Table of contents for June/July 2023 in Fortune

IN TODAY’S ECONOMIC CLIMATE, THE ABILITY TO meet changing consumer demands, stay ahead of the competition, and drive sustained growth requires highly personalized and effective marketing strategies that truly target the right people at the right time. How are those strategies achieved? With the help of data. “Marketers are under increased pressure to demonstrate and substantiate value by obtaining more data and insights to ensure they’re effectively reaching consumers,” says Garry Capers, division president, data solutions, at Deluxe, a payments and business technology company and leading data aggregator. Because there are billions of data points available and separating the signal from the noise can be challenging for businesses, Deluxe provides expert guidance to help its partners reconcile, analyze, and activate the highest quality data. “Marketers are under increased pressure…

MANY OF THE TIES that connect us have been severed. Along with the pandemic’s isolation measures came the rise of remote work and an uptick in moves out of major metros. More people have found themselves separated from strong support systems, and the physical and emotional distance is pushing some to the brink. “The pandemic has had a number of invisible costs in our country, and the increase in loneliness, the increase in mental health strain, these are part of those costs,” Dr. Vivek Murthy, the U.S. surgeon general, said at Fortune’s Brainstorm Health conference in Marina del Rey, Calif., in April. Even before the pandemic, loneliness was commonplace, with its effects felt across roughly half the U.S. population, especially among young people and caregivers. According to one study…

WITH 2022 SEEING THE HIGHEST GLOBAL levels of CO2 emissions ever recorded, according to an International Energy Agency report, the urgency to transition to clean energy has never been greater. However, balancing clean energy goals with increasing global demand for secure, reliable, and affordable energy supplies poses a complex challenge. Global technology company SLB is rising to the occasion by delivering innovative solutions that help decarbonize oil and gas exploration and production today while simultaneously driving the clean energy solutions of the future. According to SLB’s CEO Olivier Le Peuch, the world will continue to be dependent on oil and gas for decades, but SLB will play a key role in powering the clean energy transition. “AS A TECHNOLOGY COMPANY, WE ARE LEVERAGING OUR EXPERTISE TO DEVELOP—AND ULTIMATELY DEPLOY…

UNLIKE MANY OTHER PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES, GOLFERS DON’T have to stop competing once they reach the age of 50. As other athletes head into retirement, seasoned golfers can begin anew with the PGA TOUR Champions, a tournament founded in 1980 specifically for professionals ages 50 and over. And while it’s long been a high-profile competition, over the past few seasons, it has—like the sport of golf—caught fire. In 2022 alone, revenue from local PGA TOUR Champions events, including tickets, programs, signage, food and beverage, merchandise, and more, surpassed $71 million—the largest amount ever recorded by 22%. Its social media channels grew by more than 200,000 subscribers, a 39% year-over-year increase, helping boost social media engagements by 42%, from 7.2 million to 10.2 million—and those numbers are only expected to keep…

ENERGIZED SANCTIONS ON RUSSIAN CRUDE AND A POTENT DOMESTIC ECONOMY CREATED STRONG TAILWINDS FOR OIL AND GAS COMPANIES. WARREN BUFFETT FAVORITE OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM AND REFINER PBF ENERGY DELIVERED TOTAL SHAREHOLDER RETURNS OF 119% AND 216%, RESPECTIVELY, IN 2022 AS THEIR REVENUES AND PROFITS SURGED. BIG TECH SLOWS DOWN SOME OF TECH’S GROWTH JUGGERNAUTS HIT THE WALL IN 2022. AMAZON.COM (REVENUE UP 9.4%) AND NETFLIX (UP 6.5%) GREW MORE SLOWLY THAN THE FORTUNE 500 MEDIAN. FACEBOOK PARENT META PLATFORMS, ONE OF THE FASTEST-GROWING COMPANIES OF THE PAST DECADE, POSTED A 1% REVENUE DECLINE, ITS FIRST EVER. FASTEST-GROWING COMPANIES PUMPING OUT PROFITS APPLE WAS THE MOST PROFITABLE COMPANY IN THE 500 FOR THE EIGHTH TIME IN NINE YEARS, EARNING A RECORD $99.8 BILLION. BUT OIL GIANTS’ SURGING PROFITS HELPED THEM CRASH…

