How AI and high interest rates shaped this year’s Fortune 500

For example, the technology and health care sectors make up a significant proportion of the upper ranks of this year’s Fortune 500. That seems unremarkable in 2024 but stands in stark contrast to the list’s makeup during the 20th century. Back then, manufacturing or “industrial” companies made up a much larger share of the U.S. economy and were so important that they were the only ones the Fortune 500 ranked (as Fortune editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell explains in her editor’s letter in our current issue).

So perhaps nobody will be surprised to learn this year that Walmart, Amazon.com, and UnitedHealth Group are enormous. But we conduct our analysis despite the self-evident nature of many of the findings, because when we do detect even the smallest shifts, we know the implications are likely to be massive. As the pace of technological change has accelerated, amid the themes we take for granted today, we see new trends bear themselves out much more abruptly. Case in point: The rise of AI and thereby, the rise in Fortune 500 rank of companies at the forefront of the AI revolution.

We gauge these changes in other ways throughout the year, from our daily reporting on venture funding and market fluctuations to our interviews with Fortune 500 executives who tell us about their biggest projects and preoccupations. To see the annual list bring into clearer focus the changes we’ve collectively observed is affirming not only to our researchers and reporters but also to the business leaders who make the decisions that, in turn, directly shape the ranking. 

Here are some of the findings that stood out among this year’s Fortune 500, the 70th edition of which published this morning.

The numbers to know

12… The number of consecutive years Walmart has topped the list at No. 1.

9… The number of Fortune 500 companies with at least $1 trillion in total assets on the balance sheet.

$7.1 billion… The revenue threshold for making the 2024 Fortune 500 list, down 2% from a year ago.

$1.72 trillion… The combined profits of all 500 companies on the list, up 10% from 2023.

$3.1 trillion… The market value of Microsoft, America’s most valuable company, as of March 2024.

88… The average age in years of a Fortune 500 company.

The big picture

This year marks the 70th edition of the Fortune 500. There are 49 companies that have been on the Fortune 500 every year since it was first published, as a no-frills insert in the front of the July 1955 issue of the print magazine. Those all-timers include Exxon Mobil, General Motors, Chevron, and General Electric. A total of 170 companies, meanwhile, have been on the Fortune 500 every year since 1995 (the first year service companies were included in the list). That group includes Walmart, Microsoft, and JPMorgan Chase. 

Deeper takeaways

Revenues, which drive rankings, are king on the Fortune 500, and we saw many leaps upward year over year, even as Walmart and Amazon retained last year’s positions at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. But other financial benchmarks, such as profits and market capitalizations, tell more detailed stories.

A.I. takes off
Microsoft (No. 13) has dethroned Apple as the most valuable U.S. company, with $3.1 trillion in market value (though Apple remains the most profitable). Throughout CEO Satya Nadella’s decade at the helm, Microsoft has made savvy bets, most recently on generative AI. (Read more in AI editor Jeremy Kahn's cover story on Nadella's leadership.) 

Meanwhile, Nvidia (No. 50) jumped 87 spots, landing in the top 100 for the first time and notching a 126% gain in revenue year over year. Demand for the company’s AI-optimized chips is surging, as data centers that train large language models need more computing power than ever.

Founded in 1993, Nvidia debuted on the list at No. 387 in 2017. It was among nine Fortune 500 companies that delivered at least a 30% annualized 10-year total return to shareholders through 2023—along with Tesla (which jumped 10 spots this year to a new high of No. 40), Nvidia rival Advanced Micro Devices (No. 181), Broadcom (No. 118), Super Micro Computer (No. 498), and Eli Lilly (No. 127). Super Micro Computer can thank Nvidia in part for its placement on the list, as Fortune AI reporter Sharon Goldman notes in her story. Super Micro Computer has access to high-demand Nvidia chips thanks to a longtime friendship between the companies’ CEOs.

Nvidia shows promise to keep climbing: In February 2024, Nvidia broke the record for single-day market cap gain, adding $277 billion to its value in the course of just one trading day. In May, Nvidia’s share price cracked $1,000 for the first time, and its market cap keeps ticking upward.

Banks surge
Many of the country’s biggest banks leapt back into top tiers of the list this year. Bank of America (No. 18) returned to the top 25 for the first time since 2020, with 49% growth in annual revenue. Citigroup (No. 21) rejoined the top 25 after 12 years, posting 55% revenue growth. Morgan Stanley (No. 41) and Goldman Sachs (No. 35) rejoined the top 50 this year.

Higher on the list, JPMorgan Chase rose 12 spots to No. 11, thanks to 54% growth in annual revenue. The company also ranks fifth among the most profitable Fortune 500 companies.

Banks are bringing in more revenue due to elevated consumer spending and sustained high interest rates, the latter of which the Federal Reserve has signaled will likely remain in place as policymakers try to curb stubborn inflation. And although those same high interest rates would seem like a threat to private equity activity, global investment giant KKR (No. 188) made the biggest leap of any company on this year's Fortune 500. It vaulted 308 spots from last year, with 198% growth in revenue, even in the face of an uneventful era for dealmaking and an uncertain future geopolitically.

All in all, there are 92 financial sector companies on the Fortune 500 this year, compared to 86 last year. Combined, the companies generated $3.4 trillion in revenues (up 23%) and earned more than $380 billion in profits (up 60%) last year.

Looking for more Fortune 500 insights? Read our coverage here, dive into the list here, and stay tuned for future editions of the Fortune Analytics newsletter throughout the summer. And for a unique look back at the inaugural Fortune 500 from 1955 and other historical highlights from the pages of Fortune, subscribe to our brand-new Fortune Archives newsletter, which lands in inboxes weekly beginning this Sunday, June 9. 

Lydia Belanger
Director of Production, Fortune
lydia.belanger@fortune.com