The Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years.
[2] The original top ten companies were General Motors, Jersey Standard, U.S. Steel, General Electric, Esmark, Chrysler, Armour, Gulf Oil, Mobil, and DuPont.
[5] The original Fortune 500 was limited to companies whose revenues were derived from manufacturing, mining, and energy exploration.
Fortune magazine changed its methodology in 1994 to include service companies.
These revenue figures also account for approximately 18% of the gross world product.