The biggest companies in America are coming off one of their most profitable years ever. The $1.87 trillion in earnings posted by this year’s Fortune 500 is the most in the history of the list, in nominal dollars. (Adjusted for inflation, the class of 2022 did slightly better.)
Such numbers would have been unimaginable for the CEOs who made our inaugural list in 1955. That year’s 500 combined to post profits of $8.3 billion, about $96 billion in today’s dollars. This year’s most profitable company, Alphabet, earned $100 billion all by itself.
