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Fortune
Fortune
Sasha Rogelberg

What is a Fortune 500 company? The story behind the list

Andy Jassy speaks in front of a black and blue background. (Credit: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg—Getty Images)

The Fortune 500 list is the ultimate measure of success for U.S. companies and Fortune’s flagship ranking.

In a letter proposing the business magazine to advertisers in 1929, Time founder Henry Luce envisioned the publication as a way to “reflect Industrial Life in ink and paper and word and picture, as the finest skyscraper reflects it in stone and steel and architectural design.”

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