Fortune has this week reported that China has now reached parity with the United States, accounting for 129 companies on the 2019 Fortune Global 500 list, versus 121 from the US.
The top 500 list of companies is based on total revenues for their respective fiscal years.
The magazine’s latest data shows that three Chinese firms – Sinopec Group, China National Petroleum and State Grid – made it into the top 10, while six of the top 10 firms posting the fastest ranking growth came from China, including tech giants Alibaba and Tencent.
The Fortune 500 list follows an annual Global 2000 list, ranking the world’s largest public companies – including those from South Africa.
Standard Bank is the largest company in South Africa, ahead of Naspers and FirstRand, although it slipped down the overall ranking in 2019.
Absa Group, along with Nedbank and Old Mutual, feature on the 2019 list, having not been included in recent years, with the likes of MMI Holdings and Remgro slipping down, and off the list, from previous rankings of 1,559 and 1,808 respectively.
The biggest companies in South Africa (in US$bn)
| 2019 | 2018 | Company | Sales | Profits | Assets | Market Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 415 | 376 | Standard Bank Group | 9.0 | 2.1 | 147.9 | 22.9 |
| 418 | 531 | Naspers | 6.9 | 13.5 | 35.8 | 111.3 |
| 445 |
470 | FirstRand | 7.6 | 2.3 | 110.0 | 27.2 |
| 530 | 509 | Sasol | 14.8 | 1.3 | 32.0 | 21.0 |
| 661 | – | Absa Group | 9.7 | 1.1 | 89.0 | 9.9 |
| 755 | – | Nedbank | 7.7 | 1.0 | 72.0 | 9.4 |
| 782 | – | Old Mutual | 8.2 | 1.1 | 60.7 | 8.3 |
| 818 | 702 | Sanlam | 5.8 | 0.88 | 55.9 | 12.4 |
| 936 | 1069 | MTN Group | 10.2 | 0.66 | 17.0 | 13.5 |
| 1764 | 1832 | RMB Holdings | 4.0 | 0.74 | 3.6 | 8.3 |
| 1881 | 1325 | Shoprite Holdings | 11.0 | 0.34 | 4.7 | 7.0 |
| 1981 | 1972 | Bid Corp | 9.4 | 0.25 | 4.4 | 7.2 |
In the latest top 500 list, Walmart continues to lead the way as it fights off the challenge of Amazon in the retail space.
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