Fortune Magazine recently released the Fortune 500 list for 2010. The top five U.S. companies, by 2009 revenues, were Wal-Mart ($408.2 billion), Exxon Mobil ($284.7 billion), Chevron ($163.5 billion), General Electric ($156.8 billion), and Bank of America Corp (150.5 billion). Wal-Mart regained the top spot on the Fortune 500 list with 2009 revenues up 0.6% in 2009 as recession weary customers flocked to the retail giant.
The year 2008 saw Fortune 500 total profits plunge 85% to 98.9 billion from the 2007 total of $645.2 billion. 2009 resulted in a strong rebound with combined Fortune 500 profits up to $390.6 billion, a 75% increase over 2008. 97 of the companies took a loss in 2009, down from 128 in 2008.
Eleven Missouri-based companies made this year’s Fortune 500 list. Express Scripts (96th) was the state’s highest-ranking company for 2010 with revenues of $24.7 billion.
Most of the Missouri companies are headquartered in the St. Louis area, with the exception of O’Reilly Automotive in Springfield and H&R Block in Kansas City.
These eleven companies employ nearly 25,200 people in Missouri and pay wages totaling over $2.16 billion (Source: MERIC, QCEW Program).
| Missouri Fortune 500 Companies | ||||||
| Company | Rank | Previous Rank | Revenues ($mil) | Profits ($mil) | Headquarters | Primary Business |
| Express Scripts | 96 | 115 | $24,748.9 | $827.6 | St.Louis | Healthcare: Pharmacy & Other Services |
| Emerson Electric | 117 | 94 | $20,915.0 | $1,724.0 | St.Louis | Electronics, Electrical Equipment |
| Monsanto | 197 | 235 | $11,740.0 | $2,109.0 | St.Louis | Agriculture and Biotechnology |
| Ameren | 320 | 327 | $7,090.0 | $612.0 | St.Louis | Utilities: Gas & Electric |
| Reinsurance Group of America | 321 | N/A | $7,066.8 | $407.1 | Chesterfield | Insurance: Life, Health (stock) |
| Charter Communications | 332 | 385 | $6,755.0 | N/A | St.Louis | Telecommunications |
| Peabody Energy | 346 | 353 | $6,313.9 | $448.2 | St.Louis | Mining, Crude-Oil Production |
| O'Reilly Automotive | 429 | 602 | $4,847.1 | $307.5 | Springfield | Specialty Retailers |
| Graybar Electric | 470 | 439 | $4,377.9 | $37.3 | St.Louis | Wholesalers: Diversified |
| Centene | 486 | 609 | $4,348.0 | $83.7 | St.Louis | Healthcare: Insurance & Managed Care |
| H & R Block | 493 | 556 | $4,213.4 | $485.7 | Kansas City | Diversified Financials |
| Total | $102,416.0 | $7,042.1 | ||||
| Source: Fortune Magazine | ||||||
Missouri ranked 16th among the states in the number of Fortune 500 company headquarters with 11. Of the surrounding states, only Illinois had more with 31. California and Texas led the U.S. with 57 Fortune 500 headquarters each, followed by New York (56) and Illinois (31). Eleven states had no Fortune 500 company headquarters. The map below illustrates the number of Forture 500 companies located in each state.
