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The number of US companies on the list has declined to 121 from 126 last year The contribution of state-owned enterprises has risen to 80.2 per cent of Chinese companies on the list from 76.3 per cent last year In a first, more Chinese companies have made it to Fortune magazine’s list of the world’s top 500 firms this year, than from the United States. A total of 129 companies, including 10 from Taiwan, were ranked among the world’s biggest firms by operating revenue, according to a list released on Monday. Their number rose from 120 last year, while the...

The perception that only elite schools produce elite leaders needs to die. The No. 1 company in last year’s Fortune 500 was Walmart Inc., with $500 billion in revenue. That would make its chief executive, Douglas McMillon, a pretty important and powerful executive, don’t you think? Can you guess where he went to college? The University of Arkansas. He has an MBA, too. From the University of Tulsa. Second on the list was Exxon Mobil Corp. Its CEO, Darren Woods, went to Texas A&M. Third was Berkshire Hathaway Inc., run by the man many consider the greatest investor who ever...

What do the companies in these three groups have in common?Group A: American Motors, Brown Shoe, Studebaker, Collins Radio, Detroit Steel, Zenith Electronics and National Sugar Refining.Group B: Boeing, Campbell Soup, Colgate-Palmolive, Deere, General Motors, IBM, Kellogg, Procter and Gamble, and Whirlpool.Group C: Amazon, Facebook, eBay, Home Depot, Microsoft, Google, Netflix, Office Depot and Target.All of the companies in Group A were in the Fortune 500 in 1955, but not in 2017.All of the companies in Group B were in the Fortune 500 in both 1955 and 2017.All of the companies in Group C were in the Fortune 500 in...

Corporate support for same-sex rights presents Cruz a chance to blast two movement conservative enemies at once. Credit Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, with this: He’s doing what he can to lock down first-mover advantage in the Republican presidential sweepstakes. Last week, he was first in what promises to be a crowded GOP field to officially announce his White House bid. Yesterday, he launched what Politico has already termed the backlash to the corporate backlash to Indiana’s controversial “religious freedom” law. Addressing a crowd of 300 in Sioux City, Iowa, Cruz laced into the big business leaders who have jumped into...

It doesn’t make any sense to care how many Fortune 500 CEOs are female. Instead, what does matter is how many of the Fortune 500 companies were started by a woman in the first place. A fake feminist demands that companies created by men hire more female CEOs. A real feminist starts her own company and makes herself the CEO.

SAN FRANCISCO — As a Mexican-American woman who started her own consulting firm in Los Angeles, accountant Sonia Luna has taken advantage of programs aimed at helping minority- and female-owned businesses compete for government and corporate contracts. But increasingly, the fact that Luna is a lesbian entrepreneur hasn't hurt, either. Federal agencies, organizations such as the National Football League and more than one-third of Fortune 500 companies are trying to expand their vendor pools by explicitly encouraging bids from gay, lesbian and transgender contractors. The little-known outreach efforts mirror longstanding “supplier diversity” initiatives aimed at developing economic opportunities for businesses...

China now boasts 73 of the biggest global companies – stealing the number two spot on the Fortune 500 list from Japan. China has landed 73 companies on the list, Japan has 68 and the U.S. has 132. Although the U.S. has a clear margin, China added 12 companies to the list since last year while the amount of U.S. companies has dropped by 14. In the last decade, the amount of U.S. companies on the list has fallen from 197 to 132. Conversely, China only had 11 companies on the list in 2002 compared to today’s 73. …

Thirty large and profitable Fortune 500 corporations paid no federal income taxes between 2008 and 2010, according to a new study Thursday on corporate loopholes. In fact, the 30 companies enjoyed a negative effective income tax rate over the three-year period, even as they earned pre-tax profits of $160 billion, according to two think tanks, Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. A negative tax rate represents a tax benefit like a credit, not necessarily direct funds from the government. Pepco Holdings, a Washington, D.C.-area power company, had the lowest effective tax rate at negative...

2010 Fortune 500: Wal-Mart back on top. The retail giant knocks Exxon Mobil out of the top slot to rule the Fortune 500 again. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2010/full_list/ http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2010/performers/companies/profits/

Are current government policies causing the U.S. to lose competitiveness in the global race for capital, prosperity, and growth? Fortune magazine recently reported that the number of U.S. companies in the world’s top 500 fell to the lowest level ever, while more Chinese firms than ever before made the list. Thirty-seven Chinese companies now rank in the top 500, including nine new entries. Meanwhile, the number of U.S. firms has fallen to 140, the lowest total since Fortune began the list in 1995. This is not good. China also surpassed the U.S. as the world’s biggest automaker in the first...

