Most successful companies

I believe that most successful companies are those who create most revenues or most profitable. Ranking them by revenue for their respective fiscal years ended on or before March 31, 2013. That honor goes to oil giant Exxon Mobil, whose $44.9 billion profit was followed most closely by Apple, at $41.7 billion. While Exxon Mobil was last year's profit king, it did not take in the most revenue last year. That company would be Royal Dutch Shell, which at $481.7 billion wins Global 500 list's top revenue spot for the second straight year -- followed by Walmart and Exxon, at $469.2 billion and $449.9 billion in revenue, respectively. AT A recent retail-industry convention, Wal-Mart's boss, Lee Scott, was asked whether his firm was trying to take over the world. “I don't think so,” Mr Scott replied with a smile on his face. “All we want to do is grow.” Wal-Mart continues to grow and had $256 billion in sales in the year to January 31st, the firm is already the world's biggest company by that measure. Its nearest retailing rival, a French supermarket chain called Carrefour, is less than half Wal-Mart's size. In America, Wal-Mart manages nearly 3,000 giant discount stores and hypermarket “supercentres”. Abroad, it has ventured into Mexico, Britain, Japan, Canada, Germany and China, as well as making smaller investments elsewhere. Eight out of ten American households shop at Wal-Mart at least once a year. Worldwide, more than 100m customers visit Wal-Mart stores every week. The mathematics of big numbers suggests that Wal-Mart's growth must slow. Amazingly, the opposite appears to be happening. In America this year, Wal-Mart intends to open some 50 new discount stores and more than 220 new supercentres, some of which will be existing stores moving to new locations. Overseas, it plans another 140 or so new stores, including relocations. This adds up to some 50m square feet of new space—even more than many of its rivals operate in total.