(FORTUNE Magazine) – As they did last year, American corporations ranked No. 1 in sales in 14 of the 25 industry groups we survey. Profits were something else. General Motors not only remains the largest company in the world -- for the fourth straight year -- but is also the biggest loser, at $23.5 billion. Net income of all industries dropped 60%, due in part to an accounting change in the U.S. Of the seven groups that had overall losses, including motor vehicles and parts, five had been dragged down by prodigious losses by U.S. companies, including IBM's $5.0 billion and $2.4 billion for Caterpillar. British Aerospace and Italy's IRI led the losing parade in the other groups. There were some standouts among both industries and individual companies. All of the 25 pharmaceutical makers were profitable. Led by Philip Morris's $4.9 billion profit, the food industry's net climbed 5%, despite a $1.2 billion loss by Ferruzia Finanzaria of Italy. Royal Dutch/Shell earned $5.4 billion even though profits for the group as a whole declined 35%.

BOX:

Six of 17 computer makers lost money. Guess how many of them were Japanese?

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: NO CREDIT CAPTION: FORTUNE'S GLOBAL 500 WITHIN INDUSTRIES