Tech companies dominate Fortune 500

Technology companies dominated this year's Fortune 500 list released on Monday, with Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and IBM, among others, all in the top 50.

Technology companies dominated this year's Fortune 500 list released on Monday, with Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and IBM, among others, all in the top 50.[File Photo: IC]

Apple dropped from last year's No.3 to the fourth place despite a 6 percent gain in annual sales, but it led the way in profits with more than 48 billion U.S. dollars in net income, according to the list.

Amazon cracked the top 10 for the first time, continuing its remarkable growth run: Sales have jumped some 70 billion dollars in two years.

Amazon's enormity stems from its role as the largest U.S. digital retailer, the fastest-growing part of the market. Shares of the company rose 0.35 percent to trade at 1,579.91 dollars apiece in early trading on Monday.

Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon were the top four in market value as of March 29 this year, according to the list. They are followed by Berkshire Hathaway, Facebook, and JPMorgan Chase. 

Fortune ranks the world's top companies by revenue each year and 2018 marks the 64th running of the list. This year's Fortune 500 companies represent two-thirds of the U.S. GDP with 12.8 trillion dollars in revenues, 1.0 trillion dollars in profits, 21.6 trillion dollars in market value, and employ 28.2 million people worldwide.

Walmart, Exxon Mobil, Berkshire Hathaway, Apple, UnitedHealth Group, McKesson, CVS Health, Amazon, AT&T, and General Motors made the top 10 this year.

Among them, Exxon Mobil and General Motors have been on the list every year since it started in 1955.