By Jomarc Angelo M. Corpuz, Special Features and Content Writer
For decades, BusinessWorld has built its brand around unparalleled business journalism that helps readers understand the forces affecting Philippine enterprise and the economy. While it remains a well-respected daily newspaper, the now 39-year-old publication has expanded into an information ecosystem that includes research publications, digital platforms, social media, events, and specialized reports.
All these to fulfill BusinessWorld’s commitment to giving professionals, decision-makers, and other readers information they can use to understand markets, industries, companies, and the economy.
BusinessWorld’s Research department is significant in building this body of information. Through years of gathering, organizing, checking, and analyzing data, the department has established publications such as the Top 1,000 Corporations in the Philippines and the Quarterly Banking Reports. BusinessWorld Research is also behind the infographics that have become a signature of the BusinessWorld front page, translating complex data and developments into visuals that readers can quickly understand.
“Our team reflects our newspaper’s enduring belief that a newspaper is a public trust. Over the years, our department has built up data that keeps readers informed about our country’s markets,” the department said.
That foundation is particularly important at a time when businesses and professionals have unhindered access to an enormous amount of information at the palm of their hands. News, statistics, company announcements, market updates, research papers, and commentary can be transmitted and read almost instantly. Yet, this sheer volume of information also makes it harder for readers to determine what matters, whether figures can be compared, and how individual developments fit into the wider economic picture.
“In today’s flood of information, a trusted team matters more than ever in delivering quality data. Our screening process makes sure every researcher treats each dataset with care. Teamwork is also central to how we work, enabling us to gather new information the moment it appears,” BusinessWorld Research said.
The value of that process can be seen in its trusted, regular publications. The Top 1,000 Corporations in the Philippines provides a detailed look at companies across the Philippine economy, ranks businesses according to gross revenues, and also presents information on fundamentals and sector performance.
First known as the Top 500 when it was first published in 1969 by BusinessDay, then rebranded in 1996 as the Top 1000, the publication serves as a well of information on companies that may not otherwise be readily available in one resource.
The latest 2025 edition captures a mixed economic backdrop, with the Philippine economy growing 5.7% despite extreme weather events, geopolitical tensions, and softer global demand. The edition also revealed that combined gross revenues of the country’s top corporations rose 8.1% to P19.51 trillion. The issue also examines developments ranging from the Konektadong Pinoy Act and changing mall activity to the rise of discount retailers, clean energy, and electric vehicles.
The Quarterly Banking Report, meanwhile, offers the latest overview of the country’s banking industry and, together with its feature reports, covers important developments affecting the sector.
The report for the first quarter of 2026 examined issues ranging from the impact of the Middle East conflict and the resulting global energy shock on the financial system to the implications of the flood-control corruption scandal for banks, investors, governance, and financial stability.
Meanwhile, the report for the second quarter showed aggregate assets of 44 universal and commercial banks rising 10.23% year on year to P30.16 trillion, highlighting continued movement in the sector amid a changing economic environment.
“Our reports give clear insight into our country’s industries,” BusinessWorld Research explained. “The Top 1000 Corporations in the Philippines report, which ranks companies by gross revenues, sets out fundamentals and sector performance for many companies not otherwise available elsewhere. Our Quarterly Banking Reports give a clear view of the Philippines’ banking industry, and bundled with its feature reports, its critical developments.”
For these sources to be reliable, BusinessWorld Research said its data must be factual and that the team works carefully to maintain that standard. Researchers gather and compile the latest information from original sources, then subject the data to cleaning and verification procedures at each stage of the process.
“Our data must be factual, so we work with care. We gather and compile only the latest data from only original sources and make sure we go through data cleaning and verification procedures at each step. Industry leaders helped design the methods behind our reports to ensure the data truly reflects the industry,” the department revealed.
A reputable archive
The value of this work, however, is not limited to the information contained in individual reports. BusinessWorld’s decades-long record of journalism has also created an archive that allows readers to place current developments within a longer economic and business narrative. For BusinessWorld Corporate Editor Arjay L. Balinbin, this archive is an important part of how the publication helps readers understand the present.
“For me, the archive gives today’s news context. You can look back at what companies or policymakers said they would do and see what actually happened. That helps readers understand how we got here and ask better questions about where we’re going,” Mr. Balinbin said.
Mr. Balinbin also pointed to the role of journalism in helping readers understand the significance of individual announcements. Reporting on a company’s growth or a policy change is only part of the work. Readers also need information about the factors behind the development, the people and businesses affected, and the questions that remain unresolved.
