Business & Investment Global Corporations
Source: CSIS, 8/18/2020
In an eye-grabbing headline, Fortune announced last year that the “Global 500 is now more Chinese than American.”68 For the first time since the magazine began listing its Global 500 rankings, China topped the list with 124 companies—ahead of the U.S.’s 121.69 Twenty years ago, this list included only ten Chinese companies (today, China and the U.S. each account for almost as many companies as the total number for Japan, Britain, France, and Germany combined.70) The big takeaway, as Fortune put it, is that “the ‘American Century’…has at last given way to a new reality.”71
68
Alan Murray and David Meyer, “The Fortune Global 500 is now more Chinese than American,” Fortune, August 10, 2020, https://fortune.com/2020/08/10/fortune-global-500-china-rise-ceo-daily/.
69
In 2021, China’s lead in total fortune 500 companies grew, with a total of 135 companies on the list (including companies in Hong Kong). In contrast, the US posted 122 companies.
70
China Power Team, “How Dominant are Chinese Companies Globally?” China Power, September 13, 2019, Updated August 31, 2020, Accessed February 2, 2022. https://chinapower.csis.org/chinese-companies-global-500/.
71
“2020 A Sleeping Giant Awakes,” Fortune, 2020, https://qlik.fortune.com/global500/.
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs | Harvard Kennedy School
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