World’s most admired companies 2026: Apple No. 1, Microsoft and Amazon follow

In 2026, Fortune magazine, in collaboration with Korn Ferry, released its ranking of the world's most admired companies. Apple Inc. emerged as the top-ranked company, securing the No. 1 position. This accolade was earned through Apple's excellence in innovation, people management, utilization of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial robustness, long-term investment value, and global competitiveness.

Rounding out the top four positions were Microsoft Corporation, Amazon.com, Inc., and Nvidia Corporation. Microsoft's ascent to the No. 2 spot was primarily attributed to its pivotal role in the generative AI revolution. This was facilitated by its strategic partnership with OpenAI, the launch of Copilot-branded AI applications, and the development of its proprietary AI models.

Amazon came in third, followed by Nvidia and JP Morgan Chase & Co. in the fourth and fifth positions, respectively. Berkshire Hathaway and Costco Wholesale secured the sixth and seventh rankings. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, was placed eighth in the ranking, while Walmart and American Express followed at ninth and tenth places, respectively.

The selection of these top 50 "All-Stars" was conducted by Korn Ferry, a global organizational consulting firm. This process involved a comprehensive survey of over 3,000 executives, directors, and securities analysts. They were asked to identify the 10 companies they most admired. The survey began with a pool of around 1,500 companies, including the 1,000 largest U.S. firms by revenue and non-U.S. companies in Fortune's Global 500 with revenues of at least $10 billion.

Subsequent filtering based on industry led to a narrowed list of 685 companies spread across 29 countries. The final ranking was determined from this elite group.

Certain categories, such as Food and Drug Stores, Food Services, General Merchandisers, Mining-Crude Oil Production, Motor Vehicles, and Network and Communications Equipment, did not achieve rankings due to low response rates.