General Motors No Longer Tops 'Fortune 500'

N E W   Y O R K, April 2 -- Surging energy prices in the United States gaveoil, gas and power companies new fuel in their ascension of theannual Fortune 500.

Oil giant Exxon Mobil surpassed automaker General Motors, rising to No. 1 from No. 3 with the company's highest-ever $210 billion in revenue for 2000. GM, which had revenue of $184.6billion, fell to No. 3.

Other energy companies fared well in 2000, with Enron, at No. 7, rising from No. 18. Duke Energy shot up to No. 17 from69 and Reliant Energy made it up to No. 55 from 114.

Advancers

The list of the largest publicly held companies, ranked byfiscal year 2000 revenues, has been compiled annually since 1955 bythe editors of Fortune. GM, which had held the top spot on the listfor 15 years, now trails No. 2 Wal-Mart Stores in addition to Exxon Mobil.

Energy companies benefited from a surge in revenue brought aboutby falling supplies, utility deregulation, soaring natural gasprices and OPEC's maneuvering to keep oil prices high. In the pastyear, crude oil has sold for as much as $30 a barrel, while in someparts of the United States last summer, gasoline cost more than $2a gallon.

Other energy firms advancing included Texaco, which went from No. 28 to No. 16; Chevron, which was ranked No. 20, upfrom No. 35; and Dynergy, which rose to No. 54 from No. 112.

San Francisco-based Chevron agreed to buy Texaco last Octoberfor $35.1 billion in stock, plus assumed debt of $7.5 billion. Thedeal is expected to close this summer pending review by the U.S.Federal Trade Commission.

Techs and Telecoms

The Internet slowdown and uncertainty about the economy hurt anumber of companies, particularly telecom firms that slid in therankings. AT&T fell from No. 8 to No. 9.

But a merger helped Verizon Communications, formed whenBell Atlantic and GTE combined in May, leapfrog from No. 33 pastrivals WorldCom, No. 32, and SBC Communications, No. 14, to the No. 10 spot.

America Online, which became the first purely Internetcompany to break into the list last year at No. 337, rose to No.271. Since then, it has become AOL Time Warner by dint of itsacquisition of Time Warner. The combined company's revenue of $36.2billion would have made it No. 39 on the new list, though was notcounted there because the deal didn't close until early this year.