Ranked by how they appear on the Fortune 500 list.

Name, City, State, 2003 revenue (Billions)

1. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Bentonville, Ark., 1, $258.681

2. Exxon Mobil Corp., Irving, Texas, 3, $213.199

7. ConocoPhillips, Houston, 12, $99.468

13. The Home Depot Inc., Atlanta, 13, $64.816

20. Fannie Mae, Washington, D.C., 16, $53.767

24. Bank of America Corp., Charlotte, N.C., 23, $48.065

31. Dell Inc., Round Rock, Texas, 36, $41.444

33. SBC Communications Inc., San Antonio, 27, $40.843

34. Valero Energy Corp, San Antonio, 55, $37.969

35. Marathon Oil Corp., Houston, 52, $37.137

42. United Parcel Service Inc., Atlanta, 43, $33.485

43. J.C. Penney Co. Inc., Plano, Texas, 42, $32.923

48. Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md., 56, $31.844

50. Lowe's Cos. Inc., Mooresville, N.C., 60, $31.263

59. E.I. du Pont de Nemours, Wilmington, Del., 67, $27.730

66. Sysco Corp., Houston, 73, $26.140

72. Tyson Foods Inc., Springdale, Ark., 72, $24.549

73. Wachovia Corp., Charlotte, N.C., 70, $24.474

75. Duke Energy, Charlotte, N.C., 118, $23.483

80. BellSouth Corp., Atlanta, 77, $22.635

82. FedEx Corp., Memphis, 83, $22.487

85. HCA Inc, Nashville, 90, $21.808

87. Electronic Data Systems, Plano, Texas, 80, $21.596

91. The Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta, 92, $21.044

94. Georgia-Pacific Corp., Atlanta, 74, $20.255

97. AutoNation Inc., Fort Lauderdale, 93, $19.381

98. The Williams Cos. Inc., Tulsa, 196, $19.246

110. AMR Corp., Fort Worth, 104, $17.440

111. Tech Data Corp., Clearwater, Fla., 117, $17.406

112. Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., Atlanta, 108, $17.330

117. Publix Super Markets Inc., Lakeland, Fla., 112, $16.848

122. Halliburton Co., Houston, 153, $16.271

141. Kimberly-Clark Corp., Irving, Texas, 143, $14.348

143. AdvancePCS Inc., Irving, Texas, 148, $14.111

150. Delta Air Lines Inc., Atlanta, 145, $13.303

154. El Paso Corp., Houston, 152, $12.653

155. Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., Houston, 221, $12.590

157. Office Depot Inc., Delray Beach, Fla., 166, $12.359

159. Humana Inc., Louisville, 169, $12.226

162. Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., 149, $12.168

164. Dominion Resources Inc., Richmond, Va., 184, $12.078

166. Reliant Resources Inc., Houston, 164, $11.707

170. Waste Management Inc., Houston, 171, $11.574

172. AFLAC, Columbus, Ga., 183, $11.447

177. TexasU Corp., Dallas, 134, $11.325

178. The Southern Co., Atlanta, 177, $11.251

183. Nextel Communications Inc., Reston, Va., 216, $10.820

185. United Services Automobile Association, San Antonio, 199, $10.593

187. UnumProvident Corp., Chattanooga, Tenn., 192, $10.400

195. Circuit City Stores Inc., Richmond, Va., 151, $9.954

197. Texas Instruments Inc., Dallas, 223, $9.834

200. Capital One Financial Corp., McLean, Va., 191, $9.784

201. CenterPoint Energy Inc., Houston, 236, $9.772

204. The AES Corp., Arlington, Va., 181, $9.649

205. FPL Group Inc., Juno Beach, Fla., 226, $9.630

210. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., Fort Worth, 205, $9.413

