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Microsoft Rises in Fortune 500 Ranking

Microsoft climbed five spots to reach 46th in the annual Fortune 500 ranking of the largest companies in the United States by revenues.

Microsoft's $36.8 billion in revenues for 2004 place it well ahead of all other software companies. The only other software company in the Fortune 500 list, which appears in Fortune magazine's April 11 issue, is Oracle, which is ranked 220th with $10.1 billion in revenues.

Other IT companies rank well ahead of Microsoft in size, however. IBM slipped a spot to 10th on its $96 billion in revenues, but still kept ahead of Hewlett-Packard, ranked 11th with $79.9 billion in revenues. Dell ranks 28th with $49.2 billion in revenues.

When it comes to profitability, Microsoft is right back up there. The company's profits of $8.2 billion last year were good for 12th most profitable among the Fortune 500, just behind IBM.

AMD surged from 473 in the 2004 list to 387 this year. Other IT companies of note in the Fortune 500 include Intel (50), Sun Microsystems (194), Apple Computer (263), NCR (337) and Gateway (495).

About the Author

Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

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