Apple, world's most valuable public company, is first to hit $3 trillion ...

Apple has become the first publicly-traded company to have a market value of $3 trillion or more at the close of Wall Street's trading day.

The iPhone and Mac computer company had been valued at $2.98 trillion when the market closed on Thursday, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. Apple's stock price rose 2.21% on Friday to $193.78, driving the tech giant's market cap to $3.05 billion.

The "historic" achievement marks "another milestone for a technology juggernaut that has reshaped society with a line-up of products that churn out eye-popping profits," said Daniel Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities, in a note to investors Friday.

Apple, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, passed the $3 trillion market cap milestone in January 2022, but the stock price subsequently fell 25% over the rest of the year to $130 before beginning the current climb.

While the $3 trillion market value achievement is largely symbolic, its magnitude is still breathtaking, The Associated Press noted, calculating that $3 trillion could buy nearly 9 million homes in the U.S., based on the average sales price during the past year as calculated by Zillow.

Overall, the stock market had a good day with the Nasdaq composite index, which includes Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and more than 3,000 other companies, up 1.45% and closing the first six months of 2023 up more than 31%, for its best first half since 1983, according to CNBC.

Apple, which along with Microsoft and chipmaker Nvidia is in the S&P 500, have helped it rise 16% – its best first half since 2019, CNBC reported. The Dow has risen 3.8% for the year and was on track for its best month since November and its third winning quarter.

Tech's trillion-dollar club – Amazon, Microsoft and more – over the years

Back in September 2018, Amazon surpassed $1 trillion in market value to join Apple, which had passed that mark the month before.

By 2020, Alphabet and Microsoft had joined those companies in the $1 trillion club. But many tech companies – Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft among them – lost billions during 2022.

Apple overcame supply chain issues and a tough economy to return to the $3 trillion market cap mark, Ives said. And the company could become even more valuable with its promised Vision Pro VR headset next year – and demand for new iPhones, some of which could be more durable with rumored titanium frames coming to some models.

Factor in apps for the VR headset and Apple's growing services revenue, in general, and Apple's "fair valuation could be in the $3.5 trillion range with a bull case $4 trillion valuation by FY25," Ives said.

What are the most valuable public companies after Apple?

These are the world's ten largest companies based on market cap, according to CompaniesMarketCap.com:

Apple – $3.05 trillion

Microsoft – $2.53 trillion

Saudi Aramco – $2.08 trillion

NVIDIA – $1.94 trillion

Alphabet – $1.53 trillion

Amazon – $1.34 trillion

Tesla – $830 billion

Berkshire Hathaway – $745 billion

Meta Platforms (Facebook) – $735 billion

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. – $523 billion

Contributing: The Associated Press

Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.

Saudi Aramco eclipses Apple to once again become the world's ...

Hong Kong CNN Business —

Saudi Aramco has overtaken Apple as the world’s most valuable company, underscoring the recent surge in oil prices that have boosted the energy giant this year.

Aramco is now worth about $2.43 trillion, compared with Apple’s $2.37 trillion, according to data from Refinitiv.

Market capitalizations fluctuate frequently: earlier this year, Apple (AAPL) hit the $3 trillion mark, becoming the first to do so and making it by far the most valuable company on the planet.

Aramco at one point also held that mantle after a historic initial public offering in 2019, which propelled its valuation to $2 trillion.

But the latest market moves point to how the outlook for energy and tech producers have shifted lately.

This year, oil prices have soared to record highs, particularly on concerns about disruptions of supply from Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, has climbed about 36% so far this year, and was last trading at $106.2 a barrel.

That has buoyed players like Saudi Aramco, whose shares are up 27% so far this year.

Meanwhile, Apple’s stock has fallen more than 17% since January.

The iPhone maker has recently been weighed down by major supply chain headaches, particularly in China, where several of its suppliers’ factories have been temporarily caught in the country’s Covid lockdowns.

Last month, Apple warned of huge losses related to the ongoing situation, saying that production and logistics issues could hit its sales by as much as $4 billion to $8 billion this quarter.

Apple’s constraints were “primarily centered around the Shanghai corridor,” CEO Tim Cook said in an earnings call.

Dan Ives, managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, called the impact of the lockdowns “the albatross for the June quarter,” saying in a report that Apple’s supply chain woes in China would likely remain the “peak worry” for investors in the short term.

