The corporations on our annual list posted aggregate revenues of $41 trillion for the second year in a row.

Fortune Global 500

The corporations on our annual list of the world’s largest companies delivered a record $41 trillion in aggregate revenues.

G500-2023-State Grid

<span data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;The Chinese-government-owned power company, which meets about 80% of China’s electricity needs, reported increases of about 15% in both in revenue and profit in 2022. \n- Power use in the nation (population: 1.41 billion) grew 3.6% that year, and State Grid spent about $75 billion to improve its energy grid. To reach its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, however, the Chinese state will have to spend as much as $136 billion to upgrade its grid, according to BloombergNEF. \n- To increase the ability of its two giant electric utility companies, State Grid and China Southern Grid, to invest more in upgrades, the Chinese government changed the structure of power transmission and distribution fees in May 2023. The changes are expected to help boost both companies’ revenue.\n&quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:769,&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:0},&quot;11&quot;:4,&quot;12&quot;:0}">The Chinese-government-owned power company, which meets about 80% of China’s electricity needs, reported increases of about 15% in both in revenue and profit in 2022. 
<ul> 
 	<li><span data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;The Chinese-government-owned power company, which meets about 80% of China’s electricity needs, reported increases of about 15% in both in revenue and profit in 2022. \n- Power use in the nation (population: 1.41 billion) grew 3.6% that year, and State Grid spent about $75 billion to improve its energy grid. To reach its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, however, the Chinese state will have to spend as much as $136 billion to upgrade its grid, according to BloombergNEF. \n- To increase the ability of its two giant electric utility companies, State Grid and China Southern Grid, to invest more in upgrades, the Chinese government changed the structure of power transmission and distribution fees in May 2023. The changes are expected to help boost both companies’ revenue.\n&quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:769,&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:0},&quot;11&quot;:4,&quot;12&quot;:0}">Power use in the nation (population: 1.41 billion) grew 3.6% that year, and State Grid spent about $75 billion to improve its energy grid. To reach its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, however, the Chinese state will have to spend as much as $136 billion to upgrade its grid, according to BloombergNEF.</li> 
 	<li><span data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;The Chinese-government-owned power company, which meets about 80% of China’s electricity needs, reported increases of about 15% in both in revenue and profit in 2022. \n- Power use in the nation (population: 1.41 billion) grew 3.6% that year, and State Grid spent about $75 billion to improve its energy grid. To reach its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050, however, the Chinese state will have to spend as much as $136 billion to upgrade its grid, according to BloombergNEF. \n- To increase the ability of its two giant electric utility companies, State Grid and China Southern Grid, to invest more in upgrades, the Chinese government changed the structure of power transmission and distribution fees in May 2023. The changes are expected to help boost both companies’ revenue.\n&quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:769,&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:0},&quot;11&quot;:4,&quot;12&quot;:0}">To increase the ability of its two giant electric utility companies, State Grid and China Southern Grid, to invest more in upgrades, the Chinese government changed the structure of power transmission and distribution fees in May 2023. The changes are expected to help boost both companies’ revenue. 
</li> 
</ul>

Aggregate sales hit $37.8 trillion last year—an increase of 19%, the highest annual growth rate in the list’s history.

G500 2022-03-State Grid

State Grid, a Chinese state-owned power company, reported profits of $7.1 billion in 2021, up 19% from the year prior. China’s largest supplier of electricity and the world’s largest utility company brought in revenue of $461 billion in 2021, enough to make it the top-earning public energy company in the world. Chinese power consumption rose 10.3% in 2021 as the economy rebounded from the pandemic-induced slump of 2020. In November 2021, following a directive from Chinese President Xi Jinping, State Grid announced the creation of a new energy exchange meant to help Chinese provinces purchase energy from one another and ease clean energy providers' access to potential buyers. Later in 2021, State Grid announced plans to adhere to another government order: It will spin off all its noncore businesses, including its manufacturing divisions, as part of the Chinese government’s efforts to introduce more competition to the sector.

