By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : Citigroup led by Indian-American chief executive Vikram Pandit and Motorola, headed by Sanjay Jha also of Indian origin, figure in the Fortune 500 list of firms posting some of the biggest losses last year.
Citi clocked an annual loss of $27.7 billion while Motorola incurred a loss of $4.2 billion, the US business magazine’s list released online Monday said.
Profits among Fortune 500 companies saw the worst declines in the list’s 55-year history, falling 85 percent in 2008 compared to 2007, for total losses of $99 billion.
Insurance giant American International Group (AIG) topped the list of losers with an annual loss of $99.3 billion. AIG is at the 245th spot on the Fortune 500 list, while Citi is at 12th place and Motorola at 78th position.
“AIG led the loser board in a terrible year for onetime stars like Citigroup, Motorola and Fannie Mae and longtime laggards like GM,” Fortune said.
Mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are also among the list of losers. Ranked at the 112th position, Fannie Mae has an annual loss of $58.7 billion.
At the 220th spot Freddie Mac lost $50.1 billion in 2008. Ailing automaker General Motor at the sixth position lost $30.9 billion.
Meanwhile, Apple Inc. has returned to the Fortune 100, the first time since 1995 and the return of visionary co-founder and chief executive officer Steve Jobs.
Apple’s rise was based on its 32 percent increase in revenue to $32.5 billion and the misfortune of other companies with lower revenue last year. In 1995, Jobs had already left Apple and was running NeXT.
Apple’s biggest competitors, Hewlett-Packard Co. finished at No. 9, while Dell and Microsoft Corp. were ranked No. 33 and No. 35, respectively. Intel Corp. was ranked No. 61.
The energy company Exxon Mobil vaulted to the top of the Fortune 500 list ousting world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc as the top revenue-earning company.
Exxon posted its fourth-straight year of record profits, enduring wild swings in oil prices and a worldwide drop in demand in 2008. Falling oil prices in the latter half of 2008 hurt its oil production arm.
The top ten are: Chevron, General Motors, ConocoPhillips, General Electric, Ford Motors, Citigroup, Bank of America and AT&T.