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There are four real ways a UK company appears in Fortune: a Fortune journalist chooses to write about you, Fortune’s commentary desk accepts an opinion piece you have written, you qualify for or are nominated to one of Fortune’s lists, or you pay Fortune Brand Studio for content that is labelled as brand-funded. The first three cannot be bought or guaranteed by anyone. The fourth can be booked, but it will carry a label and readers will know it is paid for. This guide explains each route as Fortune itself describes it, what editors want, and what it realistically takes.
Fortune was founded by Henry R. Luce and has published since 1930. Its stated mission is to “change the world by making business better”. It has been independently owned since December 2018, when Thai businessman Chatchaval Jiaravanon bought the title; Fortune’s own announcement at the time said the new owner had “challenged us to build Fortune into the world’s preeminent business media brand”. The editor-in-chief and chief content officer is Alyson Shontell.
For a UK reader, the most important development is Fortune’s European build-out. Fortune now runs a London-based operation, Fortune Europe, and in November 2025 appointed Kamal Ahmed as Executive Editorial Director, UK and Europe, and Francesca Cassidy as Editor, Features and Fortune 500 C-Suite. The brief, in Fortune’s words, is “reaching and building membership communities amongst senior business leaders of Fortune 500 Europe companies”. Fortune also runs Fortune Asia and Fortune China.
Fortune’s audience is senior: executives, investors and people who follow large companies. Its coverage, as its own pitching guidance puts it, spans “finance, technology, health, crypto, workplace and careers, politics, leadership, and wellness”, and it defines business news broadly. The brand is best known for its ranked lists, including the Fortune 500, Global 500, Fortune 500 Europe, World’s Most Admired Companies, 100 Best Companies to Work For, Most Powerful Women and Change the World.
Two things follow. Fortune is more interested in companies of scale, or ideas that speak to people running them, than in early-stage announcements. And the lists are a genuine route for the right business and a dead end for everyone else. Our guide to getting featured in top publications shows how Fortune compares with similar titles.
Fortune’s reporters cover companies on their beats: finance, technology, leadership, the C-suite, workplace. Fortune Europe’s remit is large-company leadership, so a UK mid-market firm needs an angle that interests a Fortune 500 Europe executive: a decision, a dataset, a market shift, a leadership story with evidence behind it.
Fortune publishes its own pitching guidance, aimed at freelance writers but revealing about how the desk thinks. It asks for “a succinct summary, less than 500 words, that shows why your idea is original, why it matters, why it’s urgent to tell it now”, and wants to know what competitors have already published. It also states: “We do not review pre-written articles. We want to work with you to shape the story.” A PR pitch should meet the same bar. Can it be guaranteed? No. Nobody controls what Fortune’s newsroom publishes.
Fortune describes itself as having “a vibrant commentary section”, and its pitching guidance names a commentary editor to approach. This is the realistic route for an executive with a genuine argument: a view on regulation, a contrarian read of a market, a lesson from a hard decision, backed by first-hand evidence. Commentary is selected and edited by Fortune; it is not sold. Expect a strong edit and expect rejection if the piece is a disguised company profile. Fortune publishes no fee or turnaround for commentary, so check its current guidelines before submitting, and treat any third-party claim of a “guaranteed Fortune op-ed” with suspicion.
The lists split into two kinds.
Revenue-ranked lists you cannot apply to. The Fortune 500, Global 500 and Fortune 500 Europe rank companies “by total revenues for their latest available respective fiscal years”. Companies “must publish financial data and report part or all of their figures to a government agency”, and Fortune notes the verification work “was aided substantially by S&P Global Market Intelligence and Refinitiv”. There is no application. If your revenue qualifies, Fortune’s lists team finds you. Fortune announced the 2025 Fortune 500 Europe list on 29 October 2025; Shell and BP were in the top ten.
