ECONOMICS REPORT - Fortune 500 List

ECONOMICS REPORT - Fortune 500 List
By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Friday, April 02, 2004

This is Bob Doughty¹ with the VOA Special English Economics Report.

For fifty years, the business magazine Fortune has published a list of the five-hundred biggest companies in the United States. The new Fortune five-hundred list has come out. For the third year, the magazine names Wal-Mart the biggest company in America.

Wal-Mart is known for low prices in its stores. The company had sales of about two-hundred-fifty-nine-thousand-million dollars last year. Wal-Mart is first on the Fortune five-hundred list by revenue, or the total amount of money it received. Second is Exxon Mobil.

But Exxon Mobil is first in profit among the five-hundred companies listed by Fortune magazine. The company recorded earnings² of more than twenty-one-thousand-million dollars in two-thousand-three.

Wal-Mart had a profit of nine-thousand-million dollars. That puts Wal-Mart in eighth place on the list of the most profitable companies in America.

The new Fortune five-hundred list rates General Motors as the third largest company in the nation, down from second place last year. The Ford³ Motor Company is fourth. And fifth is General Electric.

Two more oil companies are sixth and seventh on the list. Like Exxon Mobil, high oil prices helped sales at ChevronTexaco and ConocoPhillips last year.

Citigroup is eighth on the Fortune five-hundred list by revenue. But the financial services company is second in profits. Citigroup recorded earnings of nearly eighteen-thousand-million dollars last year.

Ninth on the Fortune five-hundred list is International Business Machines, the computer maker⁴ known as I.B.M. And the tenth biggest money-maker in the United States is the insurance company American International Group, or A.I.G.

The Fortune five-hundred list is part of American business culture. But only public companies appear on the list. Public companies sell their shares of ownership on a stock exchange to any investor⁵. They must also release their financial information.

Together, the largest American companies had record sales last year. Low interest rates meant that people and businesses had more money to spend. Fortune also notes the tax cuts and spending increases by the Bush administration. The magazine says few observers had expected such a widespread profit recovery following two years of poor results.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. This is Bob Doughty.

1 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

2 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

3 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

4 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

5 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。