GM Retains Its Position at Top of Fortune 500 List; Exxon 2nd
General Motors Corp. headed Fortune magazine’s list of the 500 biggest, publicly traded U.S. industrial companies for 1986, retaining the title it took the previous year, the magazine announced today.
Rounding out the top 10 were Exxon, Ford, International Business Machines, Mobil, General Electric, American Telephone & Telegraph, Texaco, DuPont de Nemours & Co. and Chevron.
The second 10 were Chrysler, Philip Morris, Amoco, RJR Nabisco, Shell Oil, Boeing, United Technologies, Procter & Gamble, Occidental Petroleum and Atlantic Richfield.
The list reflected the massive changes in U.S. industry during 1986, the magazine said, such as the energy slump and widespread restructurings.
Fortune noted that 12 of the top 20 companies in 1981 were oil companies, but only seven of the top 20 in 1986. In addition, the companies employed 600,000 fewer workers in 1986 than in the previous year.
The magazine also said New York, Illinois and California were the states with the most headquarters of companies on the list. New York had 66 Fortune 500 company headquarters, Illinois 50 and California 38.
