Fortune 500 List 2011: Which Company Will Be No. 1?
The biggest companies in America will be announced tonight on Nightline.
May 4, 2011— -- The 2011 Fortune 500 list, which names the most profitable companies in the country, will be announced tonight on "Nightline."
With last year's list boasting heavyweights such as Wal-Mart, ExxonMobil, General Electric and AT&T, ABC News' John Berman reported that the Fortune 500 companies tripled their earnings in 2009. Did they improve on that in 2010?
Read the full report on the 2010 Fortune 500 list here.
"It's just a staggering amount of money that big companies made in 2009 versus 2008 -- $330 billion more than the year before. It's just an unprecedented gain," said Andy Serwer in a 2010 ABC News interview. Serwer is the managing editor of Fortune magazine, which compiles an annual list of top public companies as measured by gross revenue.
Last year's champion was Wal-Mart, pushing the once top seeded ExxonMobil to the number two slot.
"Wal-Mart had a good year and maybe that's not surprising," Serwer said, "People really look for value during tough economic times."
Even still, the oil company didn't make out too shabby. Exxon was able to rake in more than $284 billion in profits last year.
So who do you think will reign supreme on this year's Fortune 500 list? Vote in our poll below to tell us what you think and then tune into "Nightline" tonight at 11:35 p.m. EST/PST to see the results.