{
  "id": 7802630,
  "title": "How TIME and Statista Determined Arabia's Top Companies of 2026",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/16/how-time-and-statista-determined-arabias-top-companies-of-2026",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-16T13:42:08.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Time",
    "slug": "time",
    "url": "https://time.com/article/2026/09/16/arabias-top-companies-2026-methodology/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "TIME and Statista collaborated on a thorough analysis to determine the top companies in the GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) for the year 2026. This research focused on three key aspects: Employee Satisfaction, Revenue Growth, and Sustainability Transparency.\n\nEmployee Satisfaction was gauged using survey data from more than 20,000 employees across the region. This included direct recommendations from these employees and evaluations from industry peers. Revenue Growth was determined by examining data from Statista’s revenue database, which provided growth figures for the past three years. Companies were only considered if they reported at least $50 million USD in revenue in 2025 and exhibited positive growth over that period, whether relative or absolute growth was being assessed.\n\nSustainability Transparency was measured using ESG data from Statista’s ESG Database alongside specific research. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were gathered to create a comprehensive ESG index. For environmental standards, this involved carbon emissions intensity and reduction rates from 2022 to 2024, as well as the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) score. Social criteria included the proportion of women on the board of directors and the presence of a human rights policy. Governance standards required that companies maintain a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report aligned with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines and a compliance or anti-corruption policy.\n\nAfter compiling and analyzing the data, it was scored using a model where each of the three dimensions contributed equally to the final ranking, with a maximum possible score of 100 points. The 200 companies that achieved the highest scores were declared Arabia’s Top Companies for 2026 by TIME and Statista. The complete list of these companies is available for review.",
  "summary": "—Photo-illustration by TIME; Elijah-Lovkoff—Getty Images The research project \" Arabia’s Top Companies 2026 \" is a comprehensive analysis conducted to identify the top performing companies in the GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates). The study is based on three primary dimensions: Employee Satisfaction, Revenue Growth and Sustainability Transparency…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}