Top 10 Most Profitable Companies

On Monday, Fortune announced the world's 500 largest companies.

The top spot went to oil leader Exxon Mobil with an income of $44.9 billion. Apple placed second, garnering $41.7 billion.

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Although Exxon Mobil came on top of the list, it did not receive the most revenue in 2012. Royal Dutch Shell brought in $481.7 billion and earned the title of Global 500 list's top revenue spot for the second consecutive year. Walmart and Exxon followed the Netherlands-based corporation at $469.2 billion and $449.9 billion in revenue, respectively.

Based on the report, the 500 largest international companies produced a total of $30.3 trillion revenue last year, almost a 3 percent raise from the previous year. Nevertheless, profits cut down 5.5 percent to $1.5 trillion.

Fortune's Deputy Managing Editor Stephanie Mehta explained that the inconsistency resulted from the dropping net profits at oil leaders like Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron.

Source: Huffington Post