But concerns may “subside” in the second half of the year, when the company is expected to launch a new iPhone 14, he added.

Who could join Apple in Wall Street's $1 trillion stock club?

Apple is the reigning king of Wall Street, the newest and only member of Wall Street's $1 Trillion Stock Club.

Who's next?

That's the $1,000,000,000,000 question stock traders and 401(k) investors are pondering after the iPhone maker on Thursday became the first U.S. publicly traded stock to surpass a market value of $1 trillion.

Finding companies with the clout, the sales, the killer product and the dominance to grow into a stock with a 13-digit market capitalization is all about focusing on the giants, the biggest companies that populate the large-company Standard & Poor's 500 stock index.

Gaining entrance to the club isn't about who you know. It's all about corporate wealth – or how much a company is worth measured in stock value.

Here are three American-born tech giants that could soon be hanging out with Apple in $1 trillion stock club.

Amazon

(Market value: $889 billion; 12.5 percent shy of $1 trillion)

The Jeff Bezos-led juggernaut is not only the king of the retail e-commerce space, with roughly 50% of the total market, according to eMarketer, it is also a lead player in the public cloud computing business via its Amazon Web Services unit. Additionally, Amazon makes lots of money – and its earnings are expected to keep growing at a fast clip. In the quarter that ended in June, Amazon reported sales of $52.9 billion and a profit of $2.5 billion, the first time its quarterly net income has topped $2 billion. The company told Wall Street it expects third-quarter net sales of $54 billion to $57.5 billion, which equates to year-over-year growth of 23 percent to 31 percent. After Amazon's strong second-quarter results, Michael Graham, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity, raised his price target from $2,000 a share to $2,100. Achieving that would hurtle Amazon past the $1 trillion market value barrier. The bull case of Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak is $2,800, which would propel Amazon's market capitalization to nearly $1.4 trillion. Amazon shares closed at $1,823.29 on Friday.

Alphabet

(Market value: $851 billion; 17.5 percent shy of $1 trillion)

Google is the place many people go for internet searches. The world's leading search engine has leveraged that into a massive advertising business that helps Google parent Alphabet ring up huge profits. The company reported sales of $32.7 billion and a profit of $3.2 billion in this year's second quarter, and that was after accounting for a $5.1 billion fine imposed by the European Commission. Alphabet also is sitting on lots of cash — $102.3 billion as of June 30. The money allows it to buy back its own shares, which makes the company's earnings look even better, as well as invest in itself. The company spent $5.1 billion in research and development in the second quarter, money that's being put to work in investments such as Waymo, its self-driving-car project, artificial intelligence projects and its YouTube video streaming service.

More:How Tim Cook and the iPhone made Apple America's first $1 trillion company

More:Apple makes history by becoming first US company to reach $1 trillion market value

More:Apple jumps after strong third-quarter report

KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Andy Hargreaves continued to recommend the company's shares in a note to clients July 23, writing that "Alphabet continues to invest heavily in front of large growth opportunities, while its core ad business continues to churn out impressive growth.” Alphabet shares closed at $1,238.16 on Friday.

Microsoft

(Market value: $830 billion; 20.5 percent shy of $1 trillion)

Under CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft has transformed itself from an "old tech" company to one on the cutting edge of one of the tech industry's fastest-growing businesses: cloud computing. A 23 percent jump in revenue to $9.6 billion in the quarter ended in June helped drive a 17 percent overall increase in sales to $30.1 billion. "Our early investments in the intelligent cloud ... are paying off," Nadella said in the company's most recent earnings report. Wall Street analysts remain bullish on the stock, with Oppenheimer's Timothy Horan recently raising his price target to $120. That would put the shares within striking distance of a $1 trillion market cap. "We expect a very strong next few quarters," Horan told clients in a research note. Microsoft shares closed at $108.04 Friday.

Apple has become the world's first $3 trillion company | CNN Business

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The 40 biggest moments in Apple history

Brett Molina

USA TODAY

On Friday, Apple reached a major milestone in its history, celebrating 40 years since it was founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

It was a long road to becoming one of the world's biggest tech names, nearly reaching the edge of a financial collapse before Jobs returned to save the company and launch its most important products.

