July, 9, 2014
The number of Japanese companies on the latest Fortune Global 500 list dropped to 57 from 62 last year, with Toyota Motor Corp.7203.TO -1.13% the only domestic company in the top 10.
Fortune noted that Toyota, which fell to No. 9 from No. 8, earned $18.2 billion last year but that sales are expected to go down over the next year “as the yen is expected to strengthen and taxes are expected to rise.”
The second-highest ranked Japanese company on the Global 500 list was Japan Post Holdings Co., which fell to 23rd from 13th. “Though the company’s total assets climbed for the fiscal year ended March 31, revenue and net income fell modestly from the year prior,” the magazine said.
Other notable Japanese companies on the list included Honda Motor Co.7267.TO +0.56% at No. 45, JX Holdings Inc.5020.TO +0.75% at No. 51, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. at No. 53 and Nissan Motor Co.7201.TO -1.11% at No. 61.
Four of the top five and 12 of the top 20 on the 1995 Global 500 list were Japanese companies.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.WMT +0.76% took over the top spot from Royal Dutch Shell RDSB.LN -0.20% PLC, with China’s Sinopec Group rounding up the world’s top 3 companies in terms of revenue. Chinese companies in the top 10 also included China National Petroleum Corp. at No. 4 and State Grid Corporation of China at No. 7.
Overall the U.S. led the ranking with 128 companies listed, followed by China which had 95.
“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,” Fortune said. But that surge seems to have come mainly from China, which added six companies to the list from the previous year. The 95 Chinese companies posted $5.8 trillion in revenue, according to Fortune.
Wall Street Journal
Video Story