Koç Holding only Turkish firm on Fortune 500 listing

ISTANBUL – Hurriyet Daily News

Mustafa Koç chairs Turkey’s Koç Holding, one of the largest conglomerates in the country. Hürriyet photo

U.S.-based Fortune magazine has published its list of “Global 500” companies and Turkey’s Koç Holding is the only Turkish company to have graced this year’s list, at number 222 with $41.5 billion in revenues. 

In fact, Koç Holding jumped 25 spots from number 247 in 2011, when the company brought in $35.7 billion in revenues. In 2010 it had ranked number 273, indicating that the Turkish family conglomerate is inching its way up the list. When looked at over a two-year period, Koç Holding has risen 51 spots. Holland-based Royal Dutch Shell holds the first place ranking with $484 billion in revenues. Its U.S. competitor Exxon Mobile comes in at second with $452 billion in revenues, followed by super-market giant Wal-Mart in third place with $446 billion in revenues. 

Meanwhile, two years after eclipsing Japan as the world’s second-largest economy, China has stolen the number-two spot on the Fortune 500 list of the biggest global companies from its Asian rival, according to Agence France-Presse.

In its annual revenue rankings, Fortune magazine said China had overtaken Japan for the first time, with 73 companies on the list compared with Japan’s 68 companies. China added 12 companies to the list this year, while the number of European firms fell to 161 amid the eurozone debt crisis, from 172 in 2011.

“One of the more remarkable shifts has been in the number of Chinese companies on the list,” Fortune said, pointing out there were only 11 Chinese firms on the Global 500 in 2002, while the number of Japanese companies has fallen from 88.

In total, the Global 500 companies posted record revenues of $29.5 trillion, up 13.2 percent over 2010.