As reported by CBS News, the fourth straight year, Wal-Mart is at the top of Fortune Magazine’s 500 Largest Companies in terms of revenue, with sales of $288.2 billion dollars in 2004, an improvement of 11% from their 2003 performance. The top 10 are (with their 2004 revenue in billions of dollars):

1. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ($288.189)
2. Exxon Mobil Corp. ($270.772)
3. General Motors Corp. ($193.517)
4. Ford Motor Co. ($172.233)
5. General Electric Co. ($152.363)
6. ChevronTexaco Corp. ($147.967)
7. ConocoPhillips ($121.663)
8. Citigroup Inc. ($108.276)
9. American International Group, Inc. ($98.610)
10. International Business Machines Corp. ($96.293)

The article also mentioned a few other interesting bits of information:

Exxon Mobil Corp. ranked second once again with $270.772 billion in sales, up a stunning 27% from the year before as the price of oil rose above $50 a barrel and gasoline sold for more than $2 a gallon. The company also topped Fortune’s profits charts for the second year in a row with $25.3 billion in earnings, breaking Ford Motor Co.’s record from 1998. . .

More than half of the 500 companies added employees in 2004, but it’s likely most of them were overseas. Fortune examined data from 45 companies on the list that voluntarily provide employment figures, and found foreign employment rose by 9.6%, while U.S. employment rose by less than 1%.

Many liberals like myself decry what Wal-Mart stands for and detest many of its business and employment practices. But I have to drudgingly admire Wal-Mart’s ability to completely dominate its industry, and by implication, much of the American economy.