Exxon pushes Wal-Mart from top spot
Exxon Mobil pushed aside Wal-Mart Stores for the top spot on the famed Fortune 500 list of the biggest US companies by revenue, the magazine said on Monday
The list, which ranks publicly traded US companies, pegs Exxon Mobil’s 2005 revenue at about $340-billion, with profits of $36-billion. Wal-Mart made a profit of about $11-billion on revenue of $316-billion.
Exxon Mobil last held the top position in 2001, Fortune said. It said the oil superpower earned more than any other US company in history last year.
“This year had all the ingredients for a sputtering economy at best, a significant downturn at worst,” said Fortune senior writer Ellen McGirt. “In spite of the portents of doom, however, America ‘s largest corporations sailed through in extraordinary style, setting records for both revenues and profits.”
The top ten on the list were General Motors; Chevron; Ford Motor; ConocoPhillips; General Electric; Citigroup; American International Group; and IBM.
The Fortune ranking is based on revenues. Other rankings of largest companies may be based on profits or stock market capitalisation. Fortune also publishes a list of the top global companies.
In terms of profitability among US firms, Exxon Mobil was at the top, followed by Citigroup ($24.6-billion); Bank of America ($16.5-billion), General Electric ($16.4-billion) and Chevron ($14.1-billion.
Source AFP