ExxonMobil caps Wal-Mart; Nooyi remains on top in Fortune list

20 April 2009

Fortune magazine, whose list of top 500 corporate performers is widely watched, declared on Sunday that ExxonMobile, the world's largest listed oil company, has overtaken Wal-Mart, the retail giant which has held first place for the past seven years, as America's top earner. Despite the slump in oil prices last year, Exxon beat Wal-mart in terms of both revenue and profit.

However, Fortune points out that 2008 was a bad year all around. Earnings of the Fortune 500 companies fell 85 per cent to $99 billion, in what the Time Inc-controlled magazine said was the biggest one-year drop in the list's 55 years.

Financial services companies were the hardest hit in this year's list. For example, Citigroup and Bank of America fell out of the top 10, while Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual and Wachovia were among 38 companies dropping out.

Fortune only lists US-based companies. Overall, it sends a dismal message, saying that overall profits of Fortune 500 companies have slumped to $98.9 billion from $645 billion in 2007.

In an editorial comment, the magazine does not fail to point a finger at the US automotive sector, which has garnered major government bailouts. ''The assumption was that consumer preferences would be slow to change,'' it says. ''This was wishful thinking.''

Women make a mark
While the list remains top-heavy with male chief execs, women are making an increasingly impressive mark. Indra Nooyi, the CEO of Pepsico, is listed fourth among "15 women showing what it takes to lead".