manulife Canada Insurance 33,090
231 Centrica UK Utilities 32,779
232 Millennium Holdings Japan Insurance 32,487
233 French State Railways France Rail Transport 32,427
234 American Express USA Finance 32,316
235 Vale Brazil Mining 32,242