Under the influence of the COVID-19, the operating revenue of this year's top 500 enterprises was about 31.7 trillion dollars, down 5% from last year. The threshold for entering the ranking (minimum sales revenue) has also decreased from $25.4 billion to $24 billion. At the same time, corporate profits have experienced a significant decline, with the total net profit of all listed companies this year reaching $1.6 trillion, a significant decrease of 20% year-on-year, the largest decline since 2009.
Fortune magazine believes that the spread of the COVID-19 has led to the interruption of the global supply chain, the stagnation of economic activities in Western Europe, North America and East Asia, and the contraction of the operation of the world's top 500 enterprises, leading to a decline in earnings.
This year, Wal Mart became the world's largest company for the eighth consecutive year, China's State Grid rose to the second place, Amazon entered the top three for the first time, and Apple moved to the sixth place. Among world-renowned companies, Tesla and Netflix have been shortlisted for the first time in the Fortune Global 500, ranking 392nd and 484th respectively.
In this year's Fortune Global 500 list, China has 143 companies on the list, an increase of 10 from last year. The number of companies on the list has surpassed the United States for the second consecutive year, ranking first in the world. This year, a total of 122 companies in the United States have made it to the list, an increase of 1 compared to the previous year.
Although the COVID-19 in 2020 brought about difficulties in business operation, the average sales revenue and average profits of Chinese companies on the list were basically the same as those of the previous year. Meanwhile, due to the rapid recovery from the epidemic, Chinese companies entering the 2021 rankings not only have an expanded advantage in terms of quantity, but also have improved their business performance in horizontal comparison.
This year, the average profit of 135 enterprises on the list in Chinese Mainland (excluding Taiwan) is about 3.54 billion US dollars, higher than the average profit of the Fortune 500 (3.3 billion US dollars). Meanwhile, the average profit of American companies has dropped to $5.1 billion. Fortune magazine believes that China has effectively curbed the COVID-19, enabling enterprises to rapidly resume and expand production. The increase in foreign orders of Chinese enterprises has led to the expansion of foreign trade. In 2020, China was the only major economy in the world to achieve positive trade growth, with a record high import and export volume throughout the year. The growth of international trade has driven the recovery and stable development of Chinese companies.
There are a total of 45 new or re listed companies on this year's Fortune Global 500 list, including 18 Chinese companies, including China Shipbuilding Group, Zhejiang Rongsheng Holdings Group, Zhejiang Hengyi Group, Rongchuang China Holdings Co., Ltd., Jingye Group, New Hope Holdings Group, Xinhua Life Insurance, Weichai Power, Beijing Jianlong Heavy Industry Group, and Zhejiang Provincial Transportation Investment Group Longhu Group, Guangzhou Construction Group, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Group, China Resources Land, Yunnan Investment Holding Group, Wanzhou International, Zijin Mining Group, and China Reinsurance (Group) Co., Ltd.
