History

• The Fortune 500 is a list of the 500 largest companies in America as determined by Fortune magazine. The first Fortune 500 was published in 1955. In 1955 the five largest companies were General Motors, Standard Oil Company now Exxon Mobil, U.S. Steel, General Electric and Esmark. General Motors held the No.1 spot until 1975. Exxon Mobil has been one of the top three companies every year except one.
  
  

Criteria

• The Fortune 500 is based on revenues or sales of the companies. The list is the 500 private and public corporations in the United States with the most revenues.
  
  

Top companies

• For 2009 the top five companies on the Fortune 500 list were Exxon Mobil, Walmart Stores, Chevron, Conoco Phillips and General Electric. Bankrupt General Motors was still No. 6 on the list. Number 500 was Legg Mason.
  
  

Size

• There is a tremendous spread in the revenues of the Fortune 500. Exxon Mobil had $442 billion in revenue, 18 times the revenues of No. 100 Rite Aid and almost 100 times the revenues of Legg Mason.
  
  

Misconceptions

• The Fortune 500 is not based on profits or earnings. N. 6 General Motors lost $30 billion in 2008 and No.103 Merck was 13th best in profitability.
  
  

Fun Fact

• The fastest growing were Apple for five-year earnings growth and Google for five-year revenue growth. Top companies for one year growth in 2008 were UPS for profits and International Assets Holding for assets.