World's 500 biggest companies break 2013 records. - The 500 biggest companies in the world by turnover broke their records from last year, according to the magazine Fortune, which has just published its annual rankings for 2014. These companies had a total turnover of $31,110 billion, up 2.5% on 2012. Over the same period, their profits stood at $2,000 billion, a leap of 27% compared to 2012. The table is dominated by Europe, which has 150 companies, followed by the United States (128), China (95) and Japan (57). With a turnover of $476 billion, the American distribution group Walmart snatches first place in the rankings from the Dutch petroleum company Royal Dutch-Shell (turnover of $460 billion). Three other oil companies complete the top five: Sinopec (3rd) and China National Petroleum (4th) of China, followed by America's Exxon Mobil (5th). 6th place goes to the UK petroleum group BP and 7th to the Chinese energy specialist, State Grid, whilst 8th and 9th are held by the carbuilders Volkswagen and Toyota. Glencore of Switzerland is in 10th place (brokerage and sales of raw materials). Of the electronics sector, Samsung comes highest, in 13th place, closely followed by Apple (15th). Google, however, lags a long way behind, coming just 162nd in the rankings, whilst Microsoft is in 104th place. Overall, however, it is the banks which dominate, with 55 making the Top 500, ahead of oil refining (40 companies) and automotives (33). It is worth noting that, of the 23 companies which joined the ranks of the Top 500 this year, seven are Chinese: China Development Bank is the highest-placed newcomer (122nd). Fortune goes on to note that 17 of the 500 companies listed are headed up by women, so still very low. Of these, eleven companies are American, two Indian, one South African, one Indonesian, one Chinese and one Brazilian. (IL)