216. Marriott International Inc., Bethesda, Md., 175, $9.198

217. Entergy Corp., New Orleans, 224, $9.195

218. Dean Foods Co., Dallas, 201, $9.185

219. Centex Corp., Dallas, 241, $9.117

221. Caremark Rx Inc., Nashville, 267, $9.067

224. Progress Energy Inc., Raleigh, N.C., 228, $9.027

229. Clear Channel Communications Inc., San Antonio, 219, $8.931

230. Lennar Corp., Miami 256, $8.908

231. Continental Airlines Inc., Houston, 220, $8.870

237. Tesoro Petroleum Corp., San Antonio, 263, $8.718

241. D.R. Horton Inc., Arlington, Texas, 271, $8.552

244. Genuine Parts Co., Atlanta, 227, $8.449

245. Yum! Brands Inc., Louisville, 240, $8.380

251. Alltel Corp., Little Rock, 234, $8.190

252. Ashland Inc., Covington, Ky., 239, $8.080

256. Smithfield Foods, Smithfield, Va., 255, $7.905

258. Dillard's Inc., Little Rock, 229, $7.864

259. CSX, Jacksonville, Fla., 231, $7.793

261. Newell Rubbermaid Inc., Alpharetta, Ga., 251, $7.750

262. Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., 326, $7.715

264. Sonic Automotive, Charlotte, N.C., 253, $7.598

268. Devon Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, 369, $7.352

270. Pepco Holdings Inc., Washington, D.C., 377, $7.271

272. SunTrust Banks Inc., Atlanta, 248, $7.071

276. US Airways Group Inc., Arlington, Va., 262, $6.846

278. Gannett Co. Inc., McLean, Va., 275, $6.711

281. Dollar General Corp., Goodlettsville, Tenn., 289, $6.665

283. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P., Houston, $6.624

288. Norfolk Southern Corp., Norfolk, Va., 279, $6.468

297. Nucor, Charlotte, N.C., 342, $6.266

298. BB&T Corp., Winston-Salem, N.C., 287, $6.244

306. Saks, Inc., Birmingham, Ala., 294, $6.055

310. Southwest Airlines Co., Dallas, 306, $5.937

314. Mirant Corp., Atlanta, 259, $5.863

316. Dynegy Inc., Houston, 336, $5.813

317. Eastman Chemical, Kingsport, Tenn., 315, $5.800

318. Cox Communications Inc., Atlanta, 329, $5.759

329. Performance Food Group Co., Richmond, Va., 366, $5.520

331. AutoZone Inc., Memphis, 314, $5.457

334. Baker Hughes Inc., Houston, 320, $5.391

336. Enterprise Products Partners, L.P., Houston, 438, $5.346

338. Danaher, Washington, D.C., 357, $5.294

340. Murphy Oil Corp., El Dorado, Ark., 402, $5.275

341. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., Winston-Salem, N.C., 281, $5.267

