6 TIME April 11/April 18, 2022
Companies that
shape the world
ONE YEAR AGO, WE LAUNCHED TIME BUSINESS, A NEW FRAN-
chise devoted to exploring the growing inl uence of business not
only on our economic lives but also as a force shaping society and
our collective future. Led by executive editor John Simons, we’ve
chronicled everything from the future of work to how American
shoppers broke the supply chain. We’ve brought you inside the
C-suites with interviews of major i gures in the business world
through our weekly Leadership Brief, and inside the rise of crypto
and NFTs through staf writer Andrew R. Chow’s Into the Meta-
verse newsletter.
Along the way, business has grown from a very small portion of
our coverage to about one-i fth of all the content we publish. That’s
as it should be. From the vaccines that are pulling the world out of
the worst depths of the pandemic to the unprecedented withdrawal
of Western companies from Russia as a tool of war, business has
never had a greater impact. And certainly not always for the good, as
rel ected in Billy Perrigo’s ongoing reporting on the all-too-frequent
prioritization of proi ts over people in the tech world.YOU CAN SEE all that on display in our second annual TIME
Companies list, included in this issue and featuring the world’s
most inl uential businesses. Some, like pharmaceutical upstart
Moderna and space-junk removal i rm Astroscale, are pushing the
boundaries of technology in new and potentially world-changing
ways. Moderna is developing new mRNA vaccines for a host of
pathogens, while Astroscale is developing technology to safely de-
orbit satellites after their useful lives are over.
Others, like United Airlines and Capital One, took bold steps
and dared their rivals to follow: United was the i rst major U.S.
airline to issue an employee vaccine mandate, while Capital One
recently became the i rst of its peers to eradicate overdraft and
insui cient-fund fees, which so often punish those with the least
ability to pay them. Disrupters like Engine No. 1 and AMC, mean-
while, are changing the rules. As Vivienne Walt reports in this
issue, Engine No. 1 is quickly becoming the premier activist i rm of
the climate- capitalism movement, while AMC’s Adam Aron wrote
the book—in real time—on how to respond to becoming a “meme
stock,” by courting younger, digitally savvy investors to keep the
company al oat. Still others, like Alphabet and Ford, are titans
whose sheer size and scope make them inl uential by nature.
“Taken together, these 100 companies —and the executives who
run them—represent the i rms and leaders who are charting an
essential path forward,” says senior editor Alex Fitzpatrick, who
oversaw the list. As TIME’s business coverage continues through-
out the year, these are the companies we’ll be watching most
closely—and we suggest you do the same.Business
is a force not
only in our
economic
lives, but
also in our
collective
future
FROM THE EDITOR
Edward Felsenthal,
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & CEO
@EFELSENTHAL