Gazprom overtook ExxonMobil as the most profitable company in the world, according to Forbes magazine's list of the 2,000 largest companies published Thursday, but it lost ground on other metrics, leaving it at 16th place, down from 13th last year. Gazprom raked in $24.33 billion according to this year's ranking, overtaking ExxonMobil, which reported profits of $19.28 billion. Forbes uses an equal rating of sales, profits, assets and market capitalization to arrive at a cumulative ranking of size, with the market cap valued on March 1.
As in previous years' rankings, oil and gas firms dominate the Russian companies on the list. LUKoil, ranked 69th worldwide; Rosneft, 77th; TNK-BP, 157th; and Surgutneftegaz, 173rd, were five of Russia's six largest companies. Overall, oil and gas companies made up eight of the 28 Russian firms on the list. Last year, the same number of Russian companies made the list, and only a few companies were replaced this year. Retailers Magnit and X5 Group edged out struggling auto producers AvtoVAZ and GAZ. PIK Group dropped off, as did Bashneft and Slavneft, both of which were acquired by other companies. The Federal Grid Company, Raspadskaya and Silvinit all made their first appearances on the list this year. Sberbank earned a spot among the top 100 companies in the world this year, jumping up from 172nd to 93rd.
Companies from developing countries have gained increasing representation on the list over the past several years, displacing stalwarts from the developed world. Since 2005, Russia has seen 15 of its firms make their way onto the list. Other countries that have seen an increase of companies in the top 2,000 are China (88), India (26), Hong Kong (21) and Saudi Arabia (17).
