Enron ranks fifth in Fortune list of largest US firms

Energy major Enron Corp, which had declared bankruptcy in an environment of scandals, was ranked fifth with a revenue of $138,718 million, in the list of largest US corporations complied by the financial magazine Fortune. Leading the list is retail giant Wal-Mart with a revenue of about $220,000 million.

In the case of Enron, the magazine said the list was compiled before the company went bankrupt. The rise of Wal-Mart, which did a business of $1 billion in 1979, has been spectacular, the magazine says.

“From a company established in rural Arkansas in 1962, Wal-Mart rose to the top spot by relentlessly pushing sales and squeezing cost using latest information technology and became the first service company to do so,” says the Fortune.

Other companies among the top ten, according to the magazine are Exxon Mobil, General Motors, Ford Motors, General Electric, Citigroup, Chevron Texaco, International Business Machines and Philip Morris.