Total revenue for the world’s biggest companies fell 4.8% to $31.7 trillion this year—the first decline in half a decade.

G500-2021-002-State Grid

Profits at State Grid, the largest of China’s two state-owned electric utility operators, plummeted 81% in the first half of 2020, as the pandemic decimated demand for power. The near-term outlook for the massive grid operator, which supplies nearly 90% of China’s electricity, is hard to forecast. Revenue rebounded as China’s economy recovered, but State Grid’s profit is under pressure from increased capital expenditures and asset cuts that are mandated by Beijing. The utility operator is due to spin off its profit-making property and equipment manufacturing units by the end of the year as part of the government’s plan to commercialize China’s energy networks. Meanwhile, State Grid has committed to spending $70 billion annually over the next five years to build capacity in renewable energy as China shifts to a low-carbon economy.

This year's Fortune Global 500 generated $33.3 trillion in revenues and $2.1 trillion in profits.

G500-2020-003-State-Grid

It wasn't an electric year for State Grid, China’s state-owned power company, as sales dipped just under 1% in 2019. Beijing appointed Mao Weiming as State Grid's chairman at the start of 2020, marking the first time the massive utility has been led by a chairman with no prior experience in the industry. Mao’s predecessor reportedly had objected to a government plan last year that guaranteed the power company would purchase clean energy from operators of renewable power plants. The program is tied to China's effort to green its electricity supply, but it could put a squeeze on State Grid’s profit margins. Mao is thought to be more amenable to the plan. Meanwhile, as China battles its way out of the economic slump caused by the pandemic, coal-fired power generation remains king for State Grid—at least for now.

This year's Fortune Global 500 generated $27.7 trillion in revenues and $1.5 trillion in profits.

This year's Fortune Global 500 generated $27.6 trillion in revenues and $1.5 trillion in profits.

The world's 500 largest companies generated $31.2 trillion in revenues and $1.7 trillion in profits in 2014. Together, this year's Fortune Global 500 employ 65 million people worldwide and are represented by 36 countries.

Global business is back. After limping through a worldwide financial crisis and economic slowdown, the 500 largest companies ranked by revenues shattered all sorts of performance records in 2013: They racked up combined revenues of $31.1 trillion, up 2.5% from 2012, and profits soared 27% to nearly $2 trillion. China’s 95 companies (up from 89 last year) posted $5.8 trillion in revenues. The U.S. has four fewer companies on the list than last year but remains (for now) the country leader, with 128 corporations on the list—including No. 1 Wal-Mart Stores—reporting $8.6 trillion in revenues. 

Key Financials (last Fiscal Year)

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The unassuming name of China’s national electricity service may not convey its colossal scale: State Grid supplies the vast majority of the country’s power, employs hundreds of thousands of people, and is among the very biggest firms in the world by revenue. In addition to China, State Grid is a partial owner of grids in Australia, Portugal, and other countries around the world. The Chinese government created State Grid in 2002 with the broader goal of increasing the country’s generation and transmission capacities. While traditionally focused on nuclear and coal power, State Grid has also become a major player in renewables.

State Grid Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

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State Grid

state grid

The unassuming name of China’s national electricity service may not convey its colossal scale: State Grid supplies the vast majority of the country’s power, employs hundreds of thousands of people, and is among the very biggest firms in the world by revenue. In addition to China, State Grid is a partial owner of grids in Australia, Portugal, and other countries around the world. The Chinese government created State Grid in 2002 with the broader goal of increasing the country’s generation and transmission capacities. While traditionally focused on nuclear and coal power, State Grid has also become a major player in renewables.

State Grid Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings | Fortune

This year’s list tells a story of inflation and global tensions.

