Study: Immigrants and their kids founded nearly half of Fortune 500 companies

Immigrants and children of immigrants founded nearly half of the U.S.’s Fortune 500 companies, according to a New American Economy study.

The bipartisan advocacy organization reports that nearly 45 percent of American Fortune 500 companies on the 2019 list were founded by immigrants and their kids. 

Of the 223 companies, 101 were founded directly by foreign-born individuals and another 122 were founded by the children of immigrants, the study found. 

{mosads}”In fact, a country with a GDP equal to the revenues of the New American Fortune 500 firms would be the third largest economy in the world, behind only the United States and China,” the study said. 

The companies also employ 13.5 million people. On average, the companies on the list employ 60,629 workers, which is 10.7 percent more than the average number of workers at non-New American Fortune 500 firms, according to the study. 

The study reports that seven states — New York, California, Illinois, Texas, Virginia, Florida and New Jersey — have at least 10 New American Fortune 500 firms. 

Companies new to the list in 2019 include Broadcom, Wayfair, Marathon Oil, Hess, Intuit, Tapestry, Zoetis, Robert Half International and Levi Strauss.