343. VF Corp., Greensboro, N.C., 322, $5.208

344. SPX Corp., Charlotte, N.C., 328, $5.130

345. Anadarko Petroleum Corp., The Woodlands, Texas, 414, $5.122

349. Mohawk Industries Inc., Calhoun, Ga., 361, $5.005

360. Ryder System Inc., Miami 345, $4.802

364. Lexmark International Inc., Lexington, Ky., 373, $4.755

365. Family Dollar Stores Inc., Matthews, N.C., 388, $4.750

367. Jabil Circuit Inc., St. Petersburg, Fla., 441, $4.730

372. Temple-Inland Inc., Austin, Texas, 353, $4.671

377. Darden Restaurants Inc., Orlando, 372, $4.655

378. RadioShack Corp., Fort Worth, 358, $4.649

381. The Black & Decker Corp., Towson, Md., 370, $4.602

386. Coventry Health Care Inc., Bethesda, Md., 439, $4.535

390. Group 1 Automotive Inc., Houston, 383, $4.519

394. Goodrich Corp., Charlotte, N.C., 385, $4.407

404. Burlington Resources Inc., Houston, 497, $4.311

406. Owens & Minor Inc., Glen Allen, Va., 405, $4.244

412. Kerr-McGee, Oklahoma City, 426, $4.191

413. Apache Corp., Houston, 563, $4.190

417. SLM Corp., Reston, Va., 473, $4.160

428. The Brink's Co., Richmond, Va., 395, $4.051

435. CarMax Inc., Glen Allen, Va., $3.970

436. Triad Hospitals Inc., Plano, Texas, 442, $3.966

441. Lyondell Chemical, Houston, 467, $3.801

445. Affiliated Computer Services Inc., Dallas, 488, $3.7872

446. OGE Energy Corp, Oklahoma City, new to list, 484, $3.7868

455. Host Marriott Corp., Bethesda, Md., 434, $3.712

460. Jefferson-Pilot Corp., Greensboro, N.C., 451, $3.650

466. Regions Financial Corp., Birmingham, Ala., 420, $3.618

468. Smith International Inc., Houston, 480, $3.595

470. Advance Auto Parts Inc., Roanoke, Va., 466, $3.546

475. Omnicare Inc., Covington, Ky., 548, $3.499

476. AGCO Corp., Duluth, Ga., 502, $3.495

479. Kindred Healthcare Inc., Louisville, 463, $3.456

482. SCANA Corp., Columbia, SC, 499, $3.416

483. LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., Richmond, Va., 555, $3.406

488. The Shaw Group Inc., Baton Rouge, 479, $3.307

492. Brinker International Inc., Dallas, 507, $3.285

497. Hughes Supply Inc., Orlando, 487, $3.253

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/2004-03-22-fortune-500-list_x.htm

Virginia has more than I thought....actually alot more.

...yay. charlotte. yay.

atlanta. yay. atlanta!

:p

States: (number of F.500)

Mississippi: (0)

Deleware: (1)

9. E.I. du Pont de Nemours, Wilmington, Del., 67, $27.730

South Carolina: (1)

482. SCANA Corp., Columbia, SC, 499, $3.416

Washington D.C.: (2)

20. Fannie Mae, Washington, D.C., 16, $53.767
270. Pepco Holdings Inc., Washington, D.C., 377, $7.271

Louisiana: (2)

217. Entergy Corp., New Orleans, 224, $9.195
488. The Shaw Group Inc., Baton Rouge, 479, $3.307

Alabama: (2)

306. Saks, Inc., Birmingham, Ala., 294, $6.055
466. Regions Financial Corp., Birmingham, Ala., 420, $3.618

Oklahoma: (4)

98. The Williams Cos. Inc., Tulsa, 196, $19.246
268. Devon Energy Corp., Oklahoma City, 369, $7.352
412. Kerr-McGee, Oklahoma City, 426, $4.191
446. OGE Energy Corp, Oklahoma City, $3.7868

Arkansas: (5)

1. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Bentonville, Ark., 1, $258.681
72. Tyson Foods Inc., Springdale, Ark., 72, $24.549
251. Alltel Corp., Little Rock, 234, $8.190
258. Dillard's Inc., Little Rock, 229, $7.864
340. Murphy Oil Corp., El Dorado, Ark., 402, $5.275

Maryland: (5)

48. Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md., 56, $31.844
216. Marriott International Inc., Bethesda, Md., 175, $9.198
381. The Black & Decker Corp., Towson, Md., 370, $4.602
386. Coventry Health Care Inc., Bethesda, Md., 439, $4.535
455. Host Marriott Corp., Bethesda, Md., 434, $3.712

Kentucky: (6)

159. Humana Inc., Louisville, 169, $12.226
245. Yum! Brands Inc., Louisville, 240, $8.380
252. Ashland Inc., Covington, Ky., 239, $8.080
364. Lexmark International Inc., Lexington, Ky., 373, $4.755
475. Omnicare Inc., Covington, Ky., 548, $3.499
479. Kindred Healthcare Inc., Louisville, 463, $3.456

Tennesse: (7)

