Corporate leaders value stability. And based on our Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies All-Stars list, which is based on a poll of thousands of executives, directors, and analysts, tech giant Apple is as steady as they come. For a stunning 18th straight year, Apple finished first in our annual ranking of corporate reputation. (See the full list of the World's Most Admired Companies here.) But rapid change also earns admiration—as long as that change is positive.
Few companies in history can match the recent meteoric ascent of Nvidia. The company and its GPU chips have both tapped into and helped unleash demand for generative AI. Over the past three years, Nvidia’s revenue has more than quadrupled, while its share price is up 525%.
What might seem like overnight success was decades in the making, of course. (Nvidia was founded in 1993.) And the World’s Most Admired Companies list has been tracking Nvidia’s ascent since well before AI made it a $3 trillion business.
Our reputational research generates two lists (see our methodology here), and Nvidia ranks high on both. The All-Stars list ranks companies by the acclaim they earn in surveys of the wider business community. Nvidia first made that list in 2021; this year it reached No. 4.
The other list focuses on industry rankings. We ask insiders about their own companies and their competitors, letting them score companies on a numerical scale in nine categories. With these numbers, people in the know spill the tea. Nvidia has been winning among the insiders for far longer than it’s been a household name: It first topped the semiconductor industry ranking in 2017. This year, it finished No. 1 among all companies in all industries in six of our nine categories— the first time a company has accomplished that feat since Apple in 2016. Categories Nvidia won included quality of management, quality of products, and innovativeness.
Nvidia also finished in the top 10 in all nine categories, a feat only Procter & Gamble could match. Apple, No. 1 on the All-Stars list, wasn’t far behind among insiders, earning top 10 slots in seven categories. In a year when Apple was criticized by some for having fallen behind in the AI race, it was telling that the experts we surveyed showed confidence in the company over the long term.
Lengthy streaks aren’t uncommon in the industry rankings. This year, Accenture topped the information technology services industry for the 12th year in a row; BlackRock finished first in securities asset management for the 13th straight year; and UnitedHealth Group won in health insurance for the 15th consecutive time, even as the murder of one of its executives underscored consumer frustration with Big Health Care.
In property and casualty insurance, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which owns Geico, has finished first every year in the history of this survey—27 times in all.
That said, this year also saw plenty of churn: In all, there were changes at No. 1 in 16 of the 47 industries we tracked. Among super-regional banks, PNC Bank took the top spot, riding a wave of growth in its asset-management business. Its win ended a 14-year streak for U.S. Bancorp.
Some changes reflected deeper turmoil. In apparel, Ralph Lauren took the top spot for the first time since 2014, capping a year in which its shares rose 65%. It dethroned Nike, which had enjoyed 10 straight years at No. 1 but suffered in 2024 from a sharp revenue slump exacerbated by a dearth of new products. (See our story in this issue.) And in a food service industry roiled by inflation, McDonald’s, home of the $5 Happy Meal, finished first. That ended a 12-year reign at No. 1 for coffee giant Starbucks, whose growth has leveled off amid dissatisfaction among customers and employees alike.
Those survey results suggest that industry insiders believe both Nike and Starbucks would benefit from a reboot. Perhaps not coincidentally, both companies replaced their CEOs in 2024. And as their presence on our All-Stars list shows, each still has a strong reputation on which to build.
How Reputations rise and fall: Highlights from this year's survey
Anti-obesity drugs lift Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk
Over the past two years, Eli Lilly (No. 21 on our All-Stars list) and Novo Nordisk (debuting at No. 46) have seized center stage in the pharmaceutical industry thanks to drugs that could help tackle the global obesity crisis. GLP-1s include Novo’s Ozempic and Wegovy and Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound—medications that help lower blood sugar in people with diabetes, but that also appear to curb hunger and support weight loss.
Both companies’ share prices fell sharply in the second half of 2024, as the drugs encountered new headwinds—including heavier competition and some insurers’ reluctance to pay for the pricey medications. But Lilly and Novo have invested heavily in their research pipelines, increasing the odds that their businesses will thrive even after the GLP-1 gold rush ends.
Weighing in on CEOs
For the ninth straight year, Satya Nadella was voted the “most underrated” Fortune 500 CEO by our respondents—having helped make Microsoft 10-fold more valuable during his tenure, thanks to timely pivots to the cloud and AI. Other top votegetters: Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Doug McMillon of Walmart, Ed Bastian of Delta, and Mary Barra of General Motors. In contrast, respondents chose Tesla’s Elon Musk as the “most overrated” CEO for the third straight year. Musk, of course, has increased his prominence enormously by helping Donald Trump win the presidency; his reputation as a leader may be seen as inflated, but his influence is unmatched.
Nike and Starbucks stumble
Nike and Starbucks each had a 2024 they’d rather forget—and each slid lower on our All-Stars list. Nike (No. 24) lost ground to competitors and suffered plummeting sales after it stopped selling through some retail partners. Starbucks (No. 29) faced surging consumer annoyance over long waits at its coffee shops, which the company blamed on aging technology and complex drink orders. In some cities, meanwhile, baristas went on strike for better pay and benefits. The brands’ rebound strategies are a study in contrasts: Look for Nike to launch a host of new shoe models, while Starbucks aims to simplify its menus and spruce up stores to better serve people in a hurry.
This article originally appeared in the February/March 2025 issue of Fortune.
