Fortune Global 500: China #1, USA #2
2019 Fortune Global 500
American companies account for 121 of the world’s largest corporations by revenue. Chinese companies account for 129 (including 10 Taiwanese companies). For the first time since the debut of the Global 500 in 1990, and arguably for the first time since World War II, a nation other than the U.S. is at the top of the ranks of global big business.
![[C919] [C-919] Chinese Large Airplane Comac 919](https://www.wautom.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/image-1-200x120.png "[C919] [C-919] Chinese Large Airplane Comac 919")
the List
https://fortune.com/global500/2019/
It’s true that Chinese companies’ revenues account for only 25.6% of the Global 500 total, well behind America’s 28.8%. But that’s to be expected. China is the rising power, economically smaller but growing much faster. The No. 1 nationality among the top 50 companies in this year’s Global 500 is American; among the bottom 50, it’s Chinese. Those companies near the bottom are rising quickly, and like their country, they’re burning with ambition.
It’s China’s World
By Geoff Colvin
July 22, 2019
China has now reached parity with the U.S. on the 2019 Fortune Global 500—a signifier of the profound rivalries reshaping business today.
As the Chinese Century nears its third decade, Fortune’s Global 500 shows how profoundly the world’s balance of power is shifting. American companies account for 121 of the world’s largest corporations by revenue. Chinese companies account for 129 (including 10 Taiwanese companies). For the first time since the debut of the Global 500 in 1990, and arguably for the first time since World War II, a nation other than the U.S. is at the top of the ranks of global big business.
That shift is transforming not just the business world but the whole world. As China seeks to succeed the U.S. as the preeminent superpower, business is playing an even larger role in international affairs than usual. Nations have always competed economically, but the U.S. and China are engaged in direct battle over the world’s economic life force: technology. As former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has written, “The battle is about whose economy will drive the technology of the future and set the standards for it.” For an example of corporate China pushing technology’s frontiers, see our story on insurance giant Ping An.