CATEGORIES

WHAT CAN BOTS DO FOR YOU?

The dream of an autonomous supply chain

United Site Services: Procurement Progression

With their digital evolution underway, the portable sanitation powerhouse is rethinking their approach to procurement and sourcing - and change management is just one key to its success

What's Your Flavor?

Personalizing food with the power of Al

FLIPPING THE RETAIL SCRIPT FOR GOOD

SPECIALTY RETAILER ALTAR'D STATE IS HOT. HERE'S HOW THEY'RE REBUILDING THEIR IT TO ACCOMMODATE THE BLAZE.

Soft Skills & SOFTWARE

There's a lot AI can do for businesses. There's a lot only humans can do. Striking the balance will deliver success.

Natural Selections

Balancing synthetic biology with sustainable materials production

COLD CONFIDENCE

FOOD INDUSTRY FAVORITE FREZ-N-STOR IS GLIDING INTO A VERY CHILL FUTURE

KKR's $1 trillion gamble

The co-CEOs of KKR have a radical strategy to supercharge growth—and chart a path far different from that of their mentors Kravis and Roberts.

The Amazon Way has its midlife crisis

Jeff Bezos’s famed management rules are slowly unraveling inside Amazon. Can they survive the Andy Jassy era?

The startups betting you can quit GLP-1s and stay thin

Some weight-loss companies are marketing Ozempic and Wegovy as a short-term holy grail. Doctors say it doesn't work that way.

The troubled Tyson heir

The youngest Fortune 500 CFO was set up to run his family’s $21 billion chicken empire. His erratic behavior could change that.

Inside one of Silicon Valley's most mysterious venture capital funds

Iconiq Growth, which has long avoided the spotlight, recently closed a $5.8 billion startup war chest.

The rise and fall of Jump Crypto

A secretive trading firm got itself a crypto arm and a 25-year-old whiz kid to run it. Then came the $40 billion Terra disaster.

Well the Fortune 50 Best Places to Live Will Serve Families in the Years to Come - When 51-year-old Pazit Aviv walks her dog in her Silver Spring, Md., neighborhood, it takes an extra 30 minutes as she inevitably gets lost in an impromptu chat with a neighbor.

“What we’re seeing is a longing of older people to age in place, and younger people, like Gen Z, to have a sense of place that they consider home,” says Jon Jon Wesolowski, an urbanist and housing advocate who sees more people eager to change their house to suit them as they age rather than to move.In this year’s ranking, we analyzed over 2,000 cities and nearly 200 data categories, assessing livability, financial health, resources for aging adults, education, and wellness. The winners are communities that are sustainable for their youngest and oldest residents—including many fast-growing suburbs and edge cities that find creative ways to improve people’s well-being.

Tech AI's Hidden Biases May Be Influencing What You Think. Here's What Should Be Done to Stop It - In less than two years, artificial intelligence has radically changed how many people write and find information.

In less than two years, artificial intelligence has radically changed how many people write and find information. While searching for details about Supreme Court precedent or polishing a college essay, millions seek help from AI chatbots like OpenAI's ChatGPT or Anthropic's Claude.In his newly published book, Mastering AI: A Survival Guide to Our Superpowered Future, Fortune AI editor Jeremy Kahn explores this new tech-infused reality and what should be done to avert the inevitable pitfalls. In the following excerpt, he focuses on the little-recognized problem of subtle bias in AI and the potentially profound influence it can have on what users believe.

2024 Election Vanceonomics: What Trump's VP Pick Could Mean for Business - Vance has cultivated some of the wealthiest elites in tech and venture capital—including former Google chairman Eric Schmidt and the billionaire VC Peter Thiel—to help him win a U.S. Senate seat and, in July, the Republican nomination for vice president.

J.D. Vance first caught the public’s attention with his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, a populist howl about Appalachia that accuses elites of betraying the white working class. Since then, Vance has cultivated some of the wealthiest elites in tech and venture capital—including former Google chairman Eric Schmidt and the billionaire VC Peter Thiel—to help him win a U.S. Senate seat and, in July, the Republican nomination for vice president.

Norway's Nicolai Tangen Runs the World's Biggest Sovereign Fund. Can He Leverage its Assets to Change Business for the Better? - Nicolai Tangen, the Norwegian founder of London hedge fund AKO Capital, was picked by Norway's central bank to be the next CEO of its gargantuan oil-and-gas-financed investment fund, whose value had soared above $1 trillion.

Oslo, with its neatly painted houses and serene waterfront, is not known for high drama. But in 2020, Norway’s capital erupted in controversy over one spectacularly wealthy investor, a splashy event in Philadelphia—and the biggest sovereign wealth fund on the planet.

A Return of the Entrepreneurial Spirit- As Japan finally emerges from a long period of slow growth, soy sauce producer Kikkoman continues its global advance.

In February 2024, the Nikkei Stock Average in Japan surpassed the record high that it set in 1990. To some, this peak signified that the country could finally put the "lost decades" of deflation and anemic growth behind. Yuzaburo Mogi, honorary CEO and chairman of the board of Kikkoman, is cautiously optimistic about this milestone. With a generational shift in motion, he sees Japan's leadership regaining some of its old dynamism and entrepreneurial spirit.

