New York: Fortune announced that US retailer Walmart has topped its Global 500 list for 2023, ranking the world’s largest corporations by revenue for fiscal 2022.
On Fortune’s authoritative ranking of the (current) corporate world order, the Arkansas-based retailer claimed No. 1 for the 10th consecutive year and for the 18th time since 1995.
Walmart joins a spike in the number of US companies on the Global 500 this year, reaching its highest total since 2010 at 136 companies, which is also the highest for a stand-alone country.
The strength of the global energy sector was dramatically clear as Saudi Aramco nearly knocked the retail Goliath from its perch.
Saudi Aramco (No. 2) benefited from soaring energy prices — fueled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — that also propelled Exxon Mobil (No. 7) and Shell (No. 9) back into the top 10 by revenue. In profits, Saudi Aramco earned $159 billion, the highest annual total ever for a Fortune Global 500 company.
Big Tech, meanwhile, proved it also remains a robust and profitable sector. Together, Apple, Alphabet, and Microsoft brought in $233 billion in net income, with Apple (No. 8) earning just short of $100 billion in profits, the most ever by a US company.
