369 -Why 90% of Giants Disappear and What That Means for You

The Business Acquisition Podcast with Bruce Whipple · Oct 24, 2025 · 1m

Of the original Fortune 500 list in 1955, only about 49–60 companies are still on the list today, depending on how you count mergers and breakups. That's roughly 10%–12% survival over ~70 years. Put differently, almost 90% of the biggest companies in America in 1955 are no longer there as standalone Fortune 500 companies today. The churn has actually sped up. • More than half of the Fortune 500 companies from the year 2000 are already gone by the mid-2020s, acquired, merged, went private, shrank, or died. • That's 25 years, not 50. On this week's Business Acquisition Podcast, I'll share my…