That 9/10 figure is misleading, if you browse the list here: https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500_archive/full/1955/1.html https://money.cnn.com/m

That 9/10 figure is misleading, if you browse the list here: https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500_archive/full/1955/1.html https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500_archive/f... Many more than 1/10 of those names are still dominant companies/brands, but some have gone through mergers or restructures, meaning the 1955 entity no longer exists but the business lives on and remains very strong. BP and Shell are on that 1955 list, and are obviously still very strong companies. According to the Lindy effect [1], the longer a company has existed, the longer it is likely to continue to exist. Both BP and Shell have long been diversified companies (even in the 1950s, Shell had vast business activities outside of petroleum), and have long been investing heavily in various forms of alternative energy. They're not likely to disappear in any foreseeable timeframe. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect