According to The Consumerist, this year's Fortune 500 list is out, and while Walmart's $421 billion in revenue may have beaten out Exxon Mobil's paltry $354 billion, the oil giant beat out Big W where it matters most, profits. According to Fortune, the crude colossus made a whopping $30.4 billion in profits last year, nearly double what Walmart made and over $10.5 billion more than the next most profitable company on the list.
That runner-up honor goes to AT&T, who managed to rake in $19.864 billion in profit with only — only! — $124 billion in revenue. The third most profitable company on the list, Chevron, was also the number three company in revenue, with $19 billion in profit from $196 billion in revenue.
Microsoft's $62.4 billion in revenue was only good enough for 38th place on the Fortune 500, but its $18.76 billion in profit was the fourth-highest number. That was also sufficient to beat out the biggest bank on the list, Chase, at number five with $17.3 billion in profit. And then we get to Walmart, in the sixth position with $16.3 billion, followed by IBM ($14.8 billion), Apple ($14 billion), Johnson & Johnson ($13.3 billion) and Berkshire Hathaway ($12.96 billion).
Some other numbers of note: Fannie Mae was listed at #5 on the Fortune 500 with $153 billion in revenue, but it also lost $14 billion last year. Bank of America, at #9 with $134 billion in revenue, was the only other top 10 company to turn a negative profit, losing $2.2 billion in 2010.
