Good morning! Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pushes for more debt relief, Kamala Harris reportedly has at least one Wall Street chief on her side, and women CEOs lost ground in Europe this year. Enjoy your Wednesday.
- Ups and downs. While the share of women running Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. stayed steady at 10.4% over the past year, the Fortune 500's European counterpart has been more challenged. On the second annual Fortune 500 Europe, released today, women run 6.2% of companies, down from 7% last year. That's a loss of four CEO jobs, from a total of 35 to 31, on a list that accounts for 57% of Europe's GDP and 14% of the world's GDP.
Not only did women CEOs lose ground when it comes to how many companies they lead—their businesses fell down the list itself by size.
The top-ranked woman-led company on the Fortune 500 Europe is still Engie, the French energy business, which claimed that honor last year. But this year Engie falls at No. 31 on the list compared to No. 18 a year ago; the company has said factors including a mild winter reducing demand for heating contributed to a revenue decline.
Engie is followed by Ireland-incorporated Accenture (No. 48, led by Julie Sweet). Next up are the German business behind Mercedes-Benz, Daimler Truck Holding (No. 55, led by chief Karin Radstrom since the start of this month), and the French utility Veolia (No. 77, led by Estelle Brachlianoff).
Some notable year-to-year departures from this group of women-led European companies include Sweden's H&M; CEO Helena Helmersson abruptly stepped down from the role at the beginning of this year, citing the "very demanding" nature of the job. Hilde Merete Aasheim left her role as the CEO of the Norwegian aluminum and renewable energy company Norsk Hydro. Katie Bickerstaffe ended a run as co-CEO of the British retailer Marks and Spencer. Slovenian utility Petrol Group lost its female CEO. Siobhan Talbot left her role as head of Glanbia, the Irish company behind brands including Slim Fast and Optimum Nutrition.
New entrants on the Fortune 500 Europe's contingent of women-led businesses (in addition to Daimler) include Germany's Fresenius Medical Care, led by Helen Giza, which joins the list at No. 199, and Belgium's Euroclear Holding (No. 407), led by Valerie Urbain. One CEO kept her job at a new company; the Belgian materials company Syensqo (No. 438) is led by Ilham Kadri after a spinoff from Solvay.
Across the list, companies run by female CEOs saw combined profits fall by 20%, with the steepest declines in telecommunications, health care, and tech. Companies with male CEOs—which include the booming businesses that take up the first 30 slots on this year's list—saw profits increase year-over-year. The difference isn't large enough to be statistically significant, Fortune’s data analysis team reports, but likely reflects the jobs women are tapped for (your classic glass cliff scenarios) or the industries where they are more likely to be leaders. In general, the Fortune 500 Europe reflects the dominance of traditional industries in the region and lacks the high-growth tech businesses that have grown to define much of the business world in the U.S. and China.
Throughout the region, the U.K. leads on gender diversity in leadership with nine female CEOs, followed by France with six. Eastern Europe has just one female chief: Veselina Lachezarova Kanatova-Buchkova, leader of Bulgaria's utility BEH Group.
Read more about the Fortune 500 Europe here.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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