Metro Atlanta’s Position as a Fortune 500 Corporate City Is Finally Clear

Finally, we know without a shadow of a doubt why the metropolis of Atlanta ranks among the hubs of Fortune 500 companies.

Fortune magazine has just released its 70th annual issue, which details the companies on its Fortune 500 list. The issue also features a map showing how many Fortune 500 companies in the United States are headquartered in metropolitan areas.

According to Fortune, Atlanta ranks 8th in terms of concentration of Fortune 500 companies, a commendable achievement that deserves to be highlighted. But Atlanta is not the third city with the highest concentration of Fortune 500 companies, as some have claimed in the past.

For years, I was annoyed that Fortune had a misleading ranking that overstated Atlanta’s role as a Fortune 500 city. I tried to set the record straight in a column I wrote in 2011. Then I tried again in a 2020 column.

Finally, Fortune’s United States map lets everyone know where we stand.

Metro Atlanta is home to 16 Fortune 500 headquarters. That’s one less than the 17 we had last year, as NCR split into two companies — NCR Voyix and NCR Atleos — helping to increase our Fortune 1000 company count from 35 to 37.

The CEOs of NCR Voyix (David Wilkinson) and NCR Atleos (Timothy Oliver) discussed their amicable corporate split during the Rotary Club of Atlanta’s June 24 program. Katie Kirkpatrick, president and CEO of the Metro Atlanta Chamber, moderated the conversation, which focused on NCR’s move from Dayton, Ohio, to Gwinnett County in 2009. Then, in 2018, NCR opened its new global campus in Midtown Atlanta, where NCR Voyix and NCR Atleos are still headquartered.

“We share the building. We alternate floors,” said Oliver, who previously served as NCR’s chief financial officer. He added that it was difficult to part ways in a company with a 140-year history.

NCR began as National Cash Register in 1884. The company evolved from cash registers to digital commerce that included ATMs as well as a portfolio of financial services for restaurants, retailers, hospitality, technology and telecommunications.

“We were a company that aspired to become two,” Oliver says.

NCR Atleos operates the ATM business with revenues of approximately $4.5 billion and employs approximately 21,000 people. It ranks 723rd among the Fortune 1000 companies.

By comparison, NCR Voyix has revenues of about $4 billion and a total of about 15,000 employees. Its Fortune 1000 ranking is No. 770.

“We’re in retail, food service, software, digital services, everything that powers commerce,” Wilkinson said.

Since October, both companies have been busy building their management teams and boards of directors. Wilkinson, who has been with NCR for 14 years, and Oliver, who joined the company four years ago, have both reaffirmed their choice of Atlanta for the headquarters.

Wilkinson said that eight months after the split, the challenge was finding the right people and putting them in the right positions. “I wanted Atlanta talent,” he said. “It’s a very talent-rich environment.”

Being based in Atlanta makes it easier to attract a diversity of employees, which Oliver said includes race, gender, ethnicity and a myriad of other characteristics.

“Finding diverse talent is incredibly important to us. I’ve also found it’s easy to attract people to Atlanta,” Oliver said. “The quality of life here is great. We’re a global company. The airport is phenomenal. And the student body is incredible.”

Asked about branding, both executives said the NCR brand had value and they both wanted it to be part of their respective companies’ names.

The two companies share custody of the NCR Foundation, and both Wilkinson and Oliver serve on the Foundation’s board of directors.

After the show, I asked both executives why NCR was no longer a Fortune 500 company because of the spinoff. Last year, NCR was No. 474.

Stay tuned, they both said.

“We’re not going to be a $4 billion company for long,” Oliver said. “Every single one of our businesses needs to be consolidated. We could be a Fortune 500 company (in the future).”

Wilkinson echoed that sentiment.

“We both have big growth plans,” he said. “There will be a lot of opportunities.”

The evolution of the number of Fortune 500 companies is a phenomenon that goes hand in hand with today’s business world. For example, in 2016, Atlanta added a new Fortune 500 company, Veritiv, which had the first female CEO of a Fortune 500 company from Georgia. But in 2023, Veritiv came in at number 503, and it was acquired and made private, so it disappeared from the list.

In the 2024 edition, Fortune magazine also published a map showing which states gained and lost Fortune 500 companies over the past five years. Georgia’s number remained stable with a total of 18 companies.

The state that lost the most Fortune 500 companies was New Jersey, with six headquarters eliminated. The state that gained the most Fortune 500 companies was Arizona, with four new headquarters eliminated.

Atlanta and Georgia are clearly important locations for Fortune 500 companies. Our top Fortune 500 companies are Home Depot (23), UPS (45), Delta Air Lines (70), Coca-Cola (95), Southern Co. (163), Genuine Parts (175) and WestRock (202).

“The continued strong presence of Fortune 500 and 1000 companies in metro Atlanta is a strong indicator of the region’s global reputation as a business hub, as well as our commitment to innovation and research,” Kirkpatrick said in a statement. “It means talent knows that when they come to Atlanta, they can find a career – and a community.”

At least now we know where we stand in relation to other cities in the country.

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