Ford vs GM in the Fortune Global 500: rankings, revenue and 2025 results

© A. Krivonosov

Ford finished one spot ahead of General Motors in the Fortune Global 500, even though the two ended the year almost $10.9 billion apart on the bottom line. Ford placed 38th with $187.267 billion in revenue, GM — 39th with $185.019 billion. The gap in business scale came to just $2.248 billion, or about 1.2%, but the ranking counts revenue rather than profit.

Ford closed 2025 with a net loss of $8.182 billion, while General Motors stayed in the black with a profit of $2.697 billion. Calling Ford’s year an operating failure would be wrong, though: adjusted earnings before interest and taxes came to $6.8 billion and operating cash flow reached $21.3 billion. The final minus is largely down to special items, which added up to $17.356 billion pre-tax over the year — $10.657 billion of that from the impairment of Model e assets and cancelled EV programmes, and a further $3.173 billion from the exit of the BlueOval SK joint venture.

GM’s revenue slipped 1.3% over the year, yet the company stayed profitable. Its result was also trimmed by large one-off charges: the accounts list $7.914 billion for the realignment of its EV strategy, $842 million for restructuring in China and $657 million for legal matters — investigations and litigation around the OnStar Smart Driver service, plus an indemnification charge tied to a Europe-wide Takata recall. Together the adjustments came to $9.839 billion, and adjusted EBIT stood at $12.747 billion. Net profit therefore does not capture the full earning power of the core car business.

The Fortune Global 500 should not be confused with the American Fortune 500. In the domestic US ranking Ford sits 22nd and GM 23rd. The order is the same in both lists: Ford is higher thanks to bigger revenue, despite the negative bottom line. A year ago the line-up was the other way round — GM stood 18th in the US list and Ford 19th, but over the year GM lost five places and Ford three.

Among carmakers, Volkswagen (13th, $363 billion) and Toyota (14th, $336 billion) rank above the American giants. The Global 500 as a whole generated $43.1 trillion in revenue for 2025, 3.2% more than a year earlier, along with a record $3.39 trillion in profit, and Amazon took first place for the first time, ending Walmart’s 12-year run.

The difference between Ford and GM neatly shows the limits of rankings built on turnover. GM still earns its money on pickups and large SUVs, while Ford leans on commercial vehicles and the F-Series, which keep their lead on the American market: pickups and crossovers topped US sales in 2025.

The upshot is that Ford is bigger than GM by turnover, but not more efficient by net profit. One place in the Global 500 shows the scale of sales, while the financial health of the two companies is revealed by margins, cash flow and the structure of one-off write-downs.