82. FedEx Corp., Memphis, 83, $22.487
85. HCA Inc, Nashville, 90, $21.808
187. UnumProvident Corp., Chattanooga, Tenn., 192, $10.400
221. Caremark Rx Inc., Nashville, 267, $9.067
281. Dollar General Corp., Goodlettsville, Tenn., 289, $6.665
317. Eastman Chemical, Kingsport, Tenn., 315, $5.800
331. AutoZone Inc., Memphis, 314, $5.457

Florida: (13)

97. AutoNation Inc., Fort Lauderdale, 93, $19.381
111. Tech Data Corp., Clearwater, Fla., 117, $17.406
117. Publix Super Markets Inc., Lakeland, Fla., 112, $16.848
157. Office Depot Inc., Delray Beach, Fla., 166, $12.359
162. Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., 149, $12.168
205. FPL Group Inc., Juno Beach, Fla., 226, $9.630
230. Lennar Corp., Miami 256, $8.908
259. CSX, Jacksonville, Fla., 231, $7.793
262. Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., 326, $7.715
360. Ryder System Inc., Miami 345, $4.802
367. Jabil Circuit Inc., St. Petersburg, Fla., 441, $4.730
377. Darden Restaurants Inc., Orlando, 372, $4.655
497. Hughes Supply Inc., Orlando, 487, $3.253

North Carolina: (14)

24. Bank of America Corp., Charlotte, N.C., 23, $48.065
50. Lowe's Cos. Inc., Mooresville, N.C., 60, $31.263
73. Wachovia Corp., Charlotte, N.C., 70, $24.474
75. Duke Energy, Charlotte, N.C., 118, $23.483
224. Progress Energy Inc., Raleigh, N.C., 228, $9.027
264. Sonic Automotive, Charlotte, N.C., 253, $7.598
297. Nucor, Charlotte, N.C., 342, $6.266
298. BB&T Corp., Winston-Salem, N.C., 287, $6.244
341. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., Winston-Salem, N.C., 281, $5.267
343. VF Corp., Greensboro, N.C., 322, $5.208
344. SPX Corp., Charlotte, N.C., 328, $5.130
365. Family Dollar Stores Inc., Matthews, N.C., 388, $4.750
394. Goodrich Corp., Charlotte, N.C., 385, $4.407
460. Jefferson-Pilot Corp., Greensboro, N.C., 451, $3.650

Georgia: (16)

13. The Home Depot Inc., Atlanta, 13, $64.816
42. United Parcel Service Inc., Atlanta, 43, $33.485
80. BellSouth Corp., Atlanta, 77, $22.635
91. The Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta, 92, $21.044
94. Georgia-Pacific Corp., Atlanta, 74, $20.255
112. Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., Atlanta, 108, $17.330
150. Delta Air Lines Inc., Atlanta, 145, $13.303
172. AFLAC, Columbus, Ga., 183, $11.447
178. The Southern Co., Atlanta, 177, $11.251
244. Genuine Parts Co., Atlanta, 227, $8.449
261. Newell Rubbermaid Inc., Alpharetta, Ga., 251, $7.750
272. SunTrust Banks Inc., Atlanta, 248, $7.071
314. Mirant Corp., Atlanta, 259, $5.863
318. Cox Communications Inc., Atlanta, 329, $5.759
349. Mohawk Industries Inc., Calhoun, Ga., 361, $5.005
476. AGCO Corp., Duluth, Ga., 502, $3.495

Virginia: (17)

164. Dominion Resources Inc., Richmond, Va., 184, $12.078
183. Nextel Communications Inc., Reston, Va., 216, $10.820
195. Circuit City Stores Inc., Richmond, Va., 151, $9.954
200. Capital One Financial Corp., McLean, Va., 191, $9.784
204. The AES Corp., Arlington, Va., 181, $9.649
256. Smithfield Foods, Smithfield, Va., 255, $7.905
276. US Airways Group Inc., Arlington, Va., 262, $6.846
278. Gannett Co. Inc., McLean, Va., 275, $6.711
288. Norfolk Southern Corp., Norfolk, Va., 279, $6.468
329. Performance Food Group Co., Richmond, Va., 366, $5.520
338. Danaher, Washington, D.C., 357, $5.294
406. Owens & Minor Inc., Glen Allen, Va., 405, $4.244
417. SLM Corp., Reston, Va., 473, $4.160
428. The Brink's Co., Richmond, Va., 395, $4.051
435. CarMax Inc., Glen Allen, Va., $3.970
470. Advance Auto Parts Inc., Roanoke, Va., 466, $3.546
483. LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., Richmond, Va., 555, $3.406