FOR FANS OF the reclusive R&B artist Frank Ocean, the short audio clips posted to group chat service Discord in early April were tantalizing. They purported to be leaked studio tracks from Ocean, who hasn’t released a full studio album since 2016 but has teased a forthcoming new project. Ocean-obsessed music collectors offered to buy the tracks for thousands of dollars to get them before everyone else. There was only one problem: The tracks were fakes, created with a new kind of artificial intelligence that is sending shock waves through the music industry and raising thorny questions about ethics, copyright, and how artists can protect their personal brand. These so-called musical deepfakes have exploded in number because in the past six months, the technology to make realistic imitations of…

THESE ARE CHALLENGING TIMES FOR the $4.3 trillion U.S. health care industry: Providers are struggling to retain staff, work through patient backlogs, and keep business systems up-to-date amid digital transformations. And health systems have realized they can’t succeed in this demanding environment alone. As a result, many have teamed up with partners such as Vee Technologies, a leader in business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions for health care enterprises. Vee Technologies combines industry expertise with cutting-edge processes to help its clients develop and execute tailored strategies that boost efficiency, identify opportunity, introduce new technology, and ultimately, save time and money. By working with Vee Technologies, providers get access to experts, such as skilled coders, who can ensure billing is done right, and patient communications specialists, who are increasingly essential in…

OF ALL THE GREAT companies renowned for providing strong, reliable shareholder returns in recent decades, it’s hard to think of any that have gone from prince to frog as fast as Disney. Indeed the stock now sells at 40% below its level of four years ago, showing that the markets take a dim view of its prospects. The entertainment colossus turns 100 this year, and it’s striving to accomplish what few enterprises save for Coca-Cola have achieved: remain a powerhouse into a second century. But make no mistake. Though Bob Iger was only away from the CEO perch for less than three years, he’s returned to a new world. Tom Rogers, former president of what would become NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, ex-CEO of TiVo, and now executive chairman of GameSquare,…

DAVID RAWLINSON walks onto a well-lit QVC home shopping set adorned with pink and white prop flowers and modeled to look like a suburban Southern sunroom. Fake French doors open up onto a screen-printed image of a brick mansion and hedgerows. He’s camera-ready for a photo shoot in a navy suit sans tie or button-down, a matching sweater, and laceless leather Axel Arigato sneakers, and he flashes the unwavering smile of a TV host. But he’s not one of the famed shopping channel’s on-air personalities. He’s the CEO of its struggling parent company, Qurate Retail, Inc. Rawlinson’s sunny disposition comes with a steely resolve. He was brought in turn around the purveyor of infomercials that were once a staple of cable TV—no easy feat in the age of streamers…

“We have an opportunity to make cigarettes a historical artifact—museum pieces collecting dust behind glass cases. Not taking a decision on smoke-free products today is a decision with consequences.”JACEK OLCZAK CEO PHILIP MORRIS INTERNATIONAL HISTORY MUSTN’T DECIDE THE FUTURE. For decades, the health risks of smoking have been well known and policymakers have adhered to a standard menu of solutions to stop people from smoking, including restrictive regulations, high taxes, marketing bans, and packaging designed to discourage purchases. Despite numerous attempts, these approaches have failed to deliver the desired outcomes. According to public health data, a billion people smoke worldwide. With population growth, this figure is unlikely to go down soon. Despite this, the most common solution has been more of the same, which is inefficient. Since 2016, Philip…

