Answered By: Leslie Burmeister
Last Updated: Dec 16, 2020     Views: 8671

Q.
Fortune 500 / Fortune 1000 lists

Where can I access Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 annual rankings of the largest US corporations?


A.

MSCI Ratings via WRDS (from 2001):

  • In WRDS, select the MSCI (formerly KLD and GMI) from Subscriptions.
  • Select MSCI GMI Ratings
  • Select Companies
  • The variable name for Fortune rank is INDEXFORTUNE.

The Fortune 500 website provides access to lists from recent years. The full Fortune 1000 companies are also included. These lists can be viewed on screen but not exported. (Note: website behind a tiered paywall).

The Fortune 500 archive provides rankings 1955-2005.

Using Capital IQ, you could create your own annual ranking by revenues of US companies. These rankings may differ from the official Fortune lists.

Using Business Source Complete, you can access issues of Fortune magazine back to 1984. Unfortunately, "Fortune 500" is rarely used as the title of the article. To find Fortune lists, you can also try running run an Advanced search query with FORTUNE in the Source, or publication name, field AND 

  • For Fortune 500 lists: add LARGEST U.S. CORPORATIONS to your query in the Title field.
  • For Fortune 1000 lists: add RANKED BY INDUSTRIES to your query in the Title field. 

Access print issues of Fortune at Harvard Libraries.

Please note: we do not have access to Fortune data through the Fortune Data Store.