Texas moves up in Fortune 500 HQ revenue ranking

Monday May 7, 2012
Dallas Morning News – By SHERYL JEAN

Exxon Mobil Corp. has reclaimed its title as the nation’s largest company.

The Irving-based oil giant again placed first on this year’s Fortune 500 list, beating out Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which had knocked Exxon from its perch in 2010 and 2011.

Exxon generated about $453 billion in revenue and $41 billion in profit, according to Fortune magazine’s annual ranking of the nation’s largest corporations, which was released Monday. Wal-Mart was No. 2, with roughly $447 billion in revenue and $15.7 billion in profit.

Exxon declined to comment.

Overall, 52 Texas-based companies made the list, with total revenue of more than $1.6 trillion. The number of companies was second only to California’s 53 companies, which had combined revenue of more than $1.3 trillion.

The list included 18 North Texas companies, down from 20 last year.

Three companies based in North Texas dropped off the Fortune 500 list this year: Dallas-based Atmos Energy Corp. plus RadioShack Corp. and D.R. Horton Inc., both based in Fort Worth. Richardson-based MetroPCS Communications Inc. was added this year as No. 51.

“The high concentration of 2012 Fortune 500 companies in Texas, and Dallas-Fort Worth in particular, sends a positive message to other companies — big and small — that our region has a strong list of attributes and investments that are quite remarkable,” said Jim Oberwetter, president of the Dallas Regional Chamber. “Companies around the world see our business-friendly climate and think of D-FW as one of the world’s premier business locations.”

The Dallas-Fort Worth area ranked sixth among metropolitan areas for the most corporate headquarters, according to research by the North Texas Commission, a nonprofit consortium that markets the region. The New York area was first, with 68 companies.

But the commission calculated that D-FW was second in terms of the total revenue generated by companies on the list.

“While we dropped in ranking for D-FW, the revenue increased 16.6 percent or $111 billion” to about $783 million, said Mabrie Jackson, chief executive of the North Texas Commission. “The story is the revenue.”

Fortune ranked companies by total revenue for 2011 or for a fiscal year ended by Jan. 31.