Texas: (43)

2. Exxon Mobil Corp., Irving, Texas, 3, $213.199
7. ConocoPhillips, Houston, 12, $99.468
31. Dell Inc., Round Rock, Texas, 36, $41.444
33. SBC Communications Inc., San Antonio, 27, $40.843
34. Valero Energy Corp, San Antonio, 55, $37.969
35. Marathon Oil Corp., Houston, 52, $37.137
43. J.C. Penney Co. Inc., Plano, Texas, 42, $32.923
66. Sysco Corp., Houston, 73, $26.140
87. Electronic Data Systems, Plano, Texas, 80, $21.596
110. AMR Corp., Fort Worth, 104, $17.440
122. Halliburton Co., Houston, 153, $16.271
141. Kimberly-Clark Corp., Irving, Texas, 143, $14.348
143. AdvancePCS Inc., Irving, Texas, 148, $14.111
154. El Paso Corp., Houston, 152, $12.653
155. Plains All American Pipeline, L.P., Houston, 221, $12.590
166. Reliant Resources Inc., Houston, 164, $11.707
170. Waste Management Inc., Houston, 171, $11.574
177. TexasU Corp., Dallas, 134, $11.325
185. United Services Automobile Association, San Antonio, 199, $10.593
197. Texas Instruments Inc., Dallas, 223, $9.834
201. CenterPoint Energy Inc., Houston, 236, $9.772
210. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., Fort Worth, 205, $9.413
218. Dean Foods Co., Dallas, 201, $9.185
219. Centex Corp., Dallas, 241, $9.117
229. Clear Channel Communications Inc., San Antonio, 219, $8.931
231. Continental Airlines Inc., Houston, 220, $8.870
237. Tesoro Petroleum Corp., San Antonio, 263, $8.718
241. D.R. Horton Inc., Arlington, Texas, 271, $8.552
283. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P., Houston, $6.624
310. Southwest Airlines Co., Dallas, 306, $5.937
316. Dynegy Inc., Houston, 336, $5.813
334. Baker Hughes Inc., Houston, 320, $5.391
336. Enterprise Products Partners, L.P., Houston, 438, $5.346
345. Anadarko Petroleum Corp., The Woodlands, Texas, 414, $5.122
372. Temple-Inland Inc., Austin, Texas, 353, $4.671
378. RadioShack Corp., Fort Worth, 358, $4.649
404. Burlington Resources Inc., Houston, 497, $4.311
413. Apache Corp., Houston, 563, $4.190
436. Triad Hospitals Inc., Plano, Texas, 442, $3.966
441. Lyondell Chemical, Houston, 467, $3.801
445. Affiliated Computer Services Inc., Dallas, 488, $3.7872
468. Smith International Inc., Houston, 480, $3.595
492. Brinker International Inc., Dallas, 507, $3.285

(138 of all the Forutne 500 comapanies are located in the South East).

Nice list-thanks.

Nice list-thanks.
your welcome, it took me litterly 30 mins to copy and paste them into differnt states.

damn, houston metro and dfw has more than any state in the south

Metro Wise ^

Houston: 19

Dallas: 18

City Wise:

Houston: 18

Dallas: 6

I thought Carmax was moving to suburban Atlanta? Did they change their mind? North Carolina will get another Fortune 500 next year, when Hanes Corp., in Winston-Salem becomes an independent traded company again for the first time since 1980. If included on this year's list, it would've been #391. It has created several upper-level exec jobs in Winston-Salem and gives them a 3rd Fortune 500 to use when promoting the city to companies looking to relocate.

