Minnesota is officially home to 17 Fortune 500 companies, two less than last year.
St. Paul-based Securian Financial was a new arrival to the Fortune 500 in 2018, but dropped off this year's list, falling from No. 462 to No. 506. Another St. Paul company, Patterson, also fell in the 2019 rankings, going from No. 490 to No. 510.
Here are a few other notable companies from this year's list: UnitedHealth Group, Minnesota's largest public company, was bumped from No. 5 to No. 6, with Amazon assuming UnitedHealth's previous spot.
Target, the state's second-largest public company, maintained its placement at No. 39. After that is Best Buy, which dropped two spots from No. 72 to No. 74.
Minnesota has lost four companies from the Fortune 500 list to mergers and acquisitions since 2000. Most recently, St. Jude Medical (last ranked No. 434 in 2017) was acquired by Abbott Laboratories in 2017. Despite these comings and goings, the number of Fortune 500 companies has remained relatively steady over the last decade.
Why should startups and other small companies care about Minnesota's biggest businesses? Fortune 500s strengthen the local business ecosystem by creating a pipeline of talent, resources and investments to build up the local startup scene. They can also be customers to small businesses.
As the startup ecosystem in Minnesota continues to evolve, more Fortune 500 companies like Target, Ecolab and UnitedHealth Group are engaging directly with the scene through partnerships with organizations like Techstars to mentor and fund local entrepreneurs.
The bottom line: Fortune 500 companies and other large businesses are good for the local economy. But they're even better when they build up the smaller businesses that also call Minnesota home.
Here are the 17 Minnesota companies on the Fortune 500 list this year:
6: UnitedHealth Group (down from 5; 2018 revenues of $226.247 billion) 39: Target (same ranking in 2018; $75.356) 74: Best Buy (down from 72; $42.879) 95: 3M (up from 97; $32.765) 97: CHS (down from 96; $32.683) 117: U.S. Bancorp (up from 122; $25.775) 185: C.H. Robinson (up from 193; $16.631) 200: General Mills (down from 182; $15.740) 201: Supervalu (down from 180; $15.679) 212: Land O' Lakes (up from 216; $14.936) 215: Ecolab (same ranking in 2018; $14.668) 249: Ameriprise Financial (up from 252; $12.924) 274: Xcel Energy (down from 266; $11.537) 325: Mosaic (up from 382; $9.587) 328: Hormel Foods (down from 323; $9.545.7) 351: Thrivent Financial (down from 343; $8.635) 476: Polaris Industries (up from 496; $6.166)
