Fortune 500 facts
While investigating facts about Fortune 500, I found out little known, but curios details like:
When the results began coming in from the 30 March 2005 Powerball drawing, lottery officials suspected fraud was underway because 110 players claimed second prizes of $100,000 or $500,000. All 110 players and the jackpot winner got their numbers from fortune cookies.
Over half of the names of companies on the Fortune 500 list have disappeared since the year 2000.
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 38 of the best facts about Fortune 500 I managed to collect.
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More than 40 percent of the Fortune 500 companies in 2010 were founded by an immigrant or the child of an immigrant
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American steel magnate Charles M Schwab died a pauper with over $300k in debt after blowing through a fortune that was worth $500-$800 million dollars today
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The Powerball drawing on March 30, 2005, produced 110 2nd-prize winners. The total payout was $19.4 million, 89 of them receiving $100,000 each, while the other 21 received $500,000 each. All 110 winners had played numbers from fortune cookies made by Wonton Food Inc
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Gregor MacGregor, a 19th century confidence trickster who fooled over 500 people over 5 years to buy land in a fictional Latin American country called Poyais he claimed had been made ruler of. About half of the people who bought land died. He made a fortune, and was later tried and aquitted.
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While hacking a Fortune 500 company, 16 year old Sean Parker was unable to log out after his father unplugged and confiscated his keyboard. Because his IP address was exposed, F.B.I. agents tracked him down and arrested him
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Our subconscious brain uses height as a measurement to determine social status and authority. That’s why CEOs of big companies tend to be taller than average people. Surveys have uncovered that almost 90% of CEOs were above 6”00 (Fortune 500 CEOs are 6”2 on average)
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Over half of America's Fortune 500 companies started during a depression or recession.
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52% of the Fortune 500 has been acquired, merged, gone bankrupt, or fallen off the list since 2000.
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In the U.S. population, about 14.5 percent of all men are six feet or over. Among CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, that number is 58 percent. Even more strikingly, in the general American population, 3.9 percent of adult men are 6’2″ or taller. Among my CEO sample, 30 percent were 6’2″ or taller.
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When Carly Fiorina took the position of CEO at Hewlett-Packard in 1999 she was the first woman to lead a Fortune 500 company.
Fortune 500 data charts
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About 1209 North Orange Street, in Wilmington Delaware. This is the registered agent address of around 285,000 businesses, including Apple, American Airlines, Coca-Cola, Walmart and dozens of other companies in the Fortune 500 list of America’s biggest companies
Since 2000, 52% of Fortune 500 companies are gone as a result of digital disruption. - source
If the US Postal Service was considered a private corporation, it would've ranked 29th on the 2010 Fortune 500 list. - source
The annual subsidies given to the firms in the Fortune 500 is slightly over $100 billion USD each year coming largely through tax breaks that cut their annual tax rates from 35% to 13% average annually.
More than 50 percent of publicly traded companies in the U.S. and more than 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware. - source
A-Mark, a precious metal company, is ranked 395 on Fortune 500 2017, but only employs 83 people
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, is the only open gay Fortune 500 CEO.
Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel made so much money that it would rank higher than Starbucks, Facebook, and Southwest Airlines on the Fortune 500
More than 26 Fortune 500 companies in the USA did not pay taxes between 2008-2012
Some Beanie Babies are worth an absolute fortune! The Princess Diana bear has sold for as much as $92,500.
Mark Zuckerberg made the Fortune 500 list for the first time in May 2013. He was only 28 and the youngest CEO.
