Walmart No. 1 (again) on ‘Fortune 500’ list
Amazon moves into top 10 for first time
Walmart is the biggest winner in Fortune magazine’s annual Fortune 500 ranking of the nation’s largest corporations, grabbing the top spot for the
14th time and sixth year in a row.
The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailing giant last year became the first company in U.S. history to generate $500 billion in annual sales, Fortune reported Monday in the business magazine’s rankings for 2017.
Other winners on the annual list included energy giant Exxon Mobil, which returned to the No. 2 spot, and e-tailing and delivery conglomerate Amazon, which moved into the top 10 for the first time and ranks eighth.
Apple fell one spot to the ranking’s fourth position despite a 6% gain in annual sales. Nonetheless, the tech giant grabbed the title of the Fortune
500’s most valuable company. Reporting $48 billion in profits, Apple led all companies in that category for the fourth consecutive year, Fortune said.
Other corporations in the top 10 included billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, UnitedHealth Group, health care company McKesson, pharmacy and health company CVS, communications giant AT&T and General Motors.
Fortune 500 corporations returned an average of 18% to their shareholders in 2017, the magazine said.
Streaming media leader Netflix led all U.S. companies in
10-year annual returns to shareholders through 2017, Fortune said.
Electronic-chip maker and artificial intelligence company Nvidia soared more than 80 spots in this year’s ranking and led all Fortune 500 companies in five-year annual returns to shareholders through 2017, the magazine said.
In all, Fortune 500 companies represent two-thirds of U.S. gross domestic product with $12.8 trillion in revenues, $1 trillion in profits and $21.6 trillion in market value.
The corporations collectively employ 28.2 million people around the world, the magazine said.
Who’s No. 1?
Only three companies have held the No. 1 spot on the Fortune 500 list since its creation in 1955: General Motors, Exxon Mobil and Walmart.
Women power waning?
The 2017 rankings had 24 women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, down from 32 in 2016.
State bragging rights
New York has the most companies in the 2017 rankings with 58. California took second place with 49, followed by Texas with 48.
First-time winners
Seventeen companies debuted on the Fortune 500 list for 2017, including fragrance and beauty product company Coty, beauty store chain Ulta Beauty, Conduent, a technology company that provides digital platforms for government and business, and Fortive, a technology company focused on field instrumentation, transportation and other sectors.
Corporate departures
In all, 25 companies fell from the annual list, including Mattel, Staples, Yahoo and Whole Foods.
Market value
Four of the latest Fortune
500 companies have at least
$500 billion in market value. The list includes Apple, Alphabet, the parent company of online search giant Google, Microsoft and Amazon, the magazine said.