Photographs: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
Energy, technology and financial companies were the most profitable around the world, according to CNN Money. Let's take a look at 20 most profitable companies in the world.
Source: CNN Money
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Sebastien Pirlet/Reuters
Exxon Mobil
Headquarters: Irving, Texas
Country: The United States
Total profits: $44,880.0 million
Overall rank: 1
Exxon Mobil is the world's largest publicly traded international oil and gas company, providing energy that helps underpin growing economies and improve living standards around the world.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Mike Segar/Reuters
Apple Inc
Headquarters: Cupertino, California
Country: The United States
Total profits: $41,733.0 million
Overall rank: 2
Apple is a multinational corporation that produces consumer electronics, computer software and commercial servers. Apple's core products are iPad, iPhone, iPod music player and Mac computers.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
Gazprom
Headquarters: Moscow
Country: Russia
Total profits: $38,086.2 million
Overall rank: 3
Gazprom is a global energy company. Its major business lines are geological exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and sales of gas, gas condensate and oil, as well as generation and marketing of heat and electric power.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Jason Lee/Reuters
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
Headquarters: Beijing
Country: China
Total profits: $37,806.5 million
Overall rank: 4
At the end of the year, ICBC had 408,859 employees under payroll. ICBC provided a wide range of financial products and services to 4.11 million corporate clients and 282 million individual customers through 16,648 outlets across China, 239 overseas subsidiaries and a global network of more than 1,669 correspondent banks as well as Internet banking, telephone banking and self-service banking.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Aly Song/Reuters
China Construction Bank
Headquarters: Beijing
Country: China
Total profits: $30,618.2 million
Overall rank: 5
At the end of 2011, it had a network of 13,581 branches and sub-branches in China, maintained overseas branches in Hong Kong, Singapore, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Seoul, New York, Ho Chi Minh City and Sydney, and representative offices in Taipei and Moscow.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Carlos Barria/Reuters
Volkswagen
Headquarters: Wolfsburg
Country: Germany
Total profits: $27,909.1 million
Overall rank: 6
The Volkswagen Group with its headquarters in Wolfsburg is one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers and the largest carmaker in Europe. In 2012, the group increased the number of vehicles delivered to customers to 9.276 million, corresponding to a 12.8 per cent share of the world passenger car market.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Robin van Lonkhuijsen/United Photos/Reuters
Shell
Headquarters: The Hague
Country: The Netherlands
Total profits: $26,592.0 million
Overall rank: 7
Shell is a global group of energy and petrochemical companies. It operates in more than 70 countries and has more than 87,000 employees.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
Chevron
Headquarters: San Ramon, California
Country: The United States
Total profits: $26,179.0 million
Overall rank: 8
In 2012, Chevron's average net production was 2.61 million barrels of oil-equivalent per day. About 75 per cent of that production occurred outside the United States. Chevron had a global refining capacity of 1.95 million barrels of oil per day at the end of 2012.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Bobby Yip/Reuters
Agricultural Bank of China
Headquarters: Beijing
Country: China
Total profits: $22,996.9 million
Overall rank: 9
In 2012, the bank had 23,472 domestic branch outlets, including the head office, the business department of the head office, three specialised institutions managed by the head office, 37 tier-1 branches (including branches directly managed by the head office), 348 tier-2 branches (including business departments of branches in provinces), 3,482 tier-1 sub-branches (including business departments in municipalities, business departments of branches directly managed by the head office and business departments of tier-2 branches), and 19,600 other establishments.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters
Bank of China
Headquarters: Beijing
Country: China
Total profits: $22,099.5 million
Overall rank: 10
As China's most international and diversified bank, Bank of China provides a comprehensive range of financial services to customers across the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and 36 overseas countries.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
JP Morgan Chase & Company
Headquarters: New York
Country: The United States
Total profits: $21,284.0 million
Overall rank: 11
JPMorgan Chase & Company is one of the oldest, largest and best-known financial institutions in the world. The firm's legacy dates back to 1799 when its earliest predecessor was chartered in New York City.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Lee Jae-won/Reuters
Samsung Electronics
Headquarters: Seoul
Country: South Korea
Total profits: $20,585.7 million
Overall rank: 12
From its inception as a small export business in Taegu, South Korea, Samsung has grown to become one of the world's leading electronics companies, specialising in digital appliances and media, semiconductors, memory, and system integration.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Gary Cameron/Reuters
Wells Fargo
Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Country: The United States
Total profits: $18,897.0 million
Overall rank: 13
Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company providing banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 9,000 stores and more than 12,000 ATMs and the Internet across North America and internationally.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Stringer/Reuters
China National Petroleum
Headquarters: Beijing
Country: China
Total profits: $18,195.9 million
Overall rank: 14
CNPC is China's largest oil and gas producer and supplier, as well as one of the world's major oilfield service providers and a globally reputed contractor in engineering construction.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Molly Riley/Reuters
Fannie Mae
Headquarters: Washington, DC
Country: The United States
Total profits: $17,220.0 million
Overall rank: 15
Fannie Mae is the leading source of residential mortgage credit in the US secondary market. It reported $8.1 billion in net income for the first quarter of 2013‚ its fifth consecutive quarterly profit and the largest quarterly pre-tax income in its history.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Rick Wilking/Reuters
Walmart Stores
Headquarters: Rogers, Arkansas
Country: The United States
Total profits: $16,999.0 million
Overall rank: 16
Each week, more than 245 million customers and members visit its 10,800 stores under 69 banners in 27 countries and e-commerce websites in 10 countries. With fiscal year 2013 sales of about $466 billion, Walmart employs 2.2 million associates worldwide.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Charles Platiau/Reuters
Microsoft
Headquarters: Redmond, Washington
Country: The United States
Total profits: $16,978.0 million
Overall rank: 17
Microsoft, the world's largest software manufacturer, has more than 90,000 employees in over 190 countries.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Toru Hanai/Reuters
International Business Machines
Headquarters: New York
Country: The United States
Total profits: $16,604.0 million
Overall rank: 18
IBM is a global technology and innovation company that stands for progress. With operations in over 170 countries, IBMers around the world invent and integrate hardware, software and services to help forward-thinking enterprises, institutions and people everywhere succeed in building a smarter planet.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Bazuki Muhammad/Reuters
Petronas
Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur
Country: Malaysia
Total profits: $16,001.1 million
Overall rank: 19
Petronas is the national oil and gas company of Malaysia and is wholly-owned by the Government of Malaysia. Together with its subsidiaries and associated companies, Petronas, a Fortune Global 500 company, has fully integrated oil and gas operations in a broad spectrum of the oil and gas value-chain.
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20 most profitable companies in the world
Photographs: Mick Tsikas/Reuters
BHP Billiton
Headquarters: Melbourne
Country: Australia
Total profits: $15,417.0 million
Overall rank: 20
BHP Billiton is among the world’s largest producers of major commodities, including aluminium, coal, copper, iron ore, manganese, nickel, silver and uranium, and have substantial interests in oil and gas.
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