The Fortune Global 500 list is released, and the global city rankings are announced.

July 28 saw the release of the 2026 Fortune Global 500 ranking.

The ranking is based on the operating revenue of each enterprise in the 2025 fiscal year, and the threshold for this year's list is 33.2 billion US dollars (equivalent to about 224 billion RMB).

The top 10 enterprises in the ranking are Amazon, Walmart, State Grid, UnitedHealth Group, Saudi Aramco, Apple, McKesson, Alphabet, CVS Health, and PetroChina in order. Amazon surpassed Walmart to become the world's largest company, while Walmart had ranked first globally for 12 consecutive years before that.

From a global perspective, the 5 cities with the most Fortune Global 500 companies in 2026 are Beijing (42), Tokyo (26), New York (15), London (13), and Paris (12).

The top 5 Chinese cities by number of listed companies are Beijing with 42, Shanghai with 9, Hangzhou with 9, Shenzhen with 8, and Guangzhou with 6.

01

Among the 2026 Fortune Global 500, the United States has 141 listed enterprises, ranking first in the world, 3 more than the previous year.

China has 122 listed enterprises, ranking second in the world, 8 less than the previous year.

The number of Fortune Global 500 enterprises in both China and the United States exceeds 120, taking a substantial lead globally. Japan has 40 listed enterprises, ranking third in the world. Germany has 28 listed enterprises, ranking fourth in the world. France has 24 listed enterprises, ranking fifth in the world.

Ranked 6th to 10th are the United Kingdom (21), Canada (14), South Korea (13), Switzerland (12), and India (10).

According to the city distribution of the 2026 Fortune Global 500, Beijing ranks firmly first in the world with 42 listed enterprises, and has held the top spot globally for 14 consecutive years. The number of listed enterprises in Beijing alone exceeds the sum of those in Tokyo and New York.

In terms of changes in the number of listed enterprises, the number of Beijing's listed enterprises decreased by 5 compared with the previous year. Tokyo follows closely with 26, ranking second in the world; New York, London, and Paris have 15, 13, and 12 respectively, forming the first echelon of core European and American cities.

Shanghai, Hangzhou and Seoul all have 9 listed enterprises, forming a fierce neck-and-neck competition. Shenzhen has 8 shortlisted enterprises, following closely behind. Osaka, Mumbai, Moscow, Houston and Toronto each gather 7 Fortune Global 500 enterprises. Zurich and Guangzhou each have 6, while Munich, Madrid and Hong Kong each have 5.

It can be clearly seen from the list that many domestic cities continue to cultivate leading enterprises and continuously expand the headquarters economy.

Major cities in China, the US, Europe and East Asia have become the concentration areas of Fortune Global 500 headquarters. The gap in industrial strength and enterprise cultivation capacity between cities is intuitively reflected, which also shows the distribution characteristics of the global industrial and capital pattern.

02

Beijing has 42 enterprises listed on the Fortune Global 500, ranking first in China and also first in the world. Representative enterprises include State Grid, PetroChina, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Mobile, BAIC, JD, Xiaomi, Meituan, etc., covering multiple fields such as energy, finance and technology.

Shanghai and Hangzhou each have 9, ranking second side by side. Representative enterprises in Shanghai include China Baowu Steel, SAIC Motor, Bank of Communications, Pinduoduo, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, etc. Representative enterprises in Hangzhou include Alibaba, Risesun Holdings, Geely, Wuzhou International, Hengyi Group, etc.

Shenzhen has 8, ranking third. Representative enterprises include Ping An of China, Huawei, BYD, Tencent, China Merchants Bank, SF Express, etc. It is worth noting that according to the 2026 Fortune Global 500 list and Fortune China website, Luxshare Precision is counted in Dongguan.

According to statistics from Shenzhen Business Daily, 9 enterprises in Shenzhen are listed on the 2026 Fortune Global 500, namely Ping An of China, Huawei, BYD, Tencent, China Merchants Bank, Luxshare Precision, SF Express, Shenzhen Investment Holdings, and China Electronics.

Guangzhou has 6, ranking fourth. The 6 listed enterprises are China Southern Power Grid, GAC Group, Guangzhou Industrial Investment Holdings, Guangdong Xinguang Holdings, Guangzhou Construction Engineering, and Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings.

5 enterprises in Hong Kong are listed, ranking fifth. The listed enterprises are China Resources, Lenovo, AIA Group, CK Hutchison Holdings, and Jardine Matheson. 3 enterprises in Suzhou are listed, namely Hengli Group, Shenghong Holdings, and Shagang Group. 3 enterprises in Chengdu are listed, namely Shudao Group, Tongwei Group, and New Hope Group. 3 enterprises in Jinan are listed, namely Shandong Energy Group, Shandong Hi-Speed Group, and Shandong Gold Group. 3 enterprises in Xiamen are listed, namely C&D Group, Xiangyu Group, and Guomao Holdings.

Cities with 2 Fortune Global 500 enterprises include Xi'an, Shijiazhuang, Taipei and New Taipei. Tianjin has an enterprise listed on the Fortune Global 500 again after many years, and Tianjin-based Delong Steel ranks 475th globally.

The following is the ranking of Chinese cities by the number of their Fortune Global 500 enterprises:

By province of the 2026 Fortune Global 500, the regions with the largest number of listed enterprises are: Beijing (42), Guangdong (16), Zhejiang (10, 9 of which are in Hangzhou), Shanghai (9), Fujian (6), and 6 enterprises are listed in China's Taiwan region.

03

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has 21 enterprises listed on the 2026 Fortune Global 500. By city, Shenzhen has 8, Guangzhou has 6, Hong Kong has 5, Foshan and Dongguan each have 1.

Last year, the Greater Bay Area had a total of 23 listed enterprises. Compared with last year, two large real estate enterprises, Vanke and Country Garden, are not on the list this year.

This article is from the WeChat official account "City War", written by Xiaoyu, and published with authorization from 36Kr.