On Apple's 40th birthday, we look back at the 40 biggest moments in company history:

1. April 1, 1976: Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak form Apple.

While hanging out together as part of the Homebrew Computer Club, the two friends formed Apple from Jobs' garage. "We first met during my college years, while he was in high school," Wozniak said in a 2007 interview with ABC News. "It was 1971 when a friend said, you should meet Steve Jobs, because he likes electronics and he also plays pranks. So he introduced us."

2. The Apple I computer is born.

Jobs and Wozniak create their first device: the Apple I computer. It sold for $666.66. Only 200 Apple I computers were built, making it a collector's item. Last year, a model sold for $200,000.

3. The Apple II arrives one year later.

The duo's second attempt at creating a personal computer was far more successful. The device is credited with helping to spark a revolution in personal computers for the home.

4. The Beatles vs. Apple.

The legendary band's record label, Apple Corp, sued Apple Computer over its use of the apple logo and name. Both sides reached a settlement where Apple Computer agreed to only use its name in the tech business, while Apple Corp stuck to music. Both sides would squabble over the trademark multiple times before finally settling for good in 2006.

5. Apple goes public.

Shares of Apple began trading on Dec. 12, 1980, opening at $22 a share. On that day, Apple boasted a market cap of $1.2 billion. Today, it's above $600 billion.

6. Wozniak takes a leave of absence.

Apple's co-founder stepped away from the company following a plane crash in 1981 leaving him seriously injured. Wozniak briefly returned to Apple, but left for good in 1985.

7. John Sculley takes over.

Lured by Jobs, the former PepsiCo executive joined Apple as its next CEO. When he started in 1983, Apple was worth $800 million. When he left the company 10 years later, Apple was worth $8 billion. Sculley recounts the pitch Jobs presented during the PBS series The Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires. "He looked up at me and just stared at me with the stare that only Steve Jobs has and he said do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or do you want to come with me and change the world," said Sculley. "I just gulped because I knew I would wonder for the rest of my life what I would have missed."

8. The first Mac is unveiled.

Say farewell to typing in commands. The next line of Apple computers was arguably among the most important, introducing key concepts still in use today including a graphical user interface, where users interact with the computer through a selection of on-screen icons.

9. The 1984 ad.

Aired during Super Bowl XVIII, the TV commercial used clips of dystopian film "1984" to introduce the line of Macintosh computers.

10. Jobs leaves Apple.

The man Jobs recruited as Apple's next CEO would ultimately push the co-founder out. John Sculley helped organize a boardroom coup in 1985, and Jobs would go on to start another computer company called NeXT.

11. Apple sues Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard.

A lawsuit filed by Apple for $5.5 billion claimed Microsoft's newly-launched Windows operating system and HP's New Wave copied the "look and feel" of the graphical user interface available on the Macintosh. Most of the claims were tossed by a federal judge in a ruling in April 1992.

12. The first Powerbook arrives.

Apple takes the leap into portable computing with its first laptop. The line would later be replaced by the MacBook.

13. The Newton bombs.

Way, way, way before the iPhone came the Newton, Apple's personal digital assistant. It boasted a killer feature — handwriting recognition -- that never seemed to work, and that generated plenty of ridicule.

The device was immediately shelved after the return of Jobs, or as Wired puts it in a 2013 piece: "The Newton wasn’t just killed, it was violently murdered, dragged into a closet by its hair and kicked to death in its youth by one of technology’s great men."

14. Apple acquires NeXT.

Also known as the moment Steve Jobs returned to Apple. The co-founder's software firm is scooped up by Apple for $400 million. Jobs was appointed an adviser, reporting to CEO Gil Amelio.

15. Jobs becomes Apple’s interim CEO.

Jobs is named to the top role at Apple on a temporary basis while the company searches for a replacement for Amelio, ousted in 1997. During a radio interview, Amelio supported Jobs' return even after his departure, according to a 1997 CNet report. "I told him, 'Steve, I'll never be as charismatic as you are, and you'll never be as good of an operating manager as I am. You can't run a corporation...by just being cool,'" said Amelio.

16. The iMac debuts.

While still serving on an interim basis, Jobs unveils the iMac desktop computer, a model that remains a part of Apple's lineup today. The iMacs boasting colorful displays were soon replaced by flat displays.

The reveal of the iMac was one of Jobs' first event appearances since taking over at Apple.

17. Jobs interim no longer.

Apple's co-founder formally takes the company's top role, kicking off what would be one of its most successful runs in tech.

