Which Fortune editor created the concept of the Fortune 500?

Fortune editor Edgar P. Smith created the concept of the Fortune 500.

Smith was an assistant managing editor at Fortune and proposed an annual ranking that would show the scale of American business. The first list was published in 1955, giving readers a single reference point for the country’s largest corporations.

The original project was narrower than today’s version. It concentrated on industrial companies in manufacturing, mining, and energy exploration, while Fortune separately ranked banks, utilities, insurers, retailers, and transportation companies. The later inclusion of service companies made the central list a broader measure of corporate America.

Readers sometimes confuse Smith with Henry Luce, Fortune’s founder and the leading figure behind Time Inc., or with later Fortune editors such as John Huey and Alan Murray. Luce founded the magazine, but Smith is credited with creating the Fortune 500 concept. The inaugural list placed General Motors first and helped establish a business ranking that remains widely recognized.