Energy beat retailing on Fortune magazine’s annual list of the top 500 companies by gross revenue, released yesterday.
Frontrunner Royal Dutch Shell, the proud owner of a 28.1% increase in revenue in 2011, and Exxon Mobile both moved up a rank to knock Wal-mart off the top spot, where it had reigned for the previous two years.
Eight of the list’s top 10 were energy companies, though in Australia, our miners, supermarkets and banks made the list.
BHP Billiton was the highest-ranking Australian company on the Global500 (distinct from the magazine’s Fortune500, which only includes American companies). The miner was the 108th-largest global company.
The next highest-ranked Australian company was Wesfarmers at 171, closely followed by competitor Woolworths at 175.
All four large Australian banks made the list, with the Commonwealth Bank at 227, Westpac at 229, NAB at 254 and ANZ at 291.
Rounding out the end of the list was Telstra at 438 and Caltex Australia at 486.
Of the top 500, 132 companies were American. China came second with 73 companies, and Japan third with 68.
The full list can be viewed on Fortune’s website.
Myriam Robin is a reporter for SmartCompany and its sister site LeadingCompany. She has degrees in economics, international studies and journalism. She likes writing about businesses taking risks and doing new things.