“I think we’ve helped readers look beyond an announcement and understand what it actually means. It’s not enough to report that a company grew or a policy changed. We also need to explain what drove it, who’s affected, and what questions still need answers. That gives readers more to work with when making decisions,” he said.
This approach is particularly relevant to business intelligence, where numbers can carry different meanings depending on their context. A company’s revenue, for example, can be examined alongside its industry, market conditions, competitors, and previous performance. Despite this relevance, Mr. Balinbin cautioned that verification remains essential in an environment where information is constantly being published and republished online.
“There’s a lot to read online, but not all of it is verified or even new. Our job is to check the information and give readers the context,” he explained. “With data, that also means making sure the numbers are understandable and comparable. A figure can be accurate but still give the wrong impression without an explanation.”
Going back to the company’s several publications, Mr. Balinibin said the various titles can be used to examine developments across industries and understand what company performance says about broader economic activity.
“I hope readers come away understanding something better, not just remembering a headline or a number. With our Top 1000 Corporations publication, for example, the value should go beyond where a company ranks. The reporting should help explain what’s happening across businesses and industries, and why it matters,” Mr. Balinbin said.
Across formats and platforms
As BusinessWorld continues to develop its information ecosystem, its business intelligence work is also finding new formats and platforms.
According to Lucien C. Dy Tioco, executive vice-president of BusinessWorld and of PhilSTAR Media Group, the publication’s content ecosystem has slowly grown in recent years while remaining centered on its brand DNA, which is business intelligence.
“BusinessWorld has also become the default go-to source among business experts and top-level executives. Over the recent years, BWorld has expanded its platforms where it can be seen in print, online, social media, and the various community and industry fora it frequently holds,” Mr. Dy Tioco added.
With its expanding breadth of content, reaching audiences through print, online, and on-ground platforms, BusinessWorld endeavors to bring access to these seamlessly through BWorldX (www.bworld-x.com).
Launched in 2022 as a one-stop shop for BusinessWorld’s multimedia products, BWorldX brings together the newspaper in print and e-paper, the Top 1,000 Corporations in the Philippines, Quarterly Banking Reports, BusinessWorld In-Depth magazine, B-Side podcast episodes, access to Economic Forum, Forecast, and Insights fora, BusinessWorld One-on-One interviews, and access to the BW Lounge Viber community, among other offerings.
Available on BWorldX, BusinessWorld In-Depth provides deeper examinations of industries and issues. Recently, the in-house editions of In-Depth have covered developments in the local coffee industry, urbanization, and banking; while special editions have featured industry-specific events such as the induction of the officers of Bankers Institute of the Philippines (BAIPHIL) for FY 2025-2026; the BAIPHIL Week; and the 24th Depositor Protection and Awareness Week, organized by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.
BusinessWorld has also expanded its content offering through BizLife, a publication designed for modern business leaders and entrepreneurs that goes beyond traditional business news to explore leadership styles, workplace culture, and ideas shaping the future.
Its inaugural issue reflects this focus on the people and perspectives behind business, with stories intended to provide not just timely information but also inspiration to the next generation of executives and entrepreneurs.
Bannering the inaugural issue are the next-generation leadership at the Filinvest Group, namely Isabelle Therese Gotianun Yap, vice-president and chief strategy and transformation officer of EastWest and director of Filinvest Development Corp., and Francis Nathaniel Consunji Gotianun, first senior vice-president of Filinvest Hospitality, who shared how the companies they lead are building a better future for their respective industries and the nation overall.
Also featured in the first issue are key people within the MVP Group, among them Belen M. Al-Humayed of Multisys and Bison Management Corp., Menardo G. “Butch” Jimenez, Jr. of PLDT, Jovy I. Hernandez of Metro Pacific Agro Ventures, and Erickson Y. Manzano of Landco Pacific Corp.
Also included in the issue is a first-person account from Athenna Ordoña, marketing and corporate communications lead at Multisys, on being a millennial in the boardroom, present at board meetings with PLDT executives, including Manny V. Pangilinan.
With BusinessWorld expanding across print, digital, social media, and on-ground platforms, maintaining its journalism standards remains central. The same principles of accuracy, attribution, and context apply across formats, even while the ways audiences consume information continue to change.
BusinessWorld’s growing archive, research capabilities, and platforms remain anchored in these standards, bringing together reliable data, business journalism, and context to help readers better understand the Philippine economy and the decisions shaping it.
