Improving economic conditions took many major companies to record revenues in 2003, but none was able to knock Wal-Mart Stores off the top of the Fortune 500list.
With sales of almost $259 billion, the global chain of general stores topped the list of the nation's largest publicly traded companies for the third straight year. There was some predictable shuffling among the rest of the top 10, however.
Fortune's annual ranking, to be published in the magazine's April 5th edition, is based on the companies' sales figures as reported in financial statements for 2003.
Jittery geopolitics kept the price of oil high, helping Exxon Mobil to post $213 billion in revenue. The 17 per cent jump leapfrogged the oil company past General Motors into the number two spot.
In terms of profits, Exxon Mobil was first with $21.5 billion in earnings. Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, which has low profit margins, had $9.05 billion in earnings.
Carmakers GM and Ford Motor came in third and fourth respectively, with revenues of $196 billion and $164 billion. General Electric remained at number five with revenue of $134 billion. Both Ford and GE held their spots from 2002.
ChevronTexaco moved up a spot to number six, while another refiner, ConocoPhillips, jumped five spots to number seven. Banking powerhouse Citigroup was eighth, followed by IBM and insurer American International Group.
As a group, the 500 companies bounced back from two years of profit declines, posting combined earnings of almost $446 billion on sales totalling $7.5 trillion.