Midea rises to highest Fortune Global 500 rank yet

Midea has been ranked No. 231 on the Fortune Global 500, its highest placing in 11 consecutive appearances on the list.

The home appliance maker rose 15 places from the previous ranking after reporting growth in revenue, profit and overseas sales. Total revenue reached RMB 458.5 billion, up 12.1% year on year, while net profit attributable to shareholders rose 14.0% to RMB 43.95 billion.

Overseas revenue totalled RMB 195.9 billion, an increase of 15.9%. The figures point to continued expansion outside China, including in Australia and New Zealand, where Midea is increasing local investment and widening its product range.

Ivan Ma, General Manager of Midea Australia and New Zealand, linked the latest ranking to the broader business performance.

"Being named to the Fortune Global 500 for an 11th consecutive year demonstrates the scale, stability and resilience behind Midea, particularly at a time of economic uncertainty around the world. Our growth has been built on delivering premium features, innovation and quality at prices that represent genuine value. Reaching our highest-ever Fortune Global 500 ranking also reflects the strength of Midea's global growth strategy, and Australia and New Zealand are an important part of that growth. We're continuing to invest locally, broaden our product offering and build Midea into a brand that more ANZ consumers know, trust and choose," said Ivan Ma, General Manager of Midea Australia and New Zealand.

AI push

A large part of Midea's recent strategy has focused on applying artificial intelligence across its business. The group has built an AI research and development team of more than 400 engineers and now uses more than 13,000 AI agents each day across residential, office, manufacturing, healthcare, warehousing and logistics settings.

In 2025, those AI applications improved operational efficiency by more than 15 million hours and cut costs by RMB 700 million. Midea has embedded AI in four business areas: Smart Home, Intelligent Manufacturing, Smart Office and Industrial Solutions.

Within consumer products, Midea introduced MevoX, which it described as the first AI agent in the home appliance industry capable of completing a "Perception-Learning-Decision-Execution" loop. The group said more than 140 million of its smart home appliances are now connected worldwide.

Manufacturing is another focus area. At its Jingzhou washing machine factory, Midea has deployed 14 AI agents across 38 production scenarios, delivering average efficiency gains of more than 80% and moving the site towards autonomous decision-making.

Business mix

Alongside its home appliance operations, Midea has been building what it calls a second growth engine in business-to-business markets, including robotics, new energy, building technologies, industrial components, healthcare and logistics.

Revenue from that ToB business reached RMB 122.8 billion in 2025, up 17.5% year on year and above RMB 120 billion for the first time. The figure underscores the group's effort to broaden earnings beyond household products.

KUKA, Midea's industrial robotics business, increased its market share in China to 9.6% in 2025, according to the company, keeping it among the top three players in the market.

Global reach

Midea also highlighted growth in its overseas structure and online market positions. The number of countries and regions covered by its directly operated overseas subsidiaries increased from 27 to 50.

Its own brands ranked No. 1 by market share across 32 product categories on key Amazon marketplaces in North America, Europe and Japan, the company said. It also said Euromonitor International certified Midea as the world's top smart home appliances brand by volume sales in 2025.

The group traces its origins to 1968 and now employs about 190,000 people across more than 200 countries and regions. It operates 65 production centres and 41 research and development centres worldwide, with more than 90,000 authorised patents.

Shareholder returns

Strong cash generation supported increased returns to shareholders. Midea allocated 100% of annual net profit attributable to shareholders to shareholder returns in 2025, with total cash dividends and share buybacks reaching RMB 44 billion.

Operating cash flow for the period stood at RMB 53.3 billion. The company proposed a cash dividend of RMB 3.8 per 10 shares and said the total annual dividend for 2025, including the interim dividend, amounted to RMB 4.3 per 10 shares, with total cash dividends of RMB 32.4 billion.

Over the past decade, Midea has distributed more than RMB 150 billion in cumulative dividends.