Energy Prices Power Firms Higher on Fortune 500
Surging energy prices in the United States gave oil, gas and power companies new fuel in their ascension of the annual Fortune 500.
Exxon Mobil surpassed General Motors, rising to No. 1 from No. 3 thanks to the oil giant’s record-high $210 billion in revenue for 2000.
GM, which had revenue of $184.6 billion, fell to No. 3.
Other energy companies fared well in 2000, with Enron, at No. 7, rising from No. 18. Duke Energy shot up to No. 17 from 69 and Reliant Energy made it up to No. 55 from 114.
The list of the largest publicly held companies, ranked by fiscal year 2000 revenues, has been compiled annually since 1955 by the editors of Fortune.
GM, which had held the top spot on the list for 15 years, now trails No. 2 Wal-Mart Stores in addition to Exxon Mobil. Wal-Mart’s sales hit $193.3 billion last year.
Rounding out positions No. 4 through 10, in order: Ford Motor; General Electric; Citigroup; Enron; IBM; AT&T; and Verizon Communications.
Energy companies benefited from a surge in revenue brought about by falling supplies, utility deregulation, soaring natural gas prices and maneuvering to keep oil prices high by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
The shortage of electricity in the West also helped drive prices higher, boosting sales at companies such as Enron and Duke Energy.
Other energy firms advancing included Texaco, which went from No. 28 to 16; Chevron, which was ranked No. 20, up from 35; and Dynegy, which rose to No. 54 from 112.
San Francisco-based Chevron agreed to buy Texaco in October for $35 billion in stock. The deal is expected to close this summer pending review by regulators.
The Internet slowdown and uncertainty about the economy hurt a number of companies, particularly tech and telecom firms that slid in the rankings. AT&T; dropped one notch in the top ten; Intel fell to No. 41 from 39.
But Verizon Communications, formed when Bell Atlantic and GTE combined in May, leapfrogged from No. 33 to No. 10, past rivals WorldCom, No. 32, and SBC Communications (parent of Pacific Bell), No. 14.
America Online, which became the first purely Internet company to break into the 1999 list, at No. 337, rose to No. 271.
Since then, it has become AOL Time Warner. The combined company’s revenue of $36.2 billion would have made it No. 39 on the new list, but it wasn’t counted because the deal didn’t close until early this year.
Among tech giants, Microsoft rose to No. 79 from 84, and Cisco Systems, the leading computer networker, advanced to No. 107 from 146, despite the dot-com crash.
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California Companies in the Fortune 500
A total of 55 of the Fortune 500 companies for 2000 are headquartered in California, and 28 of the 55 are based in Southern California. But two of the Southland-based firms on the list--Bergen Brunswig and Litton Industries-- are in the process of being acquired. Fortune ranks companies by annual sales. Here are the California companies on the 2000 list, with Southland companies shown in bold.
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2000 1999 rank rank Company Headquarters Sales* 19 13 Hewlett-Packard Palo Alto $48.8 20 35 Chevron San Francisco 48.1 35 38 McKesson HBOC San Francisco 37.1 41 39 Intel Santa Clara 33.7 46 40 Safeway Pleasanton 32.0 49 41 Ingram Micro Santa Ana 30.7 62 68 Wells Fargo San Francisco 27.6 67 66 Walt Disney Burbank 25.4 82 73 PG&E; Corp. San Francisco 22.5 103 100 Bergen Brunswig Orange 19.6 107 146 Cisco Systems San Jose 18.9 125 150 Sun Microsystems Palo Alto 15.7 133 235 Occidental Pet. Los Angeles 14.5 139 214 Solectron Milpitas 14.1 147 152 Gap San Francisco 13.7 164 178 Edison Intl. Rosemead 11.6 169 171 PacifiCare Health Santa Ana 11.5 171 158 Tenet Healthcare Santa Barbara 11.4 175 144 Fluor Aliso Viejo 11.1 184 195 Oracle Redwood City 10.1 194 203 Gateway San Diego 9.6 196 331 Applied Materials Santa Clara 9.6 200 231 Computer Sciences El Segundo 9.4 204 239 WellPoint Health Thousand Oaks 9.2 207 282 Unocal El Segundo 9.2 209 201 Health Net Woodland Hills 9.1 232 190 Northrop Grumman Los Angeles 8.3 236 285 Apple Computer Cupertino 8.0 259 307 Sempra Energy San Diego 7.1 260 343 Charles Schwab San Francisco 7.1 285 256 Seagate Tech. Scotts Valley 6.4 289 296 CNF Transport. Palo Alto 6.1 296 313 Science Applicat. San Diego 6.1 303 394 Providian Finl. San Francisco 5.9 319 305 Mattel El Segundo 5.6 320 333 Litton Indus. Woodland Hills 5.6 329 294 3Com Santa Clara 5.4 354 353 Pacific Life Newport Beach 4.9 362 322 Dole Food Westlake Village 4.8 364 330 Quantum Milpitas 4.7 369 522 Advanced Micro Sunnyvale 4.6 376 392 Golden State Banc. San Francisco 4.5 412 399 Clorox Oakland 4.1 415 435 Longs Drug Stores Walnut Creek 4.0 419 317 Merisel El Segundo 4.0 421 507 Golden West Finl. Oakland 3.9 424 421 KB Home Los Angeles 3.9 426 982 Sanmina San Jose 3.9 428 429 Avery Dennison Pasadena 3.9 447 442 Fleetwood Enter. Riverside 3.7 455 463 Amgen Thousand Oaks 3.6 472 644 Hilton Hotels Beverly Hills 3.5 476 519 Jacobs Engineering Pasadena 3.4 499 474 Knight-Ridder San Jose 3.2 500 409 Qualcomm San Diego 3.2
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*In billions
Sources: Fortune magazine, Associated Press
