15. Pfizer
Fortune 500 rank: 40
2009 profit: $8.6 billion
The world's biggest drugmaker closed its $68 billion acquisition of rival Wyeth during the year. As sales grew modestly in 2009, earnings edged higher on savings from the acquisition. Pfizer says combining with Wyeth will cut costs by $4 billion through 2012. That will help cushion its bottom line as the pharmaceutical company replaces revenue lost to generic versions of its best-selling Lipitor cholesterol drug.
NEXT: 16. Berkshire Hathaway
