Alibaba, Tencent included in Fortune Global 500 list for the first time

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Chinese companies account for 115 positions on this year’s Fortune Global 500 list, up from 98 in 2016

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Wal-Mart Stores continues its dominance of the Fortune Global 500 list with annual revenue of US$485.87 billion. Photo: AFP

Celine Ge

Published: 4:15pm, 21 Jul 2017Updated: 11:29pm, 21 Jul 2017

Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings have been included in the latest edition of the Fortune 500 list of global companies, reflecting their debuts on the prestigious business rankings and underscoring the growing prominence of Chinese companies on the world stage.

Alibaba, with revenue of US$23.5 billion, ranked No 462, closely followed by Shenzhen-based Tencent in 476th, with revenue of US$22.9 billion, according to the Fortune Global 500 list for 2017 released on Thursday. Baidu, the Chinese search engine giant, did not make the top 500 list.

New mainland entrants also included Country Garden and Anbang Insurance Group.

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Arguably the most notable riser on the list was HNA Group, the owner of Hong Kong Airlines. The company’s global shopping spree for assets helped elevate it to 170th this year, a considerable jump from its 2016 ranking as No 353. HNA founder Chen Feng said in May that it was his personal ambition to elevate the company into Fortune’s list of the world’s 100 largest companies.

China has 115 companies on this year’s list, up from 98 in 2016, with state-owned energy providers State Grid, Sinopec Group and China National Petroleum ranking second, third and fourth respectively. The largest company worldwide remains Wal-Mart Stores, with revenue of US$485.9 billion.