This year's new female Fortune 500 CEOs have one thing in common
Good morning! Taylor Swift buys back her masters, PBS sues Trump, and the 2025 Fortune 500 is here. – 55 out of 500. The 2025 Fortune 500 is out this morning—and women run 11% of companies on this year's list. Of the 500 businesses that claim spots on the ranking of the largest U.S. companies by revenue, female CEOs lead 55 of them. After two years at 10.4%, 11% is a slight increase.
My colleague Nina Ajemian (who curates the second half of this newsletter each day!) has a rundown of this year's female Fortune 500 CEOs. After Karen Lynch's exit from CVS Health in October, GM is the largest Fortune 500 company, at No. 18, helmed by a female CEO—Mary Barra.
As readers of this newsletter likely know, Fortune's Most Powerful Women in Business list published about two weeks ago. This is the first time the Fortune 500 and MPW list have come out around the same time, so it's worth a reminder of how these two cohorts are different. The MPW list is an editorial ranking, in which Fortune editors rely on data, and other factors like influence, to choose the 100 Most Powerful Women working in business around the globe. The Fortune 500 is U.S.-based and relies solely on numbers; only 21 of the 55 female Fortune 500 CEOs made this year's MPW list.
What stands out to me about this year's Fortune 500 is a trend among new female CEOs. It's become exceedingly rare for Fortune 500 companies to choose women as outside CEO hires. All of the newly-named female Fortune 500 chiefs in the past year were promoted into their jobs—at Ulta Beauty, Principal Financial, U.S. Bancorp, Marathon Petroleum, Albertsons, S&P Global, and Freeport-McMoRan.
Is that aligned with broader executive hiring trends, or are companies scared to bet on women without an internal track record? Reply to this email to tell me what you think—and read more from Nina here.
Emma Hinchliffeemma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune's daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today's edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here.
In total, Fortune 500 companies represent two-thirds of U.S. GDP with $19.9 trillion in revenues, and they employ 31 million people worldwide. Last year, they combined to earn $1.87 trillion in profits, up 10% from last year—and a record in dollar terms. View the full list, read a longer overview of how it shook out this year, and learn more about the companies via the stories below.
IBM was once the face of technological innovation, but the company has struggled to keep up with the speed of Silicon Valley. Can a bold AI strategy and a fast-moving CEO change its trajectory? Read more
This year, Alphabet became the first company on the Fortune 500 to surpass $100 billion in profits. Take an inside look at which industries, and companies, earned the most profits on this year's list. Read more
UnitedHealth Group abruptly brought back former CEO Stephen Hemsley in mid-May amid a wave of legal investigations and intense stock losses. How can the insurer get back on its feet? Read more
Keurig Dr. Pepper CEO Tim Cofer has made Dr. Pepper cool again and brought a new generation of products to the company. Now, the little-known industry veteran has his eyes set on Coke-and-Pepsi levels of profitability. Read more
NRG Energy is the top-performing stock in the S&P 500 this year, gaining 68% on the back of big acquisitions and a bet on data centers. In his own words, CEO Larry Coben explains the company's success. Read more
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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