Business: The World’s 50 Biggest

FORTUNE, which annually lists the 500 biggest industrial corporations in the U.S. and the 300 largest outside the U.S., has combined the top 50 for the first time in its August issue, published this week. Of the world’s largest industrials, 24 are based in the U.S. Ten of the top twelve are American. Indeed, three of the top five are Detroit’s General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Half of the top dozen have headquarters in New York City or its suburbs.

What is most striking is the American edge in profitability: the 24 U.S. companies account for 71% of the total net income. Besides the U.S., only seven countries are represented: Germany, Britain, Japan, Italy, France, Switzerland and The Netherlands. The top 50, with sales and earnings for 1973 or the latest available fiscal year:

Rank Company Sales Net Income(millions)

1 General Motors 35,798 2,398

2 Exxon 25,724 2,443

3 Ford 23,015 907

4 Royal Dutch/Shell 18,672 1,789

5 Chrysler 11,774 255

6 General Electric 11,575 585

7 Texaco 11,407 1,292

8 Mobil Oil 11,390 849

9 Unilever 11,010 423

10 IBM 10,993 1,575

11 ITT 10,183 528

12 Gulf Oil 8,417 800

13 Philips Lamp 8,108 323

14 Standard Oil (Calif.) 7,762 844

15 British Petroleum 7,726 761

16 Nippon Steel 7,628 196

17 Western Electric 7,037 315

18 U.S. Steel 6,952 326

19 Volkswagenwerk 6,412 73

20 Hitachi 5,972 292

21 Westinghouse 5,702 162

22 Farbwerke Hoechst 5,591 176

23 Daimler-Benz 5,551 98

24 Toyota Motor 5,547 278

25 Siemens 5,523 162

26 Standard Oil (Ind.) 5,416 511

27 BASF 5,384 194

28 Imperial Chemical Industries 5,309 450

29 Du Pont 5,276 586

30 Mitsubishi 5,227 110

31 Nestle 5,205 218

32 General Telephone 5,105 352

33 Shell Oil 4,884 333

34 Nissan Motor 4,883 151

35 Goodyear 4,675 185

36 Renault 4,656 13

37 Bayer 4,654 165

38 Montedison 4,452 57

39 Matsushita 4,409 252

40 British Steel 4,290 121

41 ENI (Italy) 4,280 65

42 RCA 4,247 184

43 August Thyssen-Hotte 4,243 61

44 Continental Oil 4,224 243

45 International Harvester 4,193 114

46 AEG-Telefunken 4,187 30

47 LTV 4,177 50

48 Bethlehem Steel 4,138 207

49 Fiat 4,075 .5

50 Cie Française des 4,060 197