An in-depth look at the 2023 Fortune Global 500

Illustration by Chris DeLorenzo for Fortune

Franchise_Lists

The global 500 ranks the largest companies in the world by revenue. The smallest company on this year's list has about $31 billion in revenue. In contrast, the smallest company in the US 500 this year has about $7 billion in revenue. While the world is getting more fragmented in ways, the risks are getting more connected and correlated. So I think the challenge is resiliency. Mortgage rates rose more than 3%. Home prices rose by 8% that impacts affordability for home ownership. The economics of every geography are slightly different but there is definitely a commonality around inflation and general uncertainty. 2022 really stood out for um expectations that we were going to have a recession. There was also an increase in focus on us. China tensions. A lot of talk about decoupling and a big transformation to the global commodity market with a real redirection of commodity exports as Russia directed more of its exports east and south. And we saw that Europe did a pivot to the west and away from Russia. Inflation was starting to rise before Russia invaded Ukraine, but that invasion affected the world's oil and food supplies and drove prices up for that. The conventional wisdom is that inflation hurts corporate profits. The profits of the global 500 were down slightly from last year, but collectively they still earned almost $3 trillion in profits, which is the second highest total ever. Number one is Walmart. It is their 10th consecutive year. At number one. Number two is Saudi Aramco, the Saudi Arabian national crude oil producer. Number three is state grid which is China's big National Electric Utility. Number four is Amazon and number five is China National Petroleum. The story that the US 500 tells has recently been very much a story about the huge domination of big tech, all of these companies building tech expertise into huge businesses. And of course, that's an important global story. But the Global 500 reminds you that the rise of big tech is just one story. All those companies are still there. But you also look down the list and you're seeing huge European and Chinese oil companies, big global auto manufacturers like Volkswagen and Toyota. And it reminds you how much of the global workforce and how much global capital is still tied up in laboring in these dominant industries of the 20th century. All of these companies are trying to transition into a 21st century economy that might be greener and higher tech, but they're not there yet. And this list kind of proves that we need a holistic policy that the into consideration, energy reliability, affordability and energy security, oil and gas will continue to be part of the energy mix for decades. Oil prices surged in 2022. And as a result, Saudi Aramco's revenue was up about 50% over two 1021. So they were just within about $8 billion of catching Wal Mart, which in terms of companies this big, that's like a rounding error came really, really close. They also had the most profitable year that any global 500 company has ever had. They earned 159 billion with a B dollars in profits. There are more companies from greater China than there are from the US. But the US companies on the global 500 collectively brought in quite a bit more revenue than the ones from greater China. We are a long way, a long, long way from being anywhere close to the kind of representation in leadership, whether that's of companies or governments or institutions that better represents the societies that we serve. May today, close to 60% of our employee base are people of color as a Latina myself. I'm passionate about diversity inclusion, equal opportunity. First of all, it's good for business, it responds to changes we're seeing in demographics and it honors our mission. I think that in 2023 the market is still waiting to see this recession because of the magnitude of rate hikes that we've seen across central banks and what kind of slowdown will it be? Is a soft landing possible? Is it going to be a mild recession or is there a risk that the longer this is delayed, that you could have a synchronized global downturn? We have yet to see a resolution of Russia's war on Ukraine. We've seen permanent shifts into the commodity markets, but we'll continue to see that trade patterns, you know, investment flows, supply chain resilience, reducing dependencies remain very much in the narrative. And I think you will see that the global South, the emerging market countries are going to play a bigger role. Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Indonesia. Economic growth in 2023 is predicted to grow in the 4.5 up to 5.3% we believe will grow due to the potential increase of domestic economy ahead. And I think when it comes to, to Russia, when it comes to the pandemic, um it's a climate change and to those challenges that are part of the agenda for us. Uh leaders of our generation, I think we we were not trained for any of those. And these past few years of pandemic geopolitical crisis, supply chain disruption, climate change and inflationary pressures mark the dawn of a new era which I call multipolar. This new multi polar world requires companies to become better, to become ever more agile and to constantly transform and adapt. I don't know what the future is going to look like. But what we've learned as Walmart through the last few years, in particular is staying agile, staying nimble, having data, really thinking about how we use that is critical. You need to adapt much faster, you no longer have time to learn everything you need to learn as much as you can and then act.

State Grid

State Grid in Fortune Rankings

State Grid in Fortune Rankings

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