New in OS X: Get MacRumors Push Notifications on your Mac

Resubscribe Now Close

Apple Jumps to #17 in Fortune 500 Rankings

Tuesday May 8, 2012 1:04 pm PDT by Eric Slivka
Fortune yesterday released its 2012 "Fortune 500" list, ranking America's largest companies by revenue. As a result of its continued strong growth, Apple rose 18 spots from last year's rankings to land at #17 in the new rankings, which are based on companies' fiscal year reports.
The company emerged from the tragic passing of co-founder Steve Jobs saddened but in no perceptible way weakened. Under CEO Tim Cook, the company continued pumping out new products -- like a significantly upgraded version of the iPad tablet. Apple nearly doubled its earnings per share in 2011, compared to 2010. That helped nudge management to announce plans for the firm's first dividend since 1995, returning some of the $97.6 billion in cash it had accumulated. Apple fans and analysts alike also continue to await a long-rumored television set from the gadget maker.
Apple's 2011 profits of $25.9 billion led the company to a new high as the third most profitable company behind energy giants Exxon Mobil ($41.6 billion) and Chevron ($26.9 billion). Microsoft sits in fourth place with profits of $23.2 billion.

Overall, Exxon Mobil ($453 billion in revenue) surged to barely overtake Wal-Mart ($447 billion) in the race for the top spot in the Fortune 500.


Apple's Fortune 500 rankings, 1983–2012 (Source: setteB.IT)

With very strong performances in the first two quarters of fiscal 2012, Apple is putting itself in position to surge even higher in next year's Fortune 500. Apple's official revenues totaling $85.5 billion in just the first half of the year could allow it to threaten to enter the top five next year, as the fifth position is currently held by General Motors at $150 billion for 2011.

[ 80 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Avatar
JHankwitz
92 months ago

Does it bother you that Apple gets the maximum profit from its products? Even if the products is only worth 30% percent it selling price.


Does it bother you that Microsoft sells an Office DVD for $200 that cost them about $0.93 to make? :rolleyes:

There's a heck of a lot more to business than just selling assembled component parts.
Rating: 11 Votes
Avatar
Schizoid
92 months ago
anyone else wondering where these 'new' products are that they're 'pumping out'...
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
jav6454
92 months ago
Wal-Mart, America's economy gauge.
Rating: 7 Votes
Avatar
iforbes
92 months ago
For every dollar of revenue, Apple had a profit of 0.239¢!

Not bad...
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
appsforkids
92 months ago

anyone else wondering where these 'new' products are that they're 'pumping out'...


Let's hope the 'new' macs are something really special, I need to get a new mac soon so I can start waiting for the iPhone 5.
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
JesterJJZ
92 months ago
Who cares, just release a new Mac Pro already... :mad:
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
Nebulator
92 months ago
Turnover is vanity profit is sanity

It is all very well saying Apple is 17th by turnover, the real business measure is in profit. If you order the Fortune list by profit Apple is indeed third, however Microsoft is fourth taking $2Bn less profit on nearly $40Bn less revenue.

By normal business measurement, Microsoft is doing better as it make more $$$ profit per $$$ revenue:

Rank Co Revenue Profit
17 Apple 108,249.0 25,922.0
37 Microsoft 69,943.0 23,150.0

Only saying....
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
iforbes
92 months ago

Wonder where Apple ranks by profit rather than revenue?


3rd.


1 Exxon Mobil 41,060.0
2 Chevron 26,895.0
3 Apple 25,922.0
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
AidenShaw
92 months ago

You want to know why USB is cheaper? It's the most popular due to support from MS, Dell, and such. A FireWire mouse, although just as good as a USB one, would not cost extra if FireWire was the standard. The advantage would be that the same cable would be used for fast file transfer, video, and stuff like mice. You could even use it for ethernet (and it's practical for this usage, too).


Although, it would be rather annoying to have two cords going to the mouse, since 1394 is usually daisy-chained.


And the fact that the Mac programming suite is free is a big plus. My school has MS Visual, and it won't work because it's suddenly not genuine.


Then the system admins at your high school are incompetent. MSDN subscriptions don't go into a "not genuine" state.

And, by the way, what is "MS Visual" - that's not a Microsoft product.


Oh, and the two "Open" buttons occurred for me in Windows 7 Pro when I right-clicked a ".java" file.


Screen shot?


Now that I think about it, one of the most annoying errors is when Windows 7 suddenly stops being "genuine" for absolutely no reason. This happened to a lot of Windows users I know, and they ended up having to install a crack because their legit license key didn't work.


Do you really think that anyone will believe you on this?

Serious hardware changes can affect Windows activation, but it doesn't occur "for absolutely no reason". Even then, a simple phone call to Microsoft will fix the situation if you're still within the license terms.

Some of your "anti-Microsoft" rants are so far away from reality it's laughable.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
Flood123
92 months ago

anyone else wondering where these 'new' products are that they're 'pumping out'...


Not sure release of the iPhone 4s, The New iPad, Apple TV3, and a slight spec bump in an macbookpro constitutes "pumping out" new products when most of their computer line has not been refreshed in over a year. Maybe my definition is out of line with theirs. I can accept that.
Rating: 3 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]