18. Apple's first retail store opens.

The tech giant reveals in 2001 it will open 25 stores, with the first two arriving in Glendale, Calif., and McLean, Va. The stores introduced the Genius Bar, where Apple owners get support for their computers. Apple now boasts hundreds of stores in the U.S. alone.

19. Apple introduces iPod.

Oh, this portable music player was only the device pushing Apple toward an epic financial rebound. Did I mention it also changed the way we buy music? Yeah, not a big deal at all. It also produced some classic ads.

20. iTunes launches.

Wait, you don't need to buy CDs any more to enjoy music? Awesome. It also meant CD owners had to spend hours importing collections into a digital format.

21. Jobs diagnosed with cancer.

In 2003, the Apple CEO was diagnosed with a form of pancreatic cancer. He waited until the following year to tell Apple employees.

22. Apple switches to Intel.

The chip maker known for its work on PCs agrees to a deal with Apple to build processors for Macs. As Envisioneering analyst Richard Doherty put it when rumors of the deal surfaced: "It's like Ferrari going to BMW for an engine."

23. The Stanford commencement speech.

"Stay hungry. Stay foolish."

24. The backdated options controversy.

Apple admitted to backdating — boosting the value of stock option awards by manipulating dates -- for more than 6,000 grants. Apple had been accused of backdating then covering it up. "I apologize to Apple's shareholders and employees for these problems, which happened on my watch," said Jobs in 2006, when Apple's independent investigation found no wrongdoing. "They are completely out of character for Apple."

25. Apple unveils iPhone.

Where to begin. Unfurled in early 2007, it made smartphones household, can't-live-without items. It helped create a world of apps. It changed how we live, work and entertain ourselves. Last year, lifetime sales of the iPhone topped 700 million. Although the iPod started Apple's hot streak, the iPhone was its most important device.

26. The App Store opens for business.

Roughly a year after the iPhone launches, Apple creates an online store where users can download third-party applications. Two months after the App Store arrived in June 2008, it topped 100 million downloads. Today, the App Store boasts more than 11 million developers.

27. Jobs receives a liver transplant.

Stoking fears about the health of Apple's leader, a hospital in Tennessee confirms Jobs was recovering following a liver transplant. Officials called his prognosis following the procedure "excellent."

28. Apple announces iPad.

Apple tackles tablets next with the unveiling of its "magical and revolutionary" iPad in 2010. This would also mark the last new product reveal from Jobs. But the reach of Apple's mobile devices would expand quickly. Worldwide, there are more than 1 billion active devices running Apple's iOS operating system.

29. Foxconn working conditions.

Apple and other tech companies faced growing scrutiny from humans rights groups following a series of suicides at Chinese company Foxconn, which helped make the iPhone and other tech products. Long working hours and low wages were cited among the reasons for the spike in suicides. The problem was serious enough that Foxconn installed "suicide nets" to prevent attempts.

30. Jobs takes leave.

Apple's CEO takes his second leave of absence since 2009 to address his health. "I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can," said Jobs in a 2011 memo to employees.

31. Jobs steps down as CEO.

In a shocking move months after taking leave, Jobs resigns. Tim Cook is named Apple's next CEO. "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know," wrote Jobs in a letter address to the company's board and the Apple community. "Unfortunately, that day has come."

32. Steve Jobs dies.

He was 56, when he passed away on Oct. 5, 2011.

33. The smartphone patent wars.

Apple's battle in the courtroom against Samsung began in 2011, when the company accused the electronics maker of copying the look and features of the iPhone with its line of Galaxy smartphones. The battle has gone all the way to the Supreme Court, which said this month it will review an appeal by Samsung on the ruling that awarded Apple $548 million in damages.

34. Move over, Exxon.

In 2011, Apple overtook the oil giant as the world's most valuable company. The two companies would trade places at the top spot over the next several years, with Google parent company Alphabet jumping into the mix.

35. Apple faces Congress over taxes.

Apple CEO Tim Cook traveled to Washington to defend the tech giant against claims it avoids paying its taxes. "We pay all the taxes we owe, every single dollar," said Cook during a hearing with a Senate subcommittee. In a later interview with 60 Minutes, Cook called the complaints "political crap."

36. Apple acquires Beats.

Apple takes a huge plunge into digital music by acquiring Beats Electronics, makers of the trendy Beats headphones, for more than $3 billion in May 2014. Apple would leverage Beats' expertise toward its own streaming music service, called Apple Music.