The AI Hangover- For thirty-five years, Fortune has been tracking the world's largest companies in our Global 500 ranking.

For thirty-five years, Fortune has been tracking the world's largest companies in our Global 500 ranking. We recently sat down with the head of Sequoia Capital, Roelof Botha, at our Brainstorm Tech conference in Park City, Utah, and at greater length for this issue's cover story. As he told Fortune's Michal Lev-Ram: "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." To learn how he's guiding the firm to sort winners from losers amid the noise and hype, see page 60.

Smokin - Dickey's barbecue pit is on a serious growth track with their humble beginnings in mind

Dickey's barbecue pit is on a serious growth track with their humble beginnings in mind. Since 1941, the Dickey family have combined their hankering for legit Texas Barbecue™ with business acumen and a love of giving back and have grown from a single rib shack by the railroad tracks to the largest barbecue chain in the world.

What If?- Supply chain simulations deliver the answers to complex questions

Supply chain simulations deliver the answers to complex questions. Models like SCM globe's use predictive data analytics to pinpoint areas of risk and highlight the severity of potential disruptions based on different risk appetites.

AI Is in Its Awkward Era - Companies on this year's Inc. 5000 detail their growing pains, as investors expand their understanding of AI beyond chatbots and generative art.

For AI entrepreneurs, the enthusiasm is doubleedged. Interest in their tools has never been greater, as nearly half of the Inc. 5000 honorees who took our CEO Survey (see page 49) cite the use of at least one AI service. OpenAI was the top provider. But genAI hype has also led to misconceptions about what these tools actually do. As AI zips to the top of investors' portfolios, founders say the biggest factor limiting their growth isn't fundraising; it's overcoming a towering knowledge gap.

Meet the Inc. 5000- Moving the Goalposts - Religion of Sports believes it has the strategy for docuseries success in a suddenly cost-conscious Hollywood.

Religion of Sports believes it has the strategy for docuseries success in a suddenly cost-conscious Hollywood. When it comes to understanding athletes, Gotham Chopra has learned some lessons: Losses are more interesting than victories, the old guard has more enlightening things to say than up-and-coming phenoms, and success doesn't typically happen overnight. It was Serena Williams who served that last point to him after he rallied for seven years to try to get her to do a documentary with his production company, Religion of Sports. "Boy, you're persistent," he remembers she said to him.

Truff's Founders Want to Be the Ciroq of Hot Sauce. Daniel Lubetzky Advises:- The founder of the multibillion-dollar snack company Kind is helping Truff co-founder Nick Ajluni turn his condiment brand into a market leader.

Nick Ajluni's first company was fueled by partying 20-somethings. As a college student, he launched a line of powdered beverages meant to be mixers and chasers for alcohol. The product never took off, but after graduating, Ajluni teamed up with a former classmate who was claiming Instagram handles that might come in handy for businesses. One of them, @sauce, amassed tens of thousands of followers, prompting the pair to start their own sauce company. They drew inspiration from Ciroq vodka, a wildly popular brand thanks in part to its promotion by hip-hop artists.

Chip Conley Human wisdom is more valuable than ever. But true wisdom requires these six skills- When management theorist Peter Drucker coined the term knowledge workers in 1959, most people had no idea what he was talking about.

When management theorist Peter Drucker coined the term knowledge workers in 1959, most people had no idea what he was talking about. Since then, knowledge workers have come to rule the world. Today, seven of the world's 10 most valuable companies are tech companies, the ultimate workplace for knowledge workers.

Karen Dillon Congratulations on Your Company's Big Success. So Now, Let Me Ask- Are You Happy? - Happiness is actually contagious. The Framingham Heart Study-the longest ongoing study of heart health in the world, which has tracked aspects of participants' lives for more than 75 years-found that being in the presence of someone who is happy is likely to spur happiness in yourself.

For Jeremy Kasler, founder and CEO of CaskX, the pandemic offered an unexpected opportunity to reset his life. Having sold his previous company, Hong Kong-based Art Futures Group, which paired midcareer artists with investors, the native Brit planned to spend some time reconnecting with family in Australia as he got his new startup off the ground. The new business, which helps individual investors purchase barrels (or casks) of bourbon and Scotch from distilleries in the U.S. and Scotland, was still in its early days when Kasler arrived in Sydney just a day before the country went into lockdown. I kind of got stuck there, he recalls. But in hindsight, it was one of the best things that could have happened to him-and his new company.

CUT FROM A DIFFERENT CLOTH

With sustainable merino, Branwyn aims to build a brand that supports women and the planet.

HOW YOUR OFFICE SALAD CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

For Sharebite's Dilip Rao, eliminating food insecurity isn't an empty marketing goal. It's his calling.

WHEN THE MINNOW SWALLOWS THE WHALE

No sooner had Jay McKee led Lessen to a billion-dollar valuation than he set his sights on a massive deal.

CRAFTING THEIR OWN CAREERS

How The Woobles transformed a teeny-tiny hobby into into an empire of cute.