8 Va. companies make 2023 Fortune Global 500

Eight Virginia-based companies made Fortune magazine’s 34th Global 500 list, released Tuesday, notably including the newly renamed RTX and Boeing Co. as Virginia’s second and third highest-ranking companies, both of which are also newcomers to the state, having moved their headquarters to Arlington County last year.

Freddie Mac remained Virginia’s top-ranked company, at No. 133, with $86.7 billion in fiscal 2022 revenue. RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies) followed at No. 195, with $67.7 billion in revenue, and Boeing ranked just two steps behind at No. 197, logging $66.6 billion in revenue. The list follows Fortune’s annual list of the top 1000 U.S. companies ranked by revenue, the latest of which was released in June., and hews closely to it; 36 Virginia-based companies made that list, with 24 making it onto the elite 500. Six Virginia-based companies made the Fortune Global 500 last year.

Fortune’s Global 500 list also ranks global companies by revenue. Taking the lead for the 10th consecutive year is Walmart Inc. The Arkansas-based retailer reported $611.3 billion in revenue for fiscal 2022, an increase of $38.5 billion from 2021. Walmart has held the No. 1 spot 18 times since 1995.

Saudi Aramco followed at No. 2, up from No. 6 in 2022, with $603.6 billion in revenue, a 51% increase from the previous year. Fortune also noted that the Saudi state-owned company earned $159 billion in profit, the highest annual total for a Fortune Global 500 company. Saudi Aramco, and other energy giants, Fortune reported, benefited from soaring energy prices fueled by Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

China outpaced the world with the most companies on the list at a total of 142. The United States reached its highest company total since 2010 with 136 companies. The number of women in charge also increased; the number of women CEOs on the Fortune Global 500 rose to 29 in 2023, up from 24 last year.

Among Virginia-based companies, Goochland County-based Performance Food Group Co. saw the highest rank increase, jumping 164 spots to No. 304, up from No. 486 last year. The company reported $47.1 billion in revenue in fiscal 2022, up from $30.3 the previous year.

Another Goochland-based company, CarMax Inc., saw the largest tumble, falling to No. 498 in 2023 with $31.13 billion in fiscal 2022 revenue, down from No. 432 on the 2022 global list, when the company reported $33.1 billion in revenue. Challenges in the used car market, prices for which soared during the pandemic, have continued among pressures from inflation; CarMax reported net revenues of $7.7 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2024, which ended May 31, down 17.4% compared with the prior year’s first quarter.

“The overall used market obviously is still depressed,” CarMax CEO William Nash said on a call with analysts, according to a Reuters news report.

These are the Virginia-based companies that made the 2023 Fortune Global 500 list, in order of ranking:

133) Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (“Freddie Mac”), McLean

195) RTX, Arlington County

197) Boeing Co., Arlington County

304) Performance Food Group Co., Goochland County

379) General Dynamics Corp., Reston

386) Capital One Financial Corp., McLean

413) Northrop Grumman Corp., Fairfax County

496) CarMax Inc., Goochland County