Twenty-two companies from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) made Fortune’s Global 500 list for 2024, which was unveiled on Monday. Five were from Hong Kong.
Compiled annually by Fortune Magazine, the list ranks the top 500 corporations worldwide by revenue. Last year, the GBA had three additional entrants; this year’s decline was likely due to China’s recent economic woes.
Shenzhen-headquartered Ping An Insurance ranked the highest out of those from the GBA this year, at number 53 – though the company dropped 20 places from last year. It reported revenues of US$146 billion, an almost 20 percent year-on-year decline. The other eight top performers from Shenzhen included Huawei (in 103rd place), Tencent (141st), BYD (143rd), China Merchants Bank (179th), China Vanke (206th), Shenzhen Investment Holdings (370th), S.F. Holding (415th) and lastly China Electronics (435th).
[See more: This is how much GDP Guangdong generated between January and June]
The highest ranking company headquartered in Hong Kong was China Resources, in 72nd place. Guangzhou had two companies in the top 200: China Southern Power Grid, ranked 78th, and Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group, at 181st. Electronics company Luxshare Precision from Dongguan came in at 488th place.
One-hundred-and-twenty-three of this year’s Global 500 companies hailed from mainland China. Three Chinese firms made the top 10: State Grid in 3rd place with US$546 billion in revenue, Sinopec Group in 5th and China National Petroleum in 6th. Taiwan contributed five firms to the list, the biggest earner being electronics firm Hon Hai Precision Industry at number 32.
The US hypermarket chain Walmart topped Forbes’ list for the 11th year running, with earnings of US$648 billion. Amazon, also from the US, came next with US$575 billion. A total of 139 US companies made the list.
Portugal, meanwhile, had one entrant: food distributor and specialised retailer Jeronimo Martins. It debuted near the bottom, in 482nd place.