Alabama actually had 7 Fortune 500 companies as recently as 2 years ago with 6 of those in Birmingham and the other in Huntsville. The largest was SCI Systems in Huntsville which was around 160 when it was bought out by Sanmina Corporation out of the Silicon Valley area of California. HealthSouth was in the 300s but they haven't been able to release their figures for several months because of the accounting scandal. Southtrust was in the 420 range before Wachovia bought it this past year. AmSouth was in the 460 range but has slipped into the 540 range. Caremark, which was known as MedPartners for several years was headquartered at the Galleria Office Tower at the Riverchase Galleria for those who are familiar with that mall. They changed their name to Caremark about 3 years ago and Nashville was able to lure them away from Bham a little over a year ago. That's 5 Birmingham companies that have fallen off the list in just 2 years.

HealthSouth - Should re-join the list once they are able to finally release their financials. (which is the only reason they failed to make this year's list)

AmSouth - Could easily rejoin the list with another decent size acquisition or upturn in revenues. Not sure what caused them to fall from the mid 400s in the first place.

Southtrust - See Wachovia. It's in Charlotte's camp now. :bash:

Caremark - See Nashville. :bash:

Torchmark - Another company in the mid 500s on the verge of breaking in.

Vulcan Materials - Probably the best all around company headquartered in Bham. Very strong financially and highly profitable. Here again, it just barely missed making the list a couple of years ago (it was like #503) and is in the 520s right now.

Saks Inc. - Currently the biggest area company but for how long?? We keep building these companies up and then Atlanta, Charlotte, and Nashville have to come butting their noses in our business and stealing away or buying our companies. I say keep you grubby paws to yourselves. :bash:

Yeah lets hear it for our little guy in Raleigh....Progress Energy !!!!!

damn, houston metro and dfw has more than any state in the south

The benefits of a no corporate state income tax or personal state income tax. That, along with a lower than average cost of living and MAJOR airports in both cities leads to the following question: why not locate your corporate headquarters in Texas?

^yeah, and its in the dab smack middle of the nation

I haven't heard of CarMax moving to ATL. They were part of Circuit City, which is based in Richmond, and then broke out on their own. I could be wrong though.

I was surprised about how many San Antonio had. Thanks for the list. It was extremely informational for me.

Carmax is staying in Richmond. Richmond also added Genworth Financial (spun off of GE last year), Wachovia Securities (trades independently from Wachovia Bank) and Philip Morris to bring our total to 10 (Glenn Allen is a suburb of Richmond, in Henrico County.

Wachovia Securities (trades independently from Wachovia Bank)...bring our total to 10...

Ummm, I don't know about this. I know that Wachovia Securities is headquarted in Richmond. But to my knowledge it is still a "subsidiary" of Wachovia Bank. Are you suggesting that it is going to be spun off as a seperate company? I work in banking and have not heard that. If so, that would be huge news, especially here in Charlotte.

Philip Morris isn't a separate company so they wouldn't be on the F500. They're a division of Altria Group (Philip Morris & Kraft Foods), based in New York. They moved the tobacco division headquarters to Richmond and it kept the Philip Morris name.

According to this article http://www.conway.com/ssinsider/incentive/ti0402.htm

Wachovia securities is a separate entity. Things may have changed but the deal was always billed to the people of Richmond as a new fortune 500 company headquartered here (the name has been perplexing to me). Maybe plans have changed or the break isn't final yet....

damn Altria Group!

On a related note, Richmond has nearly lost as many fortune 500 companies in the 90's as we have now. There seems to be a constant flow of these companies into and out of Richmond, but the number of companies at any given time remains basically the same...

Those that have relocated or have dropped from the 500 list...

