BIGGEST COMPANIES GET RICHER IN 1996 : PROFITS SOAR AT FORTUNE'S TOP 500.Byline: Rick Gladstone Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Profits surged 23.3 percent at the Fortune 5demonstrating how low interest rates and benign inflation helped fatten fat·ten v. fat·tened, fat·ten·ing, fat·tens v.tr. 1. To make plump or fat. 2. To fertilize (land). 3. the wealth of corporate America's mightiest businesses. It was the fourth straight year of strong profit gains among companies ranked in Fortune's annual listing, released Monday. The surge in profits was far greater than worker income gains and other measures of economic health. ``The companies of the Fortune 500 have restructured, re-engineered, refinanced, downsized, laid off, split up and merged their way to prosperity,'' the magazine said. But in a reflection of concern over how long the trend can last, the magazine asked, ``Don't businesses need to start selling more jet engines, more hamburgers, more software programs, and more telephone calls - to keep this earnings express rolling?'' The profit growth is widely viewed as an unsustainable trend that already has begun to show signs of faltering and is partly reflected in the recent pullback Pullback A falling back of a price from its peak. This type of price movement might be seen as a brief reversal of the prevailing upward trend, signaling a slight pause in upward momentum. in the roaring ROARING. A disease among horses occasioned by the circumstance of the neck of the windpipe being too narrow for accelerated respiration; the disorder is frequently produced by sore throat or other topical inflammation. 2. stock market. Investors are increasingly concerned that the Federal Reserve has started to nudge nudge 1 tr.v. nudged, nudg·ing, nudg·es 1. To push against gently, especially in order to gain attention or give a signal. 2. interest rates upward, which raises the cost of doing business and discourages people from spending money. Exxon, the nation's biggest oil company, was the most profitable among the 500, earning $7.5 billion in 1996. Altogether, the companies earned nearly $300 billion last year, more than twice the U.S. trade deficit. Now in its 42nd year, the Fortune 500 ranks the top U.S. companies by sales. But it also measures their performance in other important ways, such as profits and stock market value. It is the magazine's flagship list and in some ways is the granddaddy of corporate rankings, emulated by Business Week, Forbes and others seeking to capitalize on Cap´i`tal`ize on` v. t. 1. To turn (an opportunity) to one's advantage; to take advantage of (a situation); to profit from; as, to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes s>. reader interest in who is the biggest and richest. The Fortune 500 appears in the April 28 edition, on newsstands beginning Monday. The only change among the top 10 in 1996 compared with 1995 was that GE and AT&T switched places. Notable achievers in the 500 list were companies that surged in size because of multibillion-dollar mergers: Walt Disney Noun 1. Walt Disney - United States film maker who pioneered animated cartoons and created such characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck; founded Disneyland (1901-1966) Disney, Walter Elias Disney , which leaped from No. 102 to No. 55 through its takeover of Capital Cities/ABC; and Chase, which rose from No. 71 to No. 25 through the merger of Chase and Chemical banks. Conspicuous in its absence from the list was Lucent Technologies, the telecommunications equipment maker spun off from AT&T last year. Fortune disqualified dis·qual·i·fy tr.v. dis·qual·i·fied, dis·qual·i·fy·ing, dis·qual·i·fies 1. a. To render unqualified or unfit. b. To declare unqualified or ineligible. 2. Lucent from the rankings because it wasn't independent for the full calendar year. Otherwise, Lucent's $23.80 billion in revenues would have placed the company 33rd on the list, bumping retailer J.C. Penney Cos. Inc. Among notable losers were General Mills  This article or section may contain a proseline.Please help [ convert this timeline] into prose or, if necessary, a . , which tumbled from No. 156 to No. 264 on a 35 percent drop in sales, due partly to declining cereal prices. Others disappeared from the list altogether because they were swallowed in takeovers, such as Turner Broadcasting (acquired by Time Warner) and U.S. Healthcare U.S. Healthcare is a now-defunct healthcare company. The logo had an apple. The merger with Aetna In 1996, the company merged with Aetna, calling it Aetna U.S. Healthcare. The U.S. Healthcare apple logo was next to the Aetna name, and U.S. Healthcare under it. U.S. (acquired by Aetna). ON TOP Fortune 500 ranking of the nation's 10 largest companies: 1. General Motors $168.369 billion. 2. Ford Motor $146.991 billion. 3. Exxon $119.434 billion. 4. Wal-Mart Stores $106.147 billion. 5. General Electric $79.179 billion. 6. International Business Machines $75.947 billion. 7. AT&T $74.525 billion. 8. Mobil $72.267 billion. 9. Chrysler $61.397 billion. 10. Philip Morris $54.553 billion. CAPTION(S): Box Box: (Color) ON TOP (See text) |
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