1954年，美国《财富》杂志开始以严谨的评估推出全球最大500家企业的名单，“全球500强排行榜”从此产生了巨大影响，以至于超越了国家、民族、文化而成为全球经济的一个标准。迄今为止，就影响力而言，没有任何一种媒体的“排行榜”能望其项背。这一排名已成世界知名企业用来判断自身实力、规模和国际竞争力的重要指标，也是世界经济状况极具权威性的晴雨表。列入世界经济500强，对企业来说不仅仅是一种莫大的荣耀，同时也意味着企业的无形资产在一夜之间得到了数以亿计的增长。

　　《财富》杂志利用其影响力举办了一系列的财经论坛，如《财富》500强论坛（首席执行官）、《财富》首席金融官论坛等。

　　Fortune was founded by Time co-founder Henry Luce in February 1930, four months after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that marked the outset of the Great Depression. Briton Hadden, Luce's partner, wasn't enthusiastic about the idea, but Luce went forward with it after Hadden's October 15, 1929 death (of streptococcus).

　　Single copies of that first issue cost $1 at a time when the Sunday New York Times was only 5c.At a time when business publications were little more than numbers and statistics printed in black and white, Fortune was an oversized 11"x14", using creamy heavy paper, and great art on a cover printed by a special process. Fortune was also noted for its photography, featuring the work of Margaret Bourke White and others. Walker Evans served as its photography editor from 1945-1965.

　　An urban legend says that art director T M Clelland mocked up the cover of the first issue with the $1 price because nobody had yet decided how much to charge; the magazine was printed before anyone realized it, and when people saw it for sale, they thought that the magazine must really have worthwhile content. In fact, there were 30,000 subscribers who'd already signed up to receive that initial 184-page issue. Fortune claims their circulation has risen from 833,000 to 857,000in that period.

　　A theme of Fortune is its regular publishing of researched and ranked lists. In the human resources field, for example, their Best Companies to Work For list is an industry benchmark. Its most famous lists rank companies by gross revenue and profile their businesses: Fortune 500 Fortune 1000 Fortune Global 500.

　　Just as Wall Street is an icon to the investment community, Fortune magazine is one to its readership, the difference being Fortune's diversified reach into the many facets of business: technology, companies, global economics, and, of course, your personal fortune. While many a narrow-focused business and investing magazine has come and gone, Fortune has grown and prospered, investing as much in content as ad space and staying in print since the 1930s. Columns include features on the marketplace, tech movers and shakers, career trends, U.S. politics, and even European business. Readers also look forward to the annually updated Fortune lists, which include the "40 Richest Under 40," "Most Powerful Women," and the "Fortune 500," an exclusive collection of companies whose employees are undoubtedly Fortune readers as well.

　　Gives top executives, and those working to reach senior positions in business information on the economic, political and social trends that affect the environment of business.