S&P indices raise minimum market cap requirements

S&P Dow Jones Indices announced on Thursday it was increasing the minimum market capitalization requirements for companies joining the S&P 500 and other stock market indexes.

Companies must now have a stock market value of at least $13.1 billion to join the S&P 500, Wall Street's most followed benchmark. That is up from a previous minimum of $11.8 billion.

Falling below market capitalization minimums does not mean companies will be removed from S&P indexes. Nearly 40 S&P 500 companies currently have stock market values under $11 billion.
Corporations face several additional eligibility requirements for consideration to be included in the S&P 500, as well as the S&P MidCap 400 and SmallCap 600.

Tesla had a market capitalization of over $600 billion when it entered the S&P 500 last December.

The minimum market capitalization requirement for the S&P MidCap 400 index will rise to $3.6 billion from $3.3 billion, and the minimum for the SmallCap 600 will climb to $850 million from $750 million, S&P Dow Jones Indices said in a press release.