10 SZ-based firms enter Fortune Global 500 list

Ten Shenzhen-based companies have made it into the Fortune Global 500 list for 2022, two more companies than last year's figure. The list, which ranked the world's largest companies by revenue for fiscal year 2021, was released by business magazine Fortune yesterday.

The 10 companies are China Ping An (25th), Amer International Group (76th), Huawei (96th), Tencent (121st), China Merchants Bank (174th), China Vanke (178th), China Electronics Corp. (324th), Shenzhen Investment Holdings Co. Ltd. (372nd), BYD (436th) and SF Express (441st).

Ping An took first place among the 10 Shenzhen firms with a revenue of US$199.62 billion, while BYD and SF Express were newcomers joining the list this year, with a revenue of US$32.75 billion and US$32.12 billion, respectively.

China Electronics Corp., which moved its headquarters to Shenzhen last December, entered the list as a Shenzhen enterprise this year.

China, with 145, once again had the most companies on the list, 21 more than the U.S. For the first time, the aggregate revenue of Fortune Global 500 companies based in China exceeded that of U.S. companies on the list, accounting for 31% of the total. The figure of U.S. companies was 30%.

The total revenue of the Fortune Global 500 companies hit US$37.8 trillion this year — two-fifths of the world's GDP last year — an increase of 19.2% year on year, marking the highest annual growth rate in the list's 33-year history.

The threshold to enter the list jumped to US$28.6 billion from US$24 billion. Cumulative profits of the 500 companies were up 88% over last year for a record US$3.1 trillion since 2004.

Six internet companies appeared on the list this year — Amazon, Alphabet and Meta Platforms from the U.S., and JD.com (46th), Alibaba (55th) and Tencent (121st) from China. The three Chinese internet giants have had their highest rankings since they were included on the list.

In the information and communication technology (ICT) industry, 19 U.S. companies entered the list with an average of US$126.2 billion in revenue and US$23.7 billion in profits. China had 12 ICT companies on the list, with an average of US$78.7 billion in revenue and US$7.7 billion in profits.

Walmart ranked first for the ninth straight year, followed by Amazon, which reached its highest ranking ever. Chinese energy behemoths State Grid, China National Petroleum and Sinopec rounded out the top five.