The number of US firms among the Fortune 500 list of top global companies slipped to the lowest level in more than a decade while Chinese, Indian and Mexican firms gained, Fortune reported on Wednesday.
The business publication said that US-based Wal-Mart Stores remained at the top of the list of the world’s biggest companies by revenue at some US$378 billion.
But the number of US firms in the top 500 fell to 153, the lowest in more than ten years.
Number two on the list was US oil giant ExxonMobil with US$372 billion in revenue, followed by Royal Dutch Shell with US$355 billion; British-based BP with US$291 billion; Japan’s Toyota Motor with US$230 billion; US oil firm Chevron with US$210 billion; Dutch bank ING Group with US$201 billion; French-based oil giant Total with US$187 billion; US automaker General Motors with US$182 billion and US oil firm ConocoPhillips with US$178 billion.
Overall, revenues for the Global 500 companies were US$23.6 trillion, up 13 percent, and profits were up 3.9 percent to US$1.6 trillion.
The US still had the most companies on the list, but a falling dollar became an advantage to non-US based companies, Fortune said.
Japan had 64 firms and France had 39 to edge out Germany with 37 and Britain’s 34.
But China had an unprecedented total of 29 companies on the list — as many as Italy, Spain, and Australia combined.
The top Chinese firm was Sinopec with US$159 billion in revenues.
India had seven companies led by Indian Oil and Reliance Industries. Russia had five, the biggest being Gazprom.
US firms that fell off the list included the defunct investment firm Bear Stearns, along with Nike and the Gap.
While the Fortune ranking is based only on revenues, other rankings use profits or other factors. ExxonMobil remained the most profitable with US$40.6 billion in net income last year.
The biggest loss was General Motors’ US$38.7 billion.
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The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
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