Thanks to advances in technology in recent years, a number of newer companies have achieved rapid growth and ascended the ranks of the Fortune 500. Amazon, for example, was founded in 1994 and now ranks fifth on the Fortune 500. Alphabet, which was founded as Google in 1998, ranks 15th.
While a number of the country’s largest, fastest-growing tech companies were founded in the last 25 years, the majority of America’s largest companies were founded in the 20th century. About one-fifth of America’s 500 largest public companies were founded before 1900, several with roots tracing back as far as the late 1700s.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed the year each Fortune 500 company was founded to determine the biggest company founded the year you were born. In a few cases, where there were no current Fortune 500 companies founded that year, we identified the largest non-Fortune 500 public company founded that year, by revenue.
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Yearly changes in the Fortune 500, which has been published annually since 1955, often reflect the shifting nature of the U.S. economy. Many of the companies rising fastest on the list in recent years, for example, operate in one of America’s 25 thriving industries, while many of those falling are in one of America’s 25 dying industries.
The 1980s yielded more Fortune 500 companies than any other decade. Sixty-one of the current 500 companies – including AT&T, AmerisourceBergen, and Valero Energy – were formed between 1980 and 1989, representing 11.4% of the 500 companies’ total revenue. The next most prosperous decades were the 1990s, which yielded 48 current Fortune 500 companies, and the years 1900 to 1909, which yielded 40 companies.
More recently, the 2010s yielded 15 current Fortune 500 companies, collectively representing 1.5% of the revenue of the 500. For more on major companies formed in the last decade, see America’s biggest companies that didn’t exist 10 years ago.
1945: Southern
• Industry: Utilities: gas and electric
• Revenue: $23.5 billion
• # of employees: 29,000
• Headquarters: Atlanta, GA
1946: Lowe’s
• Industry: Retailing
• Revenue: $71.31 billion
• # of employees: 310,000
• Headquarters: Mooresville, NC
1947: HollyFrontier
• Industry: Energy
• Revenue: $17.71 billion
• # of employees: 3,522
• Headquarters: Dallas, TX
1948: ManpowerGroup
• Industry: Business services
• Revenue: $21.99 billion
• # of employees: 30,000
• Headquarters: Milwaukee, WI
1949: ADP
• Industry: Business services
• Revenue: $13.33 billion
• # of employees: 57,000
• Headquarters: Roseland, NJ
1950: Ross Stores
• Industry: Retailing
• Revenue: $14.98 billion
• # of employees: 88,100
• Headquarters: Dublin, CA
1951: Texas Instruments
• Industry: Technology
• Revenue: $15.78 billion
• # of employees: 30,000
• Headquarters: Dallas, TX
1952: General Dynamics
• Industry: Aerospace & defense
• Revenue: $36.19 billion
• # of employees: 35,000
• Headquarters: Falls Church, VA
1953: Autoliv
• Industry: Wholesalers
• Revenue: $9.8 billion
• # of employees: 67,000
• Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden
1954: Lennar
• Industry: Engineering & construction
• Revenue: $20.57 billion
• # of employees: 8,335
• Headquarters: Miami, FL
1955: Aflac
• Industry: Insurance
• Revenue: $21.76 billion
• # of employees: 10,212
• Headquarters: Columbus, GA
1956: TJX
• Industry: Retailing
• Revenue: $38.97 billion
• # of employees: 270,000
• Headquarters: Framingham, MA
1957: O’Reilly Automotive
• Industry: Retailing
• Revenue: $9.54 billion
• # of employees: 79,174
• Headquarters: Springfield, MO
1958: Visa
• Industry: Business services
• Revenue: $20.61 billion
• # of employees: 17,000
• Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
1959: Aramark
• Industry: Business services
• Revenue: $15.79 billion
• # of employees: 227,200
• Headquarters: Philadelphia, PA
1960: Simon Property Group
• Industry: Real Estate
• Revenue: $5.66 billion
