Fortune Global 500 Now Richer, More International, But With Same Number Of Female CEOs

On Thursday, Fortune released its annual Global 500 list of the world's largest corporations by revenue.

The U.S. tops the list with 133 corporations, including three in the top 10 -- Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil, and Chevron, whose profits all rose in the past year. But the number of American corporations on the list is down from 185 in the 2001 rankings.

Meanwhile, China has 61 corporations on the 2011 list, including three -- Sinopec Group, China National Petroleum, and State Grid -- in the top 10. That's a precipitous rise from 2001, when China had 12 entries in the Global 500, or even 2006, when it had only 20.

In general, Fortune notes, the list is getting more international. Colombia appears in the Global 500 for the first time this year with the oil and gas company Ecopetrol, which had revenues of $21.4 billion.

According to a press release from Fortune, the combined profits of the Global 500 increased 59 percent from last year. Wal-Mart, the top company on both the 2010 and 2011 lists, reported profits of $16.3 billion this year, up from $14.3 billion in 2010. Chevron saw profits of $19 billion, up from $10.4 billion in 2010, and Exxon Mobil made $30.4 billion in profits, up from $19.2 billion last year.

There are 12 corporations on the list with female CEOs -- the same number as on the Fortune 500 list of U.S. companies, and the same number as on last year's Global 500, though only 10 of the 12 women appeared on last year's Global list. Of those 12 corporations, the highest-ranked is Archer Daniels Midland, led by Patricia Woertz, at No. 122. The newcomers are Ursula Burns at Xerox, which did not appear on last year's list, and Alison Cooper at Imperial Tobacco Group, who replaced Gareth Davis in 2010.

Of the five mortgage lenders audited this spring for improper foreclosure practices, three -- Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo -- appear in the top 100.

The full list can be seen here.

Comments

[noob1]

04:09 PM on 07/08/2011

and they desirve the mon(k)ey they get for working so darn hard and maykeng it look easee , ya ?

[jcolvin325]

07:53 AM on 07/08/2011

I have generally supported Walmart over the years...but as I grow older, being part of the herd has become less appealing. They are less expensive on comparable items for the most part, but I find myself in their business less and less these days.

[JBDenver]

06:01 PM on 07/07/2011

I agree we need more women in the boardroom...

(that'll keep from driving during rush hour)

[jcolvin325]

07:48 AM on 07/08/2011

ROFL !!!!

[LouStool]

04:56 PM on 07/07/2011

This is a great list of struggling companies that really need those GOP tax cuts....That kid with leukemia needs to get a job--freeloader.

[sebackpacker]

04:28 PM on 07/07/2011

Wal Mart has made millions of lower paid citizens able to afford things they could not elsewhere. Bash them all you want, that's the reality.

[Vintage59]

04:46 PM on 07/07/2011

A self fulfilling reality.

[red white and blues]

05:17 PM on 07/07/2011

Wal Mart has added to the number of lower paid citizens by offering low wages, importing cheap goods from China (hurting American manufacturing), and systematically squashing smaller Mom & Pop stores (further eroding our economy and competitiveness).

America did just fine before we had one gigantic superstore selling us everything we need. We don't need more cheap throwaway crap that was made somewhere else and has no lasting value.

It's like trying to solve starvation by having really cheap soda and cheeseburgers everywhere. It keeps people down and doesn't help nutritionally. So why is it a good thing?

[J T K]

09:43 PM on 07/07/2011

Just sounds like whining.

Wal-Mart got where they are by being able to beat the competition and they grew to be at the top, they didn't start out that way when Sam Walton started the company. Free enterprise states that the best company will have the most customers and/or sell the most product and therefore succeed while any company that cannot sell enough product to survive will fail.

Wal-mart succeeded throughout the years and has grown as a result, I see no issue with that as long as they are acting within the law, which by all accounts they are. If you don't like how much they pay their employees get federal (or state but that's less effective) minimum wage laws increased.

If you don't like Wal-Mart in general you are free to shop somewhere else, I'll repeat that you are free to shop somewhere else. If enough people agree with you then Wal-Mart will fail and go out of business. You have a right to shop where you want when you want but so does everyone else. The continual fringe that just won't stop whining about big bad Wal-Mart gets tiring and starts to sound a little childish after awhile, .

[13champlain]

04:21 PM on 07/07/2011

Walmart is a great company

[sebackpacker]

05:24 PM on 07/07/2011

Yep. They are.

[onehenry]

04:03 PM on 07/07/2011

How much of the trickle down economics is reaching the workers of WalMart or are they still struggling, while the CEO and the Board members are reaping millions.

[Merciful Wrath]

05:31 PM on 07/07/2011

Same as the Banks and auto makers, wait no we bailed them out and they still get their ridiculous bonuses.

[oilfield]

07:36 PM on 07/07/2011

walmart is an entry level job.

[onehenry]

08:20 PM on 07/07/2011

I guess that 45 year old lady just graduated high school.

[teachone]

03:33 PM on 07/07/2011

I do not shop at this crooked company and would advise everyone else to do the same, they have no business morals or ethics and treat their workers like dirt! If I were their workers I would go find a job at another retail store or elsewhere or start up my own home business doing direct sales and tell Walmart to take a flying leap off a local and high cliff! For shopping purposes there is always Target, the Dollar Store, the Dollar Tree, etc. You cannot let big business and the wealthy use you, as my priest once told me "Use is abuse!" Dispose of these losers who use your efforts for their gain and take your hardwork somewhere else where it will benefit "YOU" not them!!

[faultroy]

12:00 AM on 07/08/2011

You bring up a great point. What we should be doing, rather than denigrating Wal Mart is to apply constructive tax laws that does not favor the large retailers at the expense of the smaller ones. For example, we should allow small businesses to get tax incentives to band together for large scale quantity buys. And we should do it from the standpoint of regional as opposed to national. By revamping the tax codes to give a slight advantage to the small entrepeneuer, we would really increase employment dramtically a further recovery via a very robust economy. We could also incentivize smaller operators to submit hiring and keeping the paper work down to not favor the large retailers. And if we charged higher federal taxes to offset the "tax abatements" so many of these large chains get at the state and local level, it would allow the smaller stores to be much more price competitive. There are so many reasons that this makes sense--all the way from generating more tax revenues, to giving jobs to millions of people to reducing energy consumption and saving billions is shipping and trucking fees.

[fortressfountain]

03:24 PM on 07/07/2011

So they can afford the lawsuit.