Top 10 Largest Companies in Europe Revealed by Fortune
Fortune has released its 2026 Fortune 500 Europe list, ranking the top 500 companies in Europe by revenue. At the top of the list is Volkswagen, with a 3% increase in revenue, while Shell, experiencing a 5% decline in revenue, fell to second place. For the first time in the list's four-year history, the United Kingdom has overtaken Germany to claim the title of the country with the most companies. The total revenue of the 500 companies reached $15.5 trillion, a 4% increase from the previous year.
England secured the leading position with 76 companies, whereas Germany, unexpectedly, slipped to the second place for the first time in a span of four years.
Fortune's yearly roundup ranks corporations according to their earnings. On the 2026 roster, Volkswagen maintained its premier position with a whopping $363 billion in revenue, whereas Shell, the runner-up, experienced a 5% dip in revenue relative to the preceding year. Consequently, the revenue chasm between the two giants widened even further.
The most dramatic shift in the geographical distribution of the list unfolded over the last four years. The UK ascended to the pinnacle, contributing the highest number of companies to the list with a total of 76, outstripping Germany, which had clung to the crown for four years but now slipped to the second rank with 73 firms. France clinched the third position with 66 companies. For the first time ever, the revenue threshold to earn a spot on the list surpassed $7 billion; the revenue of FMS Wertmanagement Group, which scraped in at the 500th rank, was documented as $7.4 billion.
Once again, the total profit soared beyond 1 trillion dollars, concurrently with the number of female CEOs reaching an unprecedented peak.
After experiencing a 5% dip in the preceding year, the aggregate profit of the 500 companies listed in Fortune 500 Europe saw a 3% uptick this year, just surpassing the 1 trillion dollar mark. However, the overall profit margin persisted in its downward trend; the margin, which stood at 7.1% in the 2024 list, fell to 6.5% this year. The total workforce in these companies also saw a 1% reduction, dwindling to 34.6 million; this decrease in employee count resulted in a 5% increase in income per employee, while profit per employee climbed by 4%. HSBC took the lead in terms of profit, exceeding 22 billion dollars, while the roster of companies with profits surpassing 10 billion dollars remained stagnant at a mere 25.
Another noteworthy observation from the list was the shift in the managerial echelon. The tally of female CEOs rose to 43, the highest figure since the list's inception in 2023. The cumulative revenue of companies helmed by women saw a 24% surge, reaching 1.2 trillion dollars, but their representation in the list stayed put at 8.6%; this percentage falls short of the 11% representation in the US-based Fortune 500 list. The lone company among the top 10 steered by a female CEO was BP, under the leadership of Meg O'Neill; within the top 50, Engie emerged as the second company with a female CEO at the helm.
The top 10 in the Fortune 500 Europe list were as follows:
1. Volkswagen (Germany)
2. Shell (United Kingdom)
3. Glencore (Switzerland)
4. BP (United Kingdom)
5. TotalEnergies (France)
6. Stellantis (Netherlands)
7. BMW Group (Germany)
8. MercedesBenz Group (Germany)
9. Banco Santander (Spain)
10. BNP Paribas (France)
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