1955 – Fortune publishes its list of the top 500 industrial companies for the first time. General Motors tops the first list.
Fortune gave the world of business journalism a new feature that became increasing popular. The magazine compiled a list of the 500 largest companies in the country for an issue in 1955. With $9.8 billion in revenue, General Motors topped the first list. Dubbed the Fortune 500, the annual compilation became immediately successful and turned into a barometer of American business.
The magazine later added other lists, including the Global 500, the Fortune 1,000, the 100 Best Companies to Work For and the Most Admired Companies. The latter would prove embarrassing for the magazine in the early part of the 21 st century with the bankruptcy filing of Enron Corp., which had typically been at the top of the list.
Other magazines soon followed Fortune, and the number of lists of companies or measuring the economy has now grown to where some criticize these lists for failing to properly assess the corporate world with a critical eye.