The number of Fortune 500 companies in Greater Cincinnati slipped to five – the lowest in more than a decade, according to the business magazine’s latest ranking.
Fortune’s latest list of the largest U.S. companies is based on the most recent fiscal year’s revenues recorded in a government filing. The local companies:
• Kroger was No. 24, with $148.3 billion in sales.
• Procter & Gamble was No. 51, with $80.2 billion in sales.
• Western & Southern Financial Group was No. 314, with $13.2 billion in revenue.
• Fifth Third was No. 411, with $9.4 billion in revenue.
• Cintas, based in Mason, was No. 473 with $7.9 billion in revenue.
The latest roster is half the number of Fortune 500 companies the region boasted in 2013. In the last decade, the region has lost major companies headquartered here due to acquisitions from outside the area.
The region is expected to add one new Fortune 500 company next year after Boston-based General Electric completes its restructuring. The company will then be based in Evendale and assume the name of its remaining division: GE Aerospace.
Meanwhile, lower investing income at two local insurance companies appears to have prevented them from making the $7.2 billion cutoff for the famous list. In previous years, the region’s insurance companies have moved off and on the listing due to investment portfolio changes.
American Financial Group slid from No. 454 to No. 510 on the magazine’s Fortune 1000 list with $7 billion in revenue. Fairfield-based Cincinnati Financial dropped from No. 367 to No. 534 on the Fortune 1000 with $6.6 billion in revenue.
The revenue cutoff to make the Fortune 500 list this year is $800 million higher at $7.2 billion with Menlo Park-based staffing company Robert Half International occupying the final spot.
Greater Cincinnati’s heavy corporate presence has long been considered an economic asset, providing the region with tens of thousands of high-paying jobs and attracting strong entrepreneurial talent.
