BYD passes Tesla on Fortune’s Global 500 as once-dominant U.S. companies give way to foreign rivals
Good morning. Fortune published its Global 500 list this morning, our annual ranking of the world’s largest companies. Combined, they generated $41.7 trillion in revenue last year, with $2.98 trillion in profit—the second-most-profitable year since the Global 500 launched in 1990. (Fortune’s international ranking debuted in 1976 but originally excluded U.S. companies.)
Our flagship Fortune 500 list of U.S. companies is published about two months earlier due to financial reporting deadlines. And many of the world’s largest companies are American, accounting for six of the top 10 spots. Walmart is No. 1 on both lists for 12 straight years.
There are fascinating shifts, especially as you move down the list. AI chipmaker Nvidia moved up 156 spots to No. 66 while Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD was up 52 spots to No. 91. As my colleague Vivienne Walt reports, BYD has passed Tesla (No. 106) in the electric-car race and is now taking on Volkswagen (No. 12) in Europe.
What goes up can also come down, as once-dominant players struggle to compete in a new era. Twenty years ago, BP was No. 2 on the Global 500 and a pioneer in the green energy transition. Today, as Jordan Blum reports, it’s No. 33 and struggling to regain ground as its pivot to clean energy backfired.
I’d also point you to a feature on Ping An Insurance (No. 47) by Nicholas Gordon. It’s a fascinating look at how an insurer with 242 million retail customers—dwarfing No. 7 UnitedHealth Group’s 152 million customers—is innovating to cater to China’s ageing consumers. It’s another reminder that the global business landscape is full of companies that are finding plenty of opportunity outside the U.S.
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
Top news
Mass shooting rocks Blackstone HQ
A mass shooting at an office building in Midtown Manhattan that houses the headquarters of both the NFL and Blackstone has left four people dead, including a police officer and the shooter. A motive has not yet been disclosed.
BofA analysts are optimistic
Analysts at Bank of America now believe that the U.S. economy could be headed for a boom due to a “confluence of factors.” Those include the coming midterm elections, President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” and broader capital expenditures, among other factors.
Fortune 500 Power Moves
Procter & Gamble announced on Monday that CFO Shailesh Jejurikar will become the company’s next CEO on Jan. 1, 2026, succeeding current CEO Jon Moeller. The leadership change comes just a month after the consumer goods giant announced layoffs for 5% of its non-manufacturing workforce.
Trump’s oil deal is hogwash, oil execs say
There’s just one problem with Europe’s promise to buy $250 billion of energy in the U.S.-E.U. trade deal that President Trump announced at the weekend: It’s not going to happen. The E.U. government doesn’t have the power to compel private companies to buy American oil, the price of energy is coming down, and the long-term trend in Europe is to phase out fossil fuels in favor of renewables. “European gas demand is soft and energy prices are falling. In any case, it is private companies not states that contract for energy imports,” Bill Farren-Price, head of gas research at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, told the FT. “Like it or not, in Europe the windmills are winning.”
Total U.S. tariffs are nearing the Smoot-Hawley level
The effective average rate of tariffs is now 17.3%, according to the Yale Budget Lab, the highest since the 20% level set by the the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Act.
Thirty-three percent of CEOs appointed this year are temps
One third of new chief execs are hired on an interim basis according to research by Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The rate used to be less than 9%.
Trump says he never went to Epstein’s island
In a press conference yesterday with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump said he declined an invitation to visit Jeffrey Epstein’s private island. “In one of my very good moments, I turned it down,” he said. “I didn’t want to go to his island.”
Maxwell appeals to Supreme Court
Meanwhile, Ghislain Maxwell is appealing her conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court. Her lawyers argue that she was covered by the plain language of the plea deal federal prosecutors struck with Epstein in 2008, which says, “the United States also agrees that it will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein” (emphasis added). The Supremes may be tempted to take this case because the federal appeals courts are split on the issue of whether a federal plea agreement struck by one U.S. attorney binds others in the system.
The markets
S&P 500 futures were up 0.25% this morning, premarket, after the index closed up 0.018% on Monday, hitting another new all-time high at 6,389.77. STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.56% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was up 0.29% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 1.10%. China’s CSI 300 Index was up 0.39%. The South Korea KOSPI was up 0.66%. India’s Nifty 50 was up 0.50%. Bitcoin is holding above $118K.
From the analysts
Macquarie on the Fed: “More generally, the US-EU deal may reduce some of the uncertainty that has tormented central bankers. …. It may also leave Jay Powell at the Fed with one less excuse to not reduce the Fed Funds Rate target by September, although December remains our economists’ baseline point in time,” per Thierry Wizman and Gareth Berry.
JPMorgan on earnings beats and misses: “With 32% of S&P 500 companies having reported, 77% are beating 2Q earnings (vs. 73% avg. last 4Qs, … and 75% are beating revenue estimates (vs. 60%). Roughly 62% of companies have had double beats (i.e. sales and net income, vs. 48% last 4Qs on constant constituents) and 10% of companies have had both revenue misses and earnings misses,” per Dubravko Lakos-Bujas and team.
EY-Parthenon on jobs: “We anticipate the US economy added only 40,000 jobs in July, following a 147,000 gain in June. While private-sector industries are expected to contribute 88,000 new jobs, public sector employment is projected to decline by 48,000. The unemployment rate likely edged higher by 0.1pp to 4.2% while the labor force participation rate likely held steady at 62.3% amid a tight labor supply,” per Gregory Daco.
JPMorgan on business sentiment: “Tariffs are a tax hike on US purchases of foreign goods, but this tax drag is not likely to be large enough to derail the US expansion. However, we have expressed concern that this drag would be magnified by a slide in US and global business sentiment,” Bruce Kasman et al.
Around the watercooler
Trump-supporter CEO calls out administration’s ethane export ban to China: ‘These kinds of actions rarely hurt the intended target and often backfire’ by Jordan Blum
Facing Russia’s war on Ukraine, the EU couldn’t risk fighting a trade war with the U.S., analyst says by Jason Ma
Google CEO is the newest billionaire: He tells Gen Z the secret to success is putting yourself in uncomfortable situations by Preston Fore
A copyright lawsuit over pirated books could result in ‘business-ending’ damages for Anthropic by Beatrice Nolan
CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.
