Apple has risen from 19th to 15th place in
Fortune's annual Global 500 rankings, which chart corporations according to revenue. "Apple, the maker of the globally popular iPhone and iPad devices, posted sales of almost $171 billion in 2013, 9% higher than the prior year," the magazine
writes. "But the company has come under pressure in the competitive smartphone business, and its profit shrank 11% to $37 billion from 2012 to 2013. Even so, Apple has a huge amount of cash on hand, and CEO Tim Cook recently deployed some of that cash pile by announcing $30 billion in stock buybacks."
Topping the list is North American retailer Walmart, up one place from last year, giving it control of both the Global and regular
Fortune 500 lists. Most of the businesses in the top 15 are oil and energy firms such as Shell, Sinopec, Exxon Mobil, and BP. A notable exception in that regard is Samsung Electronics, also up one spot to 13th after posting nearly $209 billion in 2013 revenue. Unlike Apple however, Samsung has an extremely diverse product range, including TVs and even many parts used by companies like Apple.
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