• # of employees: 5,000
• Headquarters: Indianapolis, IN
1961: Humana
• Industry: Health care
• Revenue: $56.91 billion
• # of employees: 41,600
• Headquarters: Louisville, KY
1962: Walmart
• Industry: Retailing
• Revenue: $514.41 billion
• # of employees: 2,200,000
• Headquarters: Bentonville, AR
1963: CVS Health
• Industry: Health care
• Revenue: $194.58 billion
• # of employees: 295,000
• Headquarters: Woonsocket, RI
1964: Nike
• Industry: Apparel
• Revenue: $36.4 billion
• # of employees: 73,100
• Headquarters: Beaverton, OR
1965: A-Mark Precious Metals
• Industry: Materials
• Revenue: $7.61 billion
• # of employees: 184
• Headquarters: El Segundo, CA
1966: Best Buy
• Industry: Retailing
• Revenue: $42.88 billion
• # of employees: 125,000
• Headquarters: Richfield, MN
1967: Southwest Airlines
• Industry: Airline
• Revenue: $21.97 billion
• # of employees: 60,590
• Headquarters: Dallas, TX
1968: Intel
• Industry: Technology
• Revenue: $70.85 billion
• # of employees: 107,400
• Headquarters: Santa Clara, CA
1969: Sysco
• Industry: Wholesalers
• Revenue: $58.73 billion
• # of employees: 67,000
• Headquarters: Houston, TX
1970: Freddie Mac
• Industry: Financials
• Revenue: $73.6 billion
• # of employees: 6,600
• Headquarters: McLean, VA
1971: Cardinal Health
• Industry: Wholesalers
• Revenue: $136.81 billion
• # of employees: 50,000
• Headquarters: Dublin, OH
1972: TravelCenters of America
• Industry: Retailing
• Revenue: $6.97 billion
• # of employees: 18,277
• Headquarters: Westlake, OH
1973: Reinsurance Group of America
• Industry: Financials
• Revenue: $12.88 billion
• # of employees: 2,767
• Headquarters: Chesterfield, MO
1974: UnitedHealth Group
• Industry: Health care
• Revenue: $226.25 billion
• # of employees: 320,000
• Headquarters: Minnetonka, MN
1975: Microsoft
• Industry: Technology
• Revenue: $110.36 billion
• # of employees: 148,465
• Headquarters: Redmond, WA
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1976: Apple
• Industry: Technology
• Revenue: $265.6 billion
• # of employees: 137,000
• Headquarters: Cupertino, CA
1977: Oracle
• Industry: Technology
• Revenue: $39.83 billion
• # of employees: 136,000
• Headquarters: Redwood City, CA
1978: Home Depot
• Industry: Retailing
• Revenue: $108.2 billion
• # of employees: 400,000
• Headquarters: Atlanta, GA
1979: Twenty-First Century Fox
• Industry: Media
• Revenue: $30.4 billion
• # of employees: 22,400
• Headquarters: New York, NY
1980: Valero Energy
• Industry: Energy
• Revenue: $111.41 billion
• # of employees: 10,015
• Headquarters: San Antonio, TX
1981: Plains GP Holdings
• Industry: Utilities: gas and electric
• Revenue: $34.06 billion
• # of employees: 4,900
• Headquarters: Houston, TX
1982: IQVIA Holdings
• Industry: Technology
• Revenue: $10.41 billion
• # of employees: 58,000
• Headquarters: Durham, NC
1983: AT&T
• Industry: Telecommunications
• Revenue: $170.76 billion
• # of employees: 251,840
• Headquarters: Dallas, TX
1984: Dell Technologies
• Industry: Technology
• Revenue: $90.62 billion
• # of employees: 157,000
• Headquarters: Round Rock, TX
1985: AmerisourceBergen
• Industry: Wholesalers
• Revenue: $167.94 billion
• # of employees: 20,000
• Headquarters: Chesterbrook, PA
1986: Enterprise Products Partners
• Industry: Utilities: gas and electric
• Revenue: $36.53 billion
• # of employees: 7,000
• Headquarters: Houston, TX
1987: Gilead Sciences
• Industry: Health care
• Revenue: $22.13 billion
• # of employees: 10,000
• Headquarters: Foster City, CA
1988: Capital One Financial
• Industry: Financials
• Revenue: $32.38 billion
• # of employees: 50,000
• Headquarters: McLean, VA
1989: XPO Logistics
• Industry: Transportation
• Revenue: $17.28 billion
• # of employees: 100,000
• Headquarters: Greenwich, CT
1990: Penske Automotive Group
• Industry: Retailing
• Revenue: $22.79 billion
• # of employees: 27,000
• Headquarters: Bloomfield Hills, MI
1991: AutoNation
• Industry: Retailing
• Revenue: $21.41 billion
• # of employees: 26,000
