NEW YORK -- Dot-com companies may be minting millionaires at a historic pace, but they have yet to make many inroads in the venerable Fortune 500.
Just one purely Internet company -- America Online Inc. -- broke into the ranks of the Old Economy stalwarts this year, and only at No. 337, in Fortune magazine's list of the 500 largest companies.Other technology companies benefiting from the Internet boom climbed in the magazine's rankings, but there was little evidence of the high-flying Internet startups. That's because the list is based on 1999 revenue, not the companies' stock values.
MCI WorldCom Inc., one of the world's largest carriers of Internet traffic, hit No. 25, up from No. 80, in the list released Sunday and appearing in the magazine's April 17 issue. Dell Computer Co., the largest seller of computers in the country, went to 56 from 78.
Microsoft Corp., the company with the highest market value, rose to 84 from 109, and Cisco Systems Inc., which makes equipment for the Internet, advanced to 146 from 192.
Utah had just one Fortune 500 company this year, down from two in 1999. Autoliv, the Ogden manufacturer of automotive safety systems, rose six spots on the list to 422nd with sales of $3.812 billion. American Stores, the Salt Lake-based grocery company, is no longer on the list, thanks to its merger with Albertson's. That Boise-based grocery chain rose from 92nd last year to 24th on this year's list, with sales of $37.478 billion.
In addition to Albertson's, other Idaho companies on the list were Boise Cascade, up 16 places to rank at 252, and Micron Technology, which rose 57 places to 430.
AOL wasn't the only history-maker. Amgen Inc. became the first biotechnology company, landing at 463. And Hewlett-Packard Co., No. 13, was the highest-ranking Fortune 500 company with a female chief executive, Carleton Fiorina.
GM's lead over Wal-Mart, which had $166 billion in revenue, may look sizable, but Wal-Mart has had annual growth in the double digits for more than a decade. GM's revenue dropped in 1998 when GM stopped North American production for several weeks due to strikes at two parts plants in Flint, Mich.
In third place was oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp., following the merger of Exxon Corp., previously No. 4, and Mobil Corp., ranked No. 6 in 1998.
General Electric Co. remained fifth in revenue, but led in profits, stuffing its coffers with $10.7 billion. The grandfather of computer companies, International Business Machines Corp. stayed in sixth place, followed by Citigroup Inc., also unchanged from last year.
AT&T Corp. climbed from 10th to eighth, pushing down Philip Morris Cos. Inc. to ninth. Boeing Co. fell from ninth to 10th.
Total profits for the 500 corporations grew 28.7 percent, thanks to a roaring economy and a recovery from the Asian financial crisis, which pulled earnings down by 1.8 percent in 1998.