Before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took office, 30 Michigan companies were listed on the Fortune 500 in 2018.
Now that number is nearly cut in half, with two more Michigan companies dropping off the prestigious 2024 rankings based on revenue.
A total of 16 Michigan companies made this year’s Fortune 500 list, a figure that has declined for two years in a row, Crain’s Detroit reports.
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“The state’s biggest Fortune 500 casualty came at the hands of Kellogg Co. splitting its cereal, snacks and plant-based food business into separate companies and moving the bulk of its operations out of Battle Creek to Chicago in 2023,” according to the news site.
Last year, Kellogg ranked No. 270 overall with $15.3 billion in revenue, making it the 10th biggest company in Michigan. The new snack business based in Chicago, Kellanova, now ranks No. 272, while its WK Kellogg Co. cereal business remains in Battle Creek, but did not make the list.
Lansing-based Jackson Financial, which sells retail annuities, also dropped off the list, going from No. 282 with $14.6 billion in revenue in 2023 to No. 859 with $3.1 billion in revenue this year.
“On the bright side for Jackson Financial, the company continues to employ roughly 3,430 workers, essentially unchanged from the year prior, and initial earnings for 2024 show signs of a rebound,” Crain’s reports.
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Other Michigan companies tumbled down the list, as well.
DTE Energy Co. slid from No 212 overall, and No. 7 in Michigan, to No. 318 overall and No. 11 in Michigan with a revenue drop of 34%. The Dow Chemical Company, Michigan’s third largest company, slid 24 spots to No. 99 overall for 2023 to No. 146 in this year’s rankings.
Michigan’s biggest company, Ford Motor Company, jumped two spots overall to come in No. 17, followed closely by the state’s second largest company, General Motors, which also jumped two spots to No. 19.
Penske Automotive Group – fourth in Michigan – elevated one position from last year to No. 146 overall, despite a 23.7% profit loss.
Others that moved up the list include Lear, up 15 spots with 74.7% increase in profit, at No 174; Stryker, up 27 spots with a 34.2% increase in profits, at No. 197; Auto-Owners Insurance, up 48 sports despite a $914.2 million profit loss, at No. 314; and Ally Financial, up 81 spots despite a 40.7% profit loss, at No. 257.
The rest of the Michigan companies on the 2024 list include Whirlpool (No. 208), BorgWarner (No. 258), Autoliv (No. 384), Spartan Nash (No. 403), Masco (No. 466), CMS Energy (No. 478), and UFP Industries (No. 493).
The decline in the state’s businesses has prompted calls from Michigan’s business community for lawmakers to focus on “more action, less politics.”
As Whitmer campaigns for President Joe Biden’s in other states, Jeff Donofrio, CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan, is looking for leadership at home.
“We need to shift the focus away from winning the next election or news cycle to doing what it takes to make Michigan more competitive,” he wrote in a recent editorial.
“Sitting before the state legislature right now are economic development proposals that can increase business investment, create high-wage jobs, diversify our economy, and spur innovation,” Donofrio wrote.
Changing the dynamic in Michigan requires “immediate passage of sound economic development proposals with bipartisan support, and a genuine start to the heavy lifting on long-term initiatives like systemic education reform,” Donofrio wrote. “Michiganders need and deserve action.”