Fortune Magazine recently released the Fortune 500 list for 2009. The top five U.S. companies, by 2009 revenues, were Exxon Mobile ($442.8 billion), Wal-Mart ($405.6 billion), Chevron ($263.1 billion), Conoco Phillips ($230.7 billion) and General Electric ($183.2 billion). Exxon Mobile jumped ahead of Wal-Mart stores to retake the top place on the fortune 500, proving that big oil was king of the economy last year. The oil company was the top selling company in 2008 with nearly $443 billion in revenue a jump of almost 19% from the prior year.
Consider the following: It was a rough year for the Fortune 500 companies overall. All told, America’s 500 biggest companies earned $98.9 billion in 2008, down 85 percent from $645.2 billion in profits the previous year. And 128 companies on the list had losses, totaling $519.3 billion. The previous year, just 57 Fortune 500 companies lost money, for a total of $116.7 billion.
Eight Missouri-based companies made this year’s list of the top 500 companies with the greatest revenues. Emerson Electric (94th) was the state’s highest-ranking company for 2009 with revenues of $25.2 billion.
Most of the Missouri companies are headquartered in the St. Louis area, with the exception of Leggett & Platt in Carthage.
The top ten Fortune companies in Missouri employ nearly 27,400 people and pay wages totaling over $4.6 billion (Source: MERIC, QCEW Program).
| Missouri Fortune 500 Companies | ||||||
| Company | Rank | Previous Rank | Revenues ($mil) | Profits ($mil) | Headquarters | Primary Business |
| Emerson Electric | 94 | 111 | $25,281.00 | $2,412.00 | St.Louis | Electronic Components |
| Express Script | 115 | 135 | $22,022.70 | $776.10 | St.Louis | Pharmacy Benefit management |
| Monsanto | 235 | 305 | $11,579.00 | $2,024.00 | St.Louis | Agriculture and Biotechnology |
| Ameren | 327 | 329 | $7,839.00 | $605.00 | St.Louis | Utilities |
| Peabody Energy | 353 | 432 | $7,074.00 | $953.50 | St.Louis | Coal Mining and Processing |
| Charter Communications | 385 | 409 | $6,479.00 | ($2,451.00) | St.Louis | Cable and other TV Services |
| Graybar Electric | 439 | 455 | $5,400.20 | $87.40 | St.Louis | Electronic parts and Equipment |
| Leggett & Platt | 493 | 456 | $4,664.70 | $104.00 | Carthage | Furniture and Fixtures |
| Energizer Holdings | 522 | 617 | $4,331.00 | $329.30 | St.Louis | High Tech Batteries |
| H &R Block | 556 | 544 | $3,980.70 | ($308.60) | Kansas City | Tax Preparation and Financial Services |
| Total | $98,651.30 | $4,531.70 | ||||
Missouri ranked 18th among the states in the number of Fortune 500 company headquarters with 8. Of the surrounding states, only Illinois had more with 32. Texas led the states with 64 Fortune 500 headquarters, followed by New York (56) and California (51). Eleven states had no Fortune 500 company headquarters. The map illustrates the number of Forture 500 companies located in each state.
