Fortune Global 500: Amazon Becomes the New Leader as Combined Revenue Reaches a Record $43 Trillion
Fortune magazine has published its annual Global 500 ranking of the world's largest corporations by revenue.
The biggest surprise of this year's list is the change at the top: Amazon has overtaken Walmart for the first time in 12 years, becoming the world's highest-revenue company.
The combined revenue of the companies in the ranking increased by 3.2% over the past year, reaching a record $43.1 trillion. Together, these corporations account for more than one-third of global GDP, while their combined net profit climbed to a historic high of $3.39 trillion. Collectively, they employ more than 70 million people worldwide.
This year's growth was driven largely by the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence technologies. Chipmaker Nvidia climbed 38 places to rank 28th.
Taiwan's Taiwan Semiconductor advanced to 82nd place, while Dutch lithography equipment manufacturer ASML entered the ranking for the first time at 453rd. Chinese technology companies also posted strong gains: Alibaba rose to 56th place, and Tencent entered the top 100, ranking 97th.
The healthcare sector also showed solid performance. U.S.-based healthcare company McKesson climbed to 7th place in the Global 500 ranking.
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