• Headquarters: Fort Lauderdale, FL
1992: NetApp
• Industry: Technology
• Revenue: $5.91 billion
• # of employees: 10,500
• Headquarters: Sunnyvale, CA
1993: CarMax
• Industry: Retailing
• Revenue: $17.98 billion
• # of employees: 25,000
• Headquarters: Richmond, VA
1994: Amazon.com
• Industry: Retailing
• Revenue: $232.89 billion
• # of employees: 750,000
• Headquarters: Seattle, WA
1995: DTE Energy
• Industry: Energy
• Revenue: $14.21 billion
• # of employees: 10,000
• Headquarters: Detroit, MI
1996: Murphy USA
• Industry: Retailing
• Revenue: $12.52 billion
• # of employees: 9,500
• Headquarters: El Dorado, AR
1997: Jones Lang LaSalle
• Industry: Real Estate
• Revenue: $16.32 billion
• # of employees: 90,000
• Headquarters: Chicago, IL
1998: Alphabet
• Industry: Technology
• Revenue: $136.82 billion
• # of employees: 1,035,549
• Headquarters: Mountain View, CA
1999: Charter Communications
• Industry: Telecommunications
• Revenue: $43.63 billion
• # of employees: 98,000
• Headquarters: Stamford, CT
2000: Intercontinental Exchange
• Industry: Financials
• Revenue: $6.28 billion
• # of employees: 5,161
• Headquarters: Atlanta, GA
2001: Delek US Holdings
• Industry: Energy
• Revenue: $10.27 billion
• # of employees: 3,717
• Headquarters: Brentwood, TN
2002: Energy Transfer
• Industry: Energy
• Revenue: $54.44 billion
• # of employees: 10,000
• Headquarters: Dallas, TX
2003: Tesla
• Industry: Automotive
• Revenue: $21.46 billion
• # of employees: 48,817
• Headquarters: Palo Alto, CA
2004: Facebook
• Industry: Technology
• Revenue: $55.84 billion
• # of employees: 43,030
• Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA
2005: Global Partners
• Industry: Retailing
• Revenue: $12.67 billion
• # of employees: 2,500
• Headquarters: Waltham, MA
2006: Realogy Holdings
• Industry: Real Estate
• Revenue: $6.08 billion
• # of employees: 11,800
• Headquarters: Madison, NJ
2007: US Foods Holding
• Industry: Wholesalers
• Revenue: $24.18 billion
• # of employees: 25,000
• Headquarters: Rosemont, IL
2008: PBF Energy
• Industry: Energy
• Revenue: $27.19 billion
• # of employees: 3,266
• Headquarters: Parsippany, NJ
2009: Uber
• Industry: Transportation
• Revenue: $11.27 billion
• # of employees: 22,000
• Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
2010: NGL Energy Partners
• Industry: Energy
• Revenue: $17.28 billion
• # of employees: 2,400
• Headquarters: Tulsa, OK
2011: Huntington Ingalls Industries
• Industry: Aerospace & defense
• Revenue: $8.18 billion
• # of employees: 42,000
• Headquarters: Newport News, VA
2012: AbbVie
• Industry: Health care
• Revenue: $32.75 billion
• # of employees: 30,000
• Headquarters: Lake Bluff, IL
2013: Zoetis
• Industry: Wholesalers
• Revenue: $5.83 billion
• # of employees: 9,000
• Headquarters: Kalamazoo, MI
2014: Synchrony Financial
• Industry: Financials
• Revenue: $18.25 billion
• # of employees: 16,000
• Headquarters: Stamford, CT
2015: Hewlett Packard Enterprise
• Industry: Technology
• Revenue: $30.85 billion
• # of employees: 60,000
• Headquarters: San Jose, CA
2016: Vistra Energy
• Industry: Utilities: gas and electric
• Revenue: $9.14 billion
• # of employees: 5,275
• Headquarters: Irving, TX
Methodology
To determine the biggest company founded the year you were born, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the 2019 Fortune 500 list of the 500 largest companies in the United States in terms of revenue. We listed the company that ranks the highest based on the year of its founding, as determined by financial filings, Fortune, and other sources. For the purposes of this article, the founding year could refer to the year in which a company was initially founded, merged, or was restructured. Data on annual revenue for the most recent fiscal year, number of employees, and corporate headquarters also came from Fortune, financial filings, and other publicly available sources.
24/7 Wall Street is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.
