Only 24 CEOs are founders or co -founders of the companies they lead. This represents only 4.8% of the index. Still, this group has a disproportionate influence.
Collectively, these companies generated US $ 862.9 billion in revenue last year, demonstrating that companies led by founders remain competitive even on a large scale.
Although the number of founding CEOs remains the same since 2024, there was an increase compared to 2020, when there were only 16. Some of the most iconic companies present in the list at that time-such as Amazon, FedEx and Netflix-are no longer commanded by their founders. However, although some founders have removed, others continue in charge, especially in the technology sector, where founding cees still predominate. These include Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Elon Musk (Tesla) and Jensen Huang (Nvidia).
Outside the Silicon Valley, founders also command important operations in the transportation, hospitality and consumer goods. Roger Penske leads one of the world’s largest car retailers in the world. Rodney Sacks is still ahead of Monster Beverage, the energy giant. Brian Chesky follows as CEO of Airbnb.
The permanence of these leaders contradicts old assumptions that companies led by founders lack operational discipline, management rigor or scale to thrive at the top of the American corporate world. For years, conventional wisdom – supported by academic studies – suggested that founders were more suitable for the initial growth phase than to lead in the long run.
In fact, a 2017 study by teachers from Duke, Vanderbilt and Harvard universities concluded that companies led by founders tended to be less productive and worse managed than those led by non -founders. However, several of the best performance companies are currently not only led by their founders, but also lead their sectors in revenue.
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Still, most founders do not remain CEO after IPO (capital opening). A 2018 Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance study showed that 60% of founders are replaced after taking the company to the scholarship. Even among those who remain, only half continues in office after three years, unless they have a stock control with voting power.
The 24 Fortune 500 Founding Centers of 2025 have challenged these odds-many have been in charge for over a decade. Leonard Schleifer, CEO of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, has led the company for over 37 years.
The most striking fact may be absent. None of the companies led by founders on the current list has a woman as CEO. Throughout the history of 70 years of Fortune 500, only a founding woman-CEO appeared on the list: Golden West Financial, who led a mortgage company for over four decades. She last featured in the ranking in 2005 – the last year a founder appeared on the list.
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These are the top 10 best-placed founders on Fortune 500 of 2025:
- Mark ZuckerbergCEO of Meta Platforms – Revenue: $ 164.5 billion
- Jensen HuangNVIDIA CEO – Revenue: US $ 130.5 billion
- Elon MuskTesla CEO – Revenue: US $ 97.69 billion
- Michael DellCEO of Dell Technologies – Revenue: $ 95.57 billion
- Richard FairbankCEO of the capital One Financial – Revenue: US $ 53.94 billion
- Marc BenioffCEO of Salesforce – Revenue: US $ 37.9 billion
- Roger PenskeCEO of Penske Automotive Group – Revenue: $ 30.46 billion
- Bom KimCEO of Coupang – Revenue: US $ 30.27 billion
- Marc RowanCEO of Apollo Global Management – Revenue: $ 26.26 billion
- Jack DorseyBlock CEO – Revenue: US $ 24.12 billion