EVERY FOUR SECONDS, in the middle of a factory floor in eastern Germany, a deafening thump-thump blasts out as a mold slams down on a sheet of steel. The percussion is just one small part—albeit one of the loudest—of the frenzied action inside the facility, as workers stoke raging smelting furnaces, and robots topped by “Godzilla” heads hoist auto bodies up onto assembly lines. Germany is home to dozens of plants like these, but this is no ordinary car factory. After each thump-thump, two automated claws reach around the mold and retrieve an item that a certain kind of superfan can identify on sight: the dramatically curving tailgate of a Tesla Model Y. We’re inside Tesla’s Giga Berlin, set amid woodlands about 24 miles from the German capital—and a…

FOR CENTURIES, THE SUCCESS OF THE HVAC industry has been driven by technological breakthroughs—and as the market enters the digital age, that need for innovation only continues. Watsco, the world’s largest distributor of HVAC products, is helping to lead the industry’s tech transformation. Over the past decade, the Miami-based company has contributed more than $200 million to implementing scalable technologies across its operations—and it’s paying off. “Our investments to build and launch the industry’s leading technologies are unheard-of in our industry,” says A.J. Nahmad, Watsco’s president. “These solutions are transforming our business, our customers’ daily lives, and ultimately, how homeowners and businesses buy our products.” Through this transformation, the company has created an intuitive and contemporary digital experience, including robust B2B e-commerce, mobile apps, and the industry’s largest source…

JACK DORSEY, the cofounder of Twitter, recently delivered a candid critique of his creation. “It all went south,” Dorsey said of the platform, which Elon Musk acquired for $44 billion in November. “But it happened, and all we can do now is build something to avoid that ever happening again.” Just as striking as what Dorsey said was where he said it—on Bluesky, an app born as a project within Twitter and later spun out as a public benefit LLC. Dorsey, who is on the board, says Bluesky is everything Twitter was supposed to be: It’s an open-source protocol anyone can build a social media app on top of, and it gives users the flexibility to bring their posts and followers from platform to platform, as easily as travelers…

FROM RISING INFLATION TO SUPPLY CHAIN challenges, the past few years have seen no shortage of disruptions for the world’s energy markets. Yet, by prioritizing operational and financial discipline, Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD)—a hydrocarbon exploration firm headquartered in Irving, Texas—has not only been able to withstand these challenges, but it has also continued to deliver value to its shareholders. “Despite the current global, geopolitical, and economic challenges and the impact they have on the energy industry, we see a future with opportunities—not roadblocks,” said Pioneer Natural Resources CEO Scott Sheffield. A major driver of PXD’s ongoing success has been its financial strategy, according to Sheffield. Last year, the company reinvested less than 35% of its operating cash flow and maintained an impressive net debt-to-EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation,…

IN TODAY’S TIGHT LABOR MARKET, WHERE THE UNEMPLOYMENT rate recently fell to a 54-year low, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, companies are facing significant competition for talent. This reality, coupled with the pandemic-accelerated shift in how people approach work, means it is more important than ever for companies to prioritize employees’ well-being to avoid disengagement and attrition. HR software provider Workhuman, which has headquarters in Framingham, Mass., and Dublin, believes that recognizing employees in meaningful ways is the key to building high-performing, human-centric work cultures—and the company has built an entire technology platform to help organizations do just that. “As human beings, we desire positive connections,” says Workhuman president Tom Libretto. “In the workplace, the most profound form of positive connection comes from acknowledging each other for…

Walmart ranked No. 1 on the 500 for the 11th straight year. It’s the first U.S. company ever to top $600 billion in annual revenue. Amazon landed at No. 2 for the fourth year in a row, even as slowing growth in its cloud services division crimped earnings. UnitedHealth Group earned $20.1 billion in profit last year, up 16% from 2021. It’s the biggest of eight health care companies in the top 25. Chevron rode rising energy prices to a 52% jump in annual revenue, cracking the Fortune 500’s top 10 for the first time since 2015. AVERAGE REVENUES FOR FORTUNE 500 LISTED COMPANIES, BY SECTOR 1–30 500 31–80 500 48 WALT DISNEY The entertainment giant hasn’t been the happiest place on earth lately: Losses at its Disney+ streaming…