Dec 5, 2017 - Politics & Policy

43% of Fortune 500 founded by immigrants or their children

Google founder Sergey Brin was born in Russia. Photo: Tony Avelar / AP

About 43% of Fortune 500 companies were founded by an immigrant or a child of an immigrant, per a new study from the Center for American Entrepreneurship: That number is slightly higher within the high-tech companies on the list, at roughly 46%. The companies linked to immigrants are located in more than half of all states.

The backdrop: A battle is raging over the Trump administration's plan to rescind the International Entrepreneur Rule which grants temporary visas to foreign startup founders meeting certain criteria. Last week, a court blocked the Department of Homeland Security's attempt to delay the implementation of the rule.

The details: Companies with immigrant founders include Google and Tesla. The organization also highlighted companies that were founded decades ago by immigrants or their children, like Apple and Goldman Sachs.

Methodology: The Center for American Entrepreneurship, which aims to educate policymakers about the economic importance of startups and entrepreneurs, says it started with the 2017 Fortune 500 list and independently confirmed whether a company had a founder who is an immigrant or the child of an immigrant. It also compared its findings to an analysis of the 2010 Fortune 500.

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