Whitehall Robins (makers of Advil, Chapstick, Robatussin... bought by Wyeth, jobs and research facilities have actually increased in the area)

AMF, still here but bowling ain't what it used to be

Ethyl, still here but really bottomed out in around 2001-2002

Richfood (bought by Supervalu, jobs and Richfood brand remain)

Heilig Meyer (ugly furniture didn't sell so well during the tech boom, Roomstore remains but the number of stores nation wide is only about a quarter of what it once was

Reynolds Metal (bought by Alcoa, production facilities remain, all corporate jobs left, Philip Morris moved into there super cool building)

Trigon BC/ BS (bought by Anthem, jobs remain, office spaced expanded)

Pitson (they make cupling for trains, moved here form PA in the 90's, stayed for a few years then moved back)

CSX (John Snow moved to DC, the company went to Tampa or Jacksonville...)

Universal Tobacco (some years its a 500, others not, still here)

Massey Energy (coal company, still here, sometimes 500, other times not. With the increased demand for coal, their status may shift again soon)

Eskimo Pie (tasty frozen treats company was bought by another).

This End UP (at the least a 1000 company in the late 80’s, that ugly ass furniture is no longer in production, the world sighs relief.)

Nice Richmond list Spencer. It's interesting to see how companies change through the years with the never ending mergers and relocations.

I forgot a couple of Birmingham companies that were similar to some of the Richmond companies you mentioned.

Sonat Inc. - Was actually one the top/largest Bham-based Fortune 500 companies as recently as the late 90s but was bought out by Houston-based energy giant El Paso.

Energen Corporation - Is an offshoot of Sonat which I'm kinda suprised didn't make the Fortune 1000 list. They are a huge producer of natural gas. They have a pretty midrise office building in downtown Bham.

...but the deal was always billed to the people of Richmond as a new fortune 500 company headquartered here

Now, you do realize that link says the deal with Prudential was completed in 2003? And it was. If they were going to be a Fortune 500 company or Fortune 1000 company, they would have been on last year’s list. At any rate, I think you are interpreting the statements about the company and what they “are” incorrectly. Below is a quote from Wachovia’s website.

Wachovia Securities is a non-bank affiliate of Wachovia Corporation - the fourth-largest bank holding company in America by assets.
http://www.wachoviasec.com/home/corpInfo.shtml

Regardless, I've always been extremely impressed with Richmond's "corporate muscle". I think it is a highly under-rated city.

Judging from the list, I think you have a point. Richmond is definately an underrated corporate city.

Isn't Virginia considered the best state for buisness, or something of the sort?

What gets me is some cities that seem to grow like weeds and have only a couple fortune 500 companies. Altogether I think sometimes the presence of a fortune 500 company can be just fine as well. If you think about big companies and what they are worth, they pay a handful of executives high wages, but the rest of the wealth is most likely pent up in the company. Anyone get what I am saying? I guess it really depends on the company, and other offerings of the city.

^ Then on the same note you have some slower cities like Richmond or say Cincinnati, with pretty good fortune 500 status, but you dont hear of them that much unless something bad happens there... (their crime), and they dont really boom with growth.

^While its nice to have the option to say, my city has --- Fortune 500 headquarters located here, in the grand scheme of things it doesn't mean much, if most of the company's manufacturing, research and development, and back office jobs operate out of other cities.

For example, prior to CSX relocating to Jax, most of its office and rail operations and facilities were already in Jax, which was a regional headquarters. Only a few corporate big-wigs were operating out of Richmond, so it didn't really affect that city when they packed up and moved down South.

Another example is the former Lakeland based Discounts Auto Parts, who were bought out by Advance Auto Parts of Roanoke a couple of years ago. Yeah it was sad to see a home grown company cease to exist, but all of the distribution facilities for Discount are still up and running. There was about 50 or so big wig employees laid off or transferred to Advance's corporate offices, but that wasn't even noticed in the local economy.

The same goes for BOA purchasing Jax based Barnett Bank in the mid 90's. Jax lost a big time company but most, if not more, still work out of Barnett's former headquarters and support operations (now a BOA regional headquarters) based out of Jax.