As many big companies are announcing mass layoffs, these Fortune 100 employers have at least 150 openings as of mid-April. It's no secret that many big companies are announcing mass layoffs and pay cuts in the recession. With 5.1 million jobs lost nationwide since 2008, and the current unemployment rate at the 25-year high of 8.5%, it's easy to feel down about the battered labor market. But the job prospects aren't entirely bleak. We looked at the top 100 of this year's Fortune 500 list and found 28 with at least 150 job openings as of mid-April. Some, like Wal-Mart,...

Look at the new Fortune 500 list and you'll see all the mighty companies that drained your 401(k), Allan Dodds Frank writes. A guide to the worst of the best. When I look at this year’s Fortune 500 list to focus blame on the companies most responsible for my permanently diminished retirement accounts and my higher cost of living, there is no shortage of suspects. I could be mad at the most profitable company, Exxon, but I am not. They sell real products and, like most Americans, I was hardly surprised that as oil went beyond $100 a barrel, the...

Exxon Mobil has unseated Wal-Mart Stores to top the 2009 Fortune 500 list after a year the magazine called the worst ever for the country’s 500 largest publicly traded companies.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, unexpectedly announced Friday that its chief executive will retire in February and be replaced by the head of its international division. The surprise change in leadership right before the crucial holiday season comes as Wal-Mart has roared back to success as people looking for bargains shop more at discounters. Still, the company faces hurdles ahead amid slowing growth in the U.S., and analysts say the decision to tap an international executive serves as a testament that the company sees its future growth oversees. Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart said Mike Duke, 58, vice chairman of...

NEW YORK - Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, has reclaimed its position as the largest corporation in the U.S. among the Fortune 500, pushing Exxon Mobil down to number two. With more than $351 billion dollars in revenue, the magazine ranks Wal-Mart slightly ahead of the energy giant. Wal-Mart is on top for the fifth time in six years. Oil companies have three of the top five spots. Fortune says Google is among the biggest movers. The online search leader has moved up more than 100 spots to 241.

Liberal blogger David R. Mark recently wrote, “Those that call themselves ‘compassionate conservatives’ would never think to touch their fat-cat supporters. It’s much easier to spin the ‘economic benefits’ of helping huge corporations fatten their bottom lines.” Liberal academic Thomas Frank, in his book What’s The Matter With Kansas?, claims that the corporate world “wields the Republican Party as its personal political sidearm.” Both Mark and Frank express a common view that corporations are major funders of the political right, and that when corporations make contributions to nonprofit advocacy groups they give to groups on the right because those groups...

Skyrocketing energy prices propelled Exxon Mobil Corp. to the top of the 2006 Fortune 500 list, and consigned Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to the No. 2 spot on the magazine's annual ranking of the nation's largest publicly traded companies. Fortune compiled its list based on companies' 2005 revenues. Exxon Mobil raked in $340 billion in revenue, a 25.5 percent increase over 2004, and had $36.1 billion in profits, the most by any U.S. company in history. Other oil producers also rose in the rankings, boosted by crude prices that topped $70 a barrel and gasoline prices that surpassed $3 a gallon...

A national gay and lesbian activist group released a buyer's guide Wednesday that details which large companies have policies that are fair for gay employees. The guide, released by the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization Human Rights Campaign, aims to steer consumers away from some brands they say are unfair to gays. "LGBT Americans are changing the policies of corporate America at the checkout line," said Joe Solmonese, Human Rights Campaign president. "The buying guide helps fair-minded consumers make their best choices this holiday season." The 28-page pocket guide groups businesses into categories such as "electronics" and...

CHICAGO - Carlos Saavedra came out to a colleague soon after he started working at Quaker Foods four years ago, reassured by seeing gay and lesbian employees climbing the ladder at the Chicago company. "You can bring your whole self to work rather than seeming isolated and distant because you can't talk about what you do outside work," said the 25-year-old assistant marketing manager. The groundwork for his positive experience was laid by more than 30 years of activism to persuade big corporations like Quaker's parent PepsiCo Inc. that promoting a gay- friendly workplace is good business. Now many large...

WASHINGTON - Gay and transgender workers were more likely than ever to receive domestic-partner health benefits last year, and more companies are adopting nondiscrimination policies to protect them, a leading gay- activist group reported. But gays' workplace gains have slowed since the '90s, according to figures that the group, the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign, compiled for its annual "State of the Workplace" report. That's probably because of the rising costs of health benefits. Social conservatives said their resistance to such efforts was a factor. Fortune 500 companies were most likely to protect gay and transgender workers, according to the survey....