Our annual ranking of America's largest corporations

  • All
    companies
  • All
    industries
Top industries: Most profitable
Industry Rank Industry 2008 Profits
as % of
Assets
1 Medical Products and Equipment 13.1
2 Network and Other Communications Equipment 12.9
3 Pharmaceuticals 11.5
4 Food Services 11.4
5 Oil and Gas Equipment, Services 10.1
6 Household and Personal Products 9.6
7 Electronics, Electrical Equipment 8.6
8 Internet Services and Retailing 8.3
9 Aerospace and Defense 8.1
10 Wholesalers: Diversified 7.8
11 Industrial Machinery 7.5
12 Petroleum Refining 7.0
13 Metals 6.9
14 Food Consumer Products 6.8
15 Health Care: Pharmacy and Other Services 6.7
16 Specialty Retailers 6.4
17 Scientific, Photographic, and Control Equipment 6.1
18 Railroads 5.8
19 Chemicals 5.5
20 Computers, Office Equipment 5.4
21 Construction and Farm Machinery 5.3
22 Wholesalers: Health Care 5.3
23 Mining, Crude-Oil production 5.2
24 Information Technology Services 5.1
25 General Merchandisers 4.9
26 Engineering, Construction 4.8
27 Food and Drug Stores 4.3
28 Health Care: Insurance and Managed Care 3.9
29 Packaging, Containers 3.3
30 Utilities: Gas and Electric 2.9
31 Health Care: Medical Facilities 2.8
32 Beverages 2.5
33 Pipelines 2.4
34 Energy 2.4
35 Securities 2.3
36 Financial Data Services 2.3
37 Telecommunications 2.3
38 Semiconductors and Other Electronic Components 1.9
39 Food Production 1.1
40 Home Equipment, Furnishings 0.9
41 Insurance: Property and Casualty (stock) 0.6
42 Insurance: Life, Health (stock) 0.4
43 Commercial Banks 0.3
44 Diversified Financials -0.1
45 Hotels, Casinos, Resorts -0.1
46 Motor Vehicles and Parts -0.5
47 Insurance: Life, Health (mutual) -0.5
48 Wholesalers: Electronics and Office Equipment -1.6
49 Entertainment -3.1
50 Forest and Paper Products -8.2
51 Automotive Retailing, Services -10.2
52 Real Estate -11.8
53 Airlines -14.0
Issue date: May 4, 2009
Top 50
Headquarters
MAPS
What Readers Say
They speak out on Exxon Mobil and other 500 companies...
National average for taxes on Gasoline is 47.7 cents per gallon. ht...
 
After the sound. In the air, with the voice of a clarinet, I he...
 
I just don't understand how the oil companies can make so much in p...
 
Have your say
Find your top companies
 High revenue growth  High profit growth
 High EPS growth  High return to investors
 Top 5 in its industry  Best company to work for
 Big employer  Small employer


Download the Fortune 500
(HOW THIS TOOL WORKS)

Video
Top 3

Rank # of Fortune 500 Companies
Texas 64
New York 56
California 51
See the rest
Company 2008 $ (millions)
Exxon Mobil $45,220.0
Chevron $23,931.0
Microsoft $17,681.0
See the rest
FAQ and methodology
Included in the survey are U.S. incorporated companies filing financial statements with a government agency. This includes private companies... More
Current Issue
100 Best Companies to Work For
100 Best Companies to Work For
  • Give the gift of Fortune
  • Get the Fortune app
  • Subscribe
Contact Us Closed Captioning Manage Cookies+ Site Map

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.