Asian Companies Now Make Up 40% of Latest Fortune Global 500 List

Asia now has the largest presence on the updated Fortune Global 500 list, which ranked top international companies by their revenues in 2016.

The continent now has 197 companies on the list, making Asia the home to more global giants than any other continent.

Fortune ranked each company based on the global economy, trade policies, mergers and acquisitions and corporate upheaval.

North America ranks second with 145 listed companies while Europe settles for third with 143 firms. There are only 15 companies from the rest of the world on the list, according to the Economic Times.

The United States remain the dominant country with 132 companies in the list, followed closely by China with 109.

Other Asian companies listed are Japan, with 51 firms, ranking third globally; South Korea has 15 while India has seven.

Walmart remains at the top spot on the list with revenues of $485,873 in 2016. Meanwhile, Chinese energy firms State Grid, Sinopec and China Petroleum, occupy the next three spots.

Completing the top ten of the elite list are Toyota, Volkswagen, Royal Dutch Shell, Berkshire Hathaway, Apple and Exxon Mobil.

While the presence of Chinese firms in the Fortune Global 500 has been mostly state-owned in the past, there have been several private corporations like Huawei that managed to climb this year’s list.

Overall, the 500 companies featured on the list generated $27.7 trillion in revenues and $1.5 trillion in profits in 2016. The companies, represented by 34 countries, employed 67 million people combined.

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