The 26th edition of the list shows how much esteem Big Tech giants command among other business leaders.

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World's Most Admired Companies

The 25th Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies list suggests that tech giants’ peers respect them as much as ever.

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The corporations on our annual list of the world’s largest companies delivered a record $41 trillion in aggregate revenues.

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The South Korean electronics behemoth slipped seven spots on this year's Global 500, as revenue declined 4.2% to $243.1 billion.<br />
<ul><br />
 	<li>In September 2022, Samsung announced its intentions to have net zero emissions by 2050, investing $5 billion in the initiative.</li><br />
 	<li>In the first quarter of 2023, Samsung’s profits declined a staggering 95% as its semiconductor business tanked amid a global chip shortage.</li><br />
</ul>

Global 500

Just as it dominates our economy, Big Tech now dominates Fortune’s annual ranking of corporate reputation.

Aggregate sales hit $37.8 trillion last year—an increase of 19%, the highest annual growth rate in the list’s history.

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Samsung, the South Korean electronics behemoth, reported record revenue of $244.3 billion in 2021, a 22% increase from 2020, and profits of $34.3 billion, up 55% from the year before. In December 2021, Samsung shook up its corporate management, appointing new co-CEOs to lead separate divisions. Kyung Kye-hyun will head the device solutions business; Han Jong-hee will steer the newly merged mobile and consumer electronics departments, which Samsung combined in an effort to build an extensive hardware lineup that can rival Apple’s. Samsung expects 2022 to be a banner year for its smartphone business, with strong sales of its mass-market 5G smartphones, as more carriers develop 5G capabilities.

After a year in which humanity leaned more heavily than ever on tech giants, see which companies topped Fortune's ranking of corporate reputation.

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Total revenue for the world’s biggest companies fell 4.8% to $31.7 trillion this year—the first decline in half a decade.

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South Korean giant Samsung has bounced back after last year’s tumble on the Global 500, rising from No. 19 to No. 15. With $205.6 billion in annual revenue, profits at the company—which rose 26.4% year over year to $31 billion—were led by strong growth in its display and memory chip businesses. While a surge in marketing spending and the Korean won’s appreciation weighed on the bottom line, the company’s 4G and 5G networks business more than picked up the slack. Smartphone sales were down, however, and Samsung ceded its position as the world’s largest smartphone company by shipments to China’s Huawei Technologies.

For an astounding 13th straight year, Apple claims the top spot in Fortune’s annual ranking of corporate reputation, based on a survey of almost 3,800 executives, directors, and analysts.

This year's Fortune Global 500 generated $33.3 trillion in revenues and $2.1 trillion in profits.

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Samsung dropped four places in this year's list as annual revenues tumbled almost 11% and profits fell by more than half, largely due to a cyclical downturn in the memory-chip industry. The South Korean giant's top spot in phone manufacturing also continues to be threatened by Huawei, though that could change as the U.S. ratchets up sanctions against the Chinese rival. However, the biggest Samsung dramas involve top executives. In December, chairman Lee Sang-hoon was jailed for labor-law violations. And Samsung vice-chair and heir apparent Lee Jae-yong continues to battle accusations of financial fraud, which he has denied.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2019 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune Global 500 generated $27.7 trillion in revenues and $1.5 trillion in profits.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2018 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2017 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

Here are the World's Most Admired Companies for 2016 as ranked in their industries. See who made the list.

This year's Fortune Global 500 generated $27.6 trillion in revenues and $1.5 trillion in profits.

Business insiders have spoken: Asked which companies they most admire, more than 4,100 executives, directors, and analysts chose these top 50 All-Stars.

The world's 500 largest companies generated $31.2 trillion in revenues and $1.7 trillion in profits in 2014. Together, this year's Fortune Global 500 employ 65 million people worldwide and are represented by 36 countries.

Global business is back. After limping through a worldwide financial crisis and economic slowdown, the 500 largest companies ranked by revenues shattered all sorts of performance records in 2013: They racked up combined revenues of $31.1 trillion, up 2.5% from 2012, and profits soared 27% to nearly $2 trillion. China’s 95 companies (up from 89 last year) posted $5.8 trillion in revenues. The U.S. has four fewer companies on the list than last year but remains (for now) the country leader, with 128 corporations on the list—including No. 1 Wal-Mart Stores—reporting $8.6 trillion in revenues. 

Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics in Fortune Rankings