A NOTE FROM OUR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ALYSON SHONTELL

Walmart, which generated $611 billion in sales in 2022, has been sitting pretty as the biggest company on the planet by revenue for 10 years straight. But it needs to watch its back.

Thanks to the Ukraine war’s impact on oil and gas prices and Saudi Arabia’s ability to cheaply pump oil from its immense reserves, Saudi Aramco had a banner year. It narrowly missed the top slot with $604 billion in revenue, up 51% from the year prior. Even more impressively, Saudi Aramco earned $159 billion in net income, racking up the most profitable year ever for a Global 500 company. If the energy industry has another surge like that in 2023, Walmart could get knocked off its perch.

But here’s the thing: Like the leaders of the world’s other giant crude oil producers, the folks at Saudi Aramco are also looking over their shoulders. They know that a global green transition will eventually end their dominance unless they get serious about the alternative-fuel business. That’s one reason why the Saudi government, which controls Aramco, is plowing its profits into green-tech R&D and a host of other industries.

A little further down the list, a different earthquake is underway. Alphabet, which ranks No. 17 on this year’s Global 500, is facing a classic innovator’s dilemma thanks to generative A.I. and a big challenger in the space: Microsoft (No. 30). We previously featured Jeremy Kahn’s story in The Reader on how Alphabet’s Google is scrambling to evolve as its profit-making search business is threatened.

To see the authoritative ranking of the current corporate world order, see our full list below.

MAGAZINE

Saudi Arabia has the most profitable company in the history of the world, and $3.2 trillion to invest by 2030. Who will say no to that tidal wave of cash?

With its vast supply of oil money, the kingdom’s flashy play for golf dominance is just the tip of the iceberg.

Lockheed Martin’s $1.7 trillion F-35 fighter jet is 10 years late and 80% over budget—and it could be one of the Pentagon’s biggest success stories

How America’s biggest defense contractor turned a military spending fiasco into a business victory.

FEATURES

The Hollywood dream job is dead. Did it ever really exist?

Maureen Ryan’s Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood portrays the entertainment industry as just another brutal, exploitative workplace.

Katie Haun launched a $1.5 billion crypto fund—and then the industry blew up. How has she navigated crypto’s year from hell?

Once a star booster of crypto, Haun has largely retreated from the limelight.

FINANCE

These 21 private equity power players are shaping the $8 trillion industry as a new guard emerges

Whether in their sixth decade or their third, these are some of the most powerful private equity investors in the U.S. And they have $1.5 trillion to invest.

TECH

Inside Twitter rival Bluesky’s first major crisis, as investors pressured CEO Jay Graber to speak out about racist incident

When a racist username went unchecked, investors pushed for an apology that took the CEO 10 days to formulate.

SUCCESS

The winners and losers of the new A.I. job market, as predicted by McKinsey

Workers in customer-facing roles and low-wage positions are more likely to need to switch jobs.

Miami’s status as the favorite American city for the ultrawealthy is pushing out its middle class—and everyone else

“Wall Street South” just saw its first population decrease in a decade. This is not how it was supposed to go.

A 26-year-old MBA student launched a beauty business while studying—and it’s now stocked in Sephora, making $10M a year and expanding into Europe

Most university students can be found chasing internships or partying too hard. But not Amy Roe, who was launching a beauty brand.

Get the full dataset behind the Global 500 – the ultimate benchmark of worldwide business success.

Go global with Fortune Analytics today.