Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) has regained the No. 1 spot in the Fortune 500 list owing to a shift in the focus towards low prices.
The changed strategy has helped the big box retailer to reclaim the top spot as the nation’s biggest-grossing company, reveals a Fortune 500 list announced today morning by the Fortune Magazine. Last year, the retailer slipped to the second spot in the rankings.
The Fortune 500 rankings consider the revenues of each major company operating in United States and financial statements filed with a government agency. The rankings take into account private companies, cooperatives and insurance agencies.
Sales Of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT)
For 2012, Wal-Mart over took Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) to claim the number one spot. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) posted sales of $443.9 billion while the world’s biggest oil refiner reported the second biggest annual profit in U.S. history in 2012 but less than its earlier record of $45.22 billion in 2008.
Others in the List
Other companies that made it to the elite list are:
- Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), the second largest oil company in the US retains the number three spot with earnings of $26.2 billion.
- Another oil refining company, Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX), which is a spin off from ConocoPhillips, bagged the number four spot.
- Warren Buffett’s investment firm Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B) jumped to fifth spot from seventh last year. The company gained 2 places despite Buffett calling 2012 a “subpar” year.
- Apple, one of the most popular companies ever, made its entry into the elite top ten club. The iPhone maker ranked seventeenth last year.
- General Motors slipped to seventh position from fifth earlier owing to a 32 percent drop in earnings in 2012. However, the automaker is still one of the 50 most profitable Fortune 500 Companies.
- General Electric fell to eighth spot from an earlier sixth. America’s biggest industrial company suffered due to slow growth in U.S. and uncertain economic conditions, in Europe.
- Valero Energy, world’s largest independent oil refiner, came in at the ninth spot.
- Ford Motor, owing to a 72 percent drop in earnings in 2012, slipped to last spot from ninth earlier. However, the company’s Ford Focus became the top-selling car in the world.
Apple is the highest-ranking technology company in the list. Other popular tech companies in the list include AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) at 11th place, Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) at 15th spot and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) at 35th place. The social networker Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) made it to the Fortune 500 list for the first time. Facebook came in at the 482nd spot, up from earlier 598.
