Fortune 500

English

Noun

Fortune 500 (countable and uncountable, plural Fortune 500s)

1. (singular only) The list published annually by Fortune magazine of the 500 United States companies with the highest revenue.
   • 1987, Katherine V. Forrest, Murder at the Nightwood Bar, Alyson Publishing, →ISBN, page 65:

     I'm betting they're more listings from the Fortune 500.

   • 2004, Matt Ruff, Sewer, Gas and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy, Grove Press, →ISBN, page 42:

     If he were a corporation instead of a criminal he'd be in the Fortune 500 by now.

   • 2004, Fern Michaels, Payback, →ISBN, Prologue:

     Myra Rutledge, heiress to a Fortune 500 candy company, looked around her state-of-the-art kitchen, at the pots bubbling on the stove, at the table set for two.

2. (plural only) Collectively, the members of that list.
   • 1990, Michael Novak, Toward a Theology of the Corporation, American Enterprise Institute, →ISBN, page 20:

     In other words, a majority of the Fortune 500 are of the size of universities, from 500 up to about 40000 employees.

   • 1999, Steve Fiffer, Three Quarters, Two Dimes and a Nickel: A Memoir of Becoming Whole, The Free Press, →ISBN, page 170:

     Few sportswear or sports equipment companies could be found pitching their products on television; and even fewer could be found among the Fortune 500.

   • 2003, Joel C. Rosenberg, The Last Jihad, Tor/Forge, →ISBN, page 23:

     Bennett didn't appear on CNBC, or kibitz with Maria Bartiromo, or speak at Fortune 500 conferences, or get himself profiled in the Wall Street Journal.

3. (by extension, informal, countable) Any one member of that list.
   • 1990, Sue Grafton, "G" is for Gumshoe, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, page 154:

     Abbott was in his late sixties and looked like a retired Fortune 500 executive in a three-piece suit, complete with manicured nails and a Rolex watch.

   • 2000, Susan F. Shultz, The Board Book, →ISBN, page 13:

     If logic and demonstrations of success are not impetus enough, realize that activists are now looking beyond Fortune 500s.

   • 2005, Amy Scheibe, What Do You Do All Day?, St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 53:

     I shrink a little at the idea of Portia breaking another glass ceiling on her way to what can only be president or CEO of a Fortune 500.