Energy firms top Fortune’s Global 500 rankings

Energy company Royal Dutch Shell, with a 28.1 percent increase in revenue in 2011, ended Wal-Mart Stores’ two-year reign atop Fortune Magazine’s Global 500 list, the magazine’s yearly ranking of the world’s 500 largest corporations, which was released yesterday.
The Netherlands-based company took first place with more than $ 484 billion in revenues and $ 30.9 billion in profits, a 53.6 percent increase from 2010. It continued to perform well into early 2012, boosting its earnings for the first quarter of 2012 by 11 percent, the magazine said.
Exxon Mobil came in second place in the rankings. The US-based energy giant saw a 35 percent boost in profits to $ 41 billion in 2011, also jumping the world’s biggest retailer, which landed in third place.
Rounding out the rankings’ top five were BP and Sinopec Group.
“Despite financial turmoil in Europe and disasters in Japan, the world’s largest corporations had record profits and revenues in 2011,” Fortune spokeswoman Kerri Chyka told Reuters.
The 500 companies on the list saw total revenue of $ 29.5 trillion, up 13.2 percent over 2010. Eight of the list’s top 10 companies were in the energy business. Commercial banks and the auto industry took second and third place in the 500 rankings, respectively.
The top 10 companies included four from the US, with Chevron and ConocoPhillips in eighth and ninth place respectively, and three from China, with China National Petroleum and State Grid in sixth place and seventh place.