I think its just as important or more, for a metro to attempt to attract regional corporate offices and large manufacturing facilities of large companies, then focusing on just the number of fortune 500s.

^Exactly! While it helps the number of Fortune companies in your city isnt the end all.

You're totally right, Lakelander.

Yes, I do realize that the article was from 2003. July if I recall correctly. I was under the impression that we were looking at a list of companies from 2003. I wouldn't expect that a company formed in 2003 to appear on the list for 2003.

I will concede (as if I have a choice) that the securities firm is still under the umbrella of Wachovia Bank and must admit, and view my screen through blurried eyes, that I feel ripped off that the local media made it out to be a new 500 company. I am happy to have the jobs though.

I do disagree that that the loss of a company like CSX isn't a big deal because not too many employees were located here. CSX took with their 17 or so jobs the corporate sponsorships they had historically bestowed upon our science museum, fine arts museum, symphony, ballet, opera, theater, public radio...why there is probably even a stream or highway in need of adoption too. High profile companies with deep pockets do wonders for a city.

I want more!!

^So there aren't any non-fortune 500 companies based in Richmond that don't support these things? How much was CSX donating every year? For every company (fortune 500, 1000 or below) that does support the arts, there's just as many that don't. Good companies contribute to cities where they have large non-headquarter facilities as well.

This doesn't mean cities shouldn't try to attract as many high paying jobs and corporate headquarters as possible. It just means its not all economic doom and gloom if you don't have 20.

This little discussion (^) is like a question I asked "Do "Headquarters" really mean anything?" And I was proved very wrong. But while on this web site, HQ's for F.500 companies might not mean much, but to the average joe, it sounds very sharp.

^But the average Joe doesn't care. Only the ones on forums like this. For example, in 27 years, I've never heard of debates like this or suburb/city comparisons or population/metro comparisons until I joined these forums.

Fortune 500 companies are not the “end all” for making a successful city. Just look at Portland Oregon, or Salt Lake City. As someone said on another post, having a good number of Fortune 1000 companies can be just as significant. But certainly, having a company's headquarters in your city makes a difference. If I were a city, I’d rather have them than not. No one can deny what BofA has done for Charlotte or what General Motors has done for Detroit. And regarding jobs, back office jobs are better than no jobs, but give me home office jobs any day of the week. I’m sure there are some laid off workers at SouthTrust in Birmingham, or Gillette employees in Boston who would agree. And before you say, “Well people at Wachovia in Charlotte and Procter and Gamble in Cincinnati got laid off too”, please understand that their situation is much better because there are always more job opportunities in a company’s home office. Case in point, I’d met a lady from Wachovia who said she moved to Charlotte from Atlanta when First Union merged with Wachovia. They told her because of the merger they were consolidating her group and the only opportunities in her field would now all be in Charlotte. Plus back office positions are shut down all the time. Charlotte has several examples of companies that cut back office operations considerably (Royal Insurance, Corning), while the Fortune 500’s have mostly either maintained or increased employment.

This doesn't mean cities shouldn't try to attract as many high paying jobs and corporate headquarters as possible. It just means its not all economic doom and gloom if you don't have 20.

^Nobody is saying cities shouldn't try to attract Fortune 500 firms or that they don't benefit the regions were their located. Its just not the end all, if a metro doesn't have a large number of them. Beacuse economic strength can come in a variety of forms (fortune 500, 1000, tourism, manufacturing, military, government, distribution, etc).

I know I just read Whole Foods joined the Fortune 500 this year. Also, Freescale Semiconductor would have been, but spun off from Motorola too late to be considered for this year. Also, AMD is about to build a new $200 million office complex, and word has it that they plan to make it their new headquarters, moving it from California. I had to mention this 'cuz Austin doesn't have many Fortune 500 headquarters. And just for people's info., Round Rock is Austin's largest suburb, and home to Dell. Also, although not headquarters, we are home to major operations of companies such as IBM, Motorola, International Sematech, Samsung, and many more.