For the first time in a decade, California companies dominate the Fortune 500 list. This 70th annual ranking of the largest U.S. companies was released Tuesday with the glow of the Golden State all over it.
Out of the top five companies, just one – Apple in third place – is based in California. Arkansas-based Walmart topped the list, followed by Washington-based Amazon. UnitedHealth Group of Minnesota came in fourth, followed by Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway.
“The Fortune 500 list is made up of 500 companies that together represent two-thirds of the U.S. GDP — with $18.8 trillion in revenues, $1.7 trillion in profits, and $43 trillion in market value as of March. Combined, the firms employ 31 million people around the world,” explained Quartz.
Overall, 57 California companies were on the list, even though five companies from the state that were on last year’s list dropped off. That’s more than the 52 headquartered in Texas and New York respectively, according to Fortune.
From California, “some newcomers include food delivery company Doordash and real estate investment firm Prologis, cleaning product manufacturer Clorox, and software company Workday,” said the outlet.
Here’s the full list of the top five California-based Fortune 500 companies:
1. Apple – located in Cupertino (3rd)
2. Alphabet – located in Mountain View (8th)
3. Chevron – located in San Ramon (15th)
4. Meta Platforms – located in Menlo Park (30th)
5. Wells Fargo – located in San Francisco (34th)
Other notable entries on the list include:
Walt Disney in Burbank at No. 47, Intel in Santa Clara California at No. 79, Uber Technologies San Francisco at No. 113, Salesforce in San Francisco California at No. 123, Netflix Los Gatos California at No. 131, Visa in San Francisco at No. 135, PayPal Holdings in San Jose at No. 145, Gilead Sciences in Foster City at No. 154, Live Nation Entertainment in Beverly Hills at No. 179, Airbnb in San Francisco at No. 396, Williams-Sonoma in San Francisco at No. 474 and Monster Beverage in Corona at No. 496.
“California has long been a hub of economic success, and with the world’s recent AI explosion, America’s technology capital is ready to soar to even greater heights,” said Fortune.
In fact, the outlet said that businesses offering AI (artificial intelligence) services “went on a rampage,” recently. Santa Clara-based Nvidia is valued at over $3 trillion, as is Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. A 30-year-old server company called Super Micro Computer even joined the list for the first time.
Business is booming in California even as the state has made headlines over taxes in the state. This April, the Wall Street Journal reported that a coalition of California companies is going to war with Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democratic allies “over taxes it says have grown out of control in the Golden State.”
According to the WSJ, those businesses had gathered enough signatures to put a measure on November’s ballot that would require two-thirds of voters to approve most local tax increases and roll back some recently enacted ones.
“If passed, it would be one of the most significant changes to the way California funds its government since 1978’s Proposition 13, a voter-approved law that severely limited property tax increases,” the outlet explained. As of last month, Cal Matters reported that it was unclear whether a California tax limit measure will stay on the ballot.