Nominated lists you can enter. Change the World is the clearest example. Fortune’s nomination form states that “readers are welcome to nominate companies, and companies are welcome to nominate themselves”, that companies with “revenue $1B+” are prioritised, and that the list recognises “positive social impact through activities that are part of their core business strategy”. The 2026 nomination window has closed; the list is scheduled for the October/November 2026 issue, and Fortune publishes a contact address for list questions. No nomination fee is mentioned on the form. Fortune’s workplace lists, including the 100 Best Companies to Work For, are produced with the survey firm Great Place To Work, whose Best Workplaces in Europe programme requires companies to first appear on a national list; check Great Place To Work’s current process and costs directly.
Can a list placement be guaranteed? No. Application or nomination gets you considered, not listed.
Fortune Brand Studio is “the branded content arm of Fortune Media, partnering with the world’s leading companies to tell stories that inform, inspire and drive business results”. Founded in 2019 and led by SVP David Lennon, it produces “brand-funded journalism, video, design and integrated campaigns for leading global advertisers”. It was named Studio of the Year at the 2026 Branded Content Awards. This is advertising: the brand pays, the content is labelled as brand-funded, and the newsroom is not involved. It is the only route on this page that can be booked with certainty, and it is sold through Fortune’s advertising team, with pricing quoted per campaign rather than published. Fortune’s media kit sits at fortunemediakit.com. The difference between this and editorial is set out in our guide to earned versus sponsored coverage.
| Route | Typical timing | Cost | Guaranteed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staff editorial | Days for news; weeks to months for features | No fee to the publisher | No |
| Commentary | Not published by Fortune; check current guidelines | No fee to the publisher | No |
| Fortune 500 / Global 500 / 500 Europe | Annual; based on reported revenue | No application | No |
| Change the World | Annual nomination window; 2026 list in Oct/Nov issue | No fee mentioned on form | No |
| Fortune Brand Studio | Agreed per campaign | Quoted by Fortune’s sales team; not published | Yes, as labelled brand-funded content |
United Press quotes in writing before work starts and separates its own fee from any publisher cost.
We are a London PR agency. For Fortune we do two things, and we tell you which one you are getting.
Editorial. We work out whether you have a story that fits a Fortune beat or Fortune Europe’s remit, shape it to Fortune’s own pitching standard, identify the right editor, and pitch. Where you have an argument worth making, we help you structure a commentary pitch. Where a list fits, we check eligibility against Fortune’s published criteria and manage the nomination. None of this is guaranteed, because Fortune’s newsroom decides, and we will not tell you otherwise.
Sponsored. Where a labelled, brand-funded placement from Fortune Brand Studio is the right tool, we can brief and book it. It is labelled as paid on the page and we describe it as paid to you. That is the only Fortune outcome we can commit to in advance.
If you want an honest view on which route fits your company, email us with a short description of the business and what you want the coverage to achieve. You can also browse the publications we work with or check unfamiliar terms in our PR glossary.
Fortune is in our partner inventory. These are the facts we check before we quote, taken from the publisher’s current listing.
Companies that sell, hire or raise investment in the United States, and founders who want a recognisable news title on their “as seen in” list. With a Domain Authority of 92, it also carries real weight for search engines and AI answers.
Figures from the publisher’s listing in our partner inventory, checked 29 September 2026.
Not the US Fortune 500, which ranks US-incorporated companies. The Fortune 500 Europe ranks European companies by reported revenue and includes UK firms; there is no application, and the threshold is set by the 500th company’s revenue each year.
You can pay Fortune Brand Studio for brand-funded content, which is labelled as such. You cannot pay for an editorial article, a commentary slot or a place on a list. Anyone offering the latter for a fee is not selling what they describe.
Yes. Fortune has a commentary section and names a commentary editor in its pitching guidance. Pieces are selected and edited by Fortune and are not paid placements. Check Fortune’s current guidelines for format and submission details.
News coverage can happen within days if a reporter is interested. Features and commentary take weeks. Lists run on annual cycles with fixed windows: Change the World nominations for 2026 have closed and the list appears in the October/November issue.
A link from Fortune can help, but editorial links are at the reporter’s discretion and Brand Studio content is advertising. Treat any link as a bonus rather than the objective; pitch for the story.
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