The biggest companies in the world
Fortune has listed the 500 biggest money-making companies from around the world for 2011, and unsurprisingly, oil, fuel and energy companies dominated the top echelon of the rankings.
Topping the list is mega-fuel producer, Royal Dutch Shell, which has been pushing to drill for oil in Arctic waters, while closer to home, it has also applied to explore the Karoo for shale gas amid much controversy.
Behind Shell is Exxon Mobil, the biggest company in the US which has brought in $41.1 billion in profits, up 35% from the previous year. Following in third place is the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart.
Global 500 top 10
| 500 Rank | Company | Revenues (Million US$) | Profits (Million US$) |
| 1 | Royal Dutch Shell | 484,489 | 30,918 |
| 2 | Exxon Mobil | 452,926 | 41,060 |
| 3 | Wal-Mart Stores | 446,950 | 15,699 |
| 4 | BP | 386,463 | 25,700 |
| 5 | Sinopec Group | 375,214 | 9,453 |
| 6 | China National Petroleum | 352,338 | 16,317 |
| 7 | State Grid | 259,142 | 5,678 |
| 8 | Chevron | 245,621 | 26,895 |
| 9 | ConocoPhillips | 237,272 | 12,436 |
| 10 | Toyota Motor | 235,364 | 3,591 |
Tech in the Global 500
No tech companies make it into the top 10 list of the Global 500; however, tech does make its debut on the list with Samsung Electronics heading up the category at number 20.
General Electric (22), which has strong operations within Africa and South Africa enters two positions lower, having been listed as the top tech company in the Fortune 500, which focuses on American companies.
GE has invested in major infrastructure and media projects in SA, such as emergency generators for Anglo Platinum and the CNBC Africa broadcast headquarters.
Samsung’s smartphone rival, Apple hits the rankings in the 55th spot, while electronics manufacturers such as Hitachi (38), Panasonic (66), Sony (87) and Toshiba (97) also make their presence known in the top 100.
Telecoms also has its fair representation with Japanese telecommunications company, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (29), AT&T (32), Verizon (50) and Deutche Telekom (89) all ranked well.
Here is a list of tech companies featured in the Global 500’s top 100 companies:
| 500 Rank | Company | Revenues (Million US$) | Profits (Million US$) |
| 20 | Samsung | 148,944 | 12,059 |
| 22 | General Electric | 147,616 | 14,151 |
| 29 | Nippon Telegraph and Telephone | 133,077 | 5,924 |
| 31 | Hewlett-Packard | 127,245 | 7,074 |
| 32 | AT&T | 126,723 | 3,944 |
| 38 | Hitachi | 122,419 | 4,397 |
| 47 | Siemens | 113,349 | 8,562 |
| 50 | Verizon | 110,875 | 2,404 |
| 55 | Apple | 108,249 | 25,922 |
| 57 | IBM | 106,916 | 15,855 |
| 65 | SK Holdings | 100,394 | 1,510 |
| 66 | Panasonic | 99,373 | -9,780 |
| 81 | China Mobile | 87,544 | 11,703 |
| 82 | Telefonica | 87,372 | 7,513 |
| 87 | Sony | 82,237 | -5,784 |
| 89 | Deutche Telekom | 81,554 | 775 |
| 97 | Toshiba | 77,261 | 934 |
Other notable tech companies: Vodafone (105), Microsoft (119), Dell (147), Fujitsu (166), Comcast (167), Intel (173), Nokia (174), LG Electronics (196), Amazon.com (206), China Telecom (221), Canon (224), Cisco (237), Telecom Italia (244), Vivendi (257), Google (277), Ingram Micro (294), Oracle (300), Sharp (354), BT Group (358), Lenovo (370), Fujifilm (400), DirecTV (406), Xerox (485).
The full Fortune Global 500 list can be found here.
Fortune Global 500 Top 10 (via AFP)
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