37. That free U2 album.

At the end of its fall 2014 event, when it introduced the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, rock band U2 performed. After the performance, U2 and Tim Cook announced the band's new album would be free to everyone. However, not many people were thrilled with a free U2 album invading their libraries, prompting Apple to instruct users how to hide it.

(Side note: it also lead to one of the weirdest handshakes between Cook and Bono).

38. ‘I’m proud to be gay'

In an essay published in October 2014, Tim Cook publicly confirmed he is gay, making him the highest-profile executive to come out. "It is a game changer for corporate America," said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD.

39. Apple Watch is announced.

Apple joins companies including Samsung, Pebble and Fitbit in the wearables market with the Apple Watch. Although the Watch hasn't become a massive hit like earlier products, analysts project the device to eventually catch on with consumers.

40. Apple takes on the government.

A federal judge on Feb. 16, 2016, rules Apple must comply with an FBI order to unlock an iPhone used by one of the killers in the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings. Apple refuses, saying the solution Apple would create is equivalent to building a "back door" on the iPhone. The FBI withdrew its case on March 28 after breaking into the phone without Apple's help.

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.

Forecast: 10 most profitable U.S. companies in 2013

Douglas A. McIntyre, 24/7 Wall St.com

Despite recent stock price drop%2C Apple expected to stay on top

No big growth surges for Microsoft%2C but its software dominance continues

Exxon embraces clean energy%2C plans to invest %24185 billion next 5 years

Each January, 24/7 Wall St. forecasts the publicly traded U.S. companies that will have the highest profits in the year ahead.

This year, Apple (AAPL) almost certainly will keep first place, well ahead of No. 2 Exxon (XOM), as the most profitable corporation in America. It already passed the oil giant in market capitalization. However, while the market appears to anticipate continued rapid growth from Apple, its prospects have dimmed somewhat. After reaching all-time highs last year, Apple's stock advance has stopped and shares have sold off recently.

The list of most profitable companies is still dominated by oil companies, banks and big tech. A look back at profits over the past five years shows that this trend has continued. Some of these companies have not grown much on the top line of revenue for several years. But they continue to be earnings machines because of their long-time sales success, which will help them produce higher profits in the foreseeable future. Microsoft (MFST) is the best example of this. The software company is no longer considered a leader in the tech world, a position taken by public corporations like Google (GOOG) . Yet, Microsoft's Windows and business franchises still have huge profit margins. Microsoft's net income is greater than that of almost all other tech firms.

24/7 Wall St. used Capital IQ data to identify companies with the largest profits, defined as net income, over the past 12 months. This included revenue and earnings forecasts and pricing data. We reviewed earnings forecasts for the final quarter of 2012 and for the full year of 2013 to gauge growth prospects. In addition, 24/7 Wall St. looked at the top 100 companies in the Fortune 500 based on revenue and again reviewed earnings and earnings forecasts for these based on Capital IQ data. Here are what 24/7 Wall St. predicts will be the 10 most profitable companies of 2013:

1. Apple, market cap: $491.6 billion

• Forecast: Revenue of $191 billion, up 23%, earnings of $46 billion, up 10%

• Stock price: $500, trading between $418.66 – $705.07 per share

More than a year after the death of co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, Apple's efforts to maintain preeminence in the smartphone and tablet PC markets are under constant scrutiny. Apple's pace of change has been remarkable. When it launched the iPhone, the company was a PC and portable music player company. Just over five years late, the iPhone accounts for almost half of Apple's revenue and two-thirds of its profits. Competition from a broad array of products from other companies, led by the Samsung line of smartphones and Amazon.com's Kindle tablet, has eroded Apple's lead. Apps built for the Google Android mobile operating system threatens Apple's strength in the app business, in which it has had a mammoth lead. There is a great deal of speculation about what Apple will do to remain ahead of its competition in all markets, including talk of launching an Apple TV and a cheaper version of the iPhone. Nervousness about Apple's prospects have pushed down its shares about 15% the past six months.

2. Exxon Mobil, market cap: $406.2 billion

• Forecast: Revenue of $473 billion, down 1%, earnings of $37 billion, up 2%

• Stock price: $90.80, trading between $77.13 -- $93.67 per share

Exxon Mobil is the world's fourth-largest oil company, the largest company in the U.S. based on revenue, and the second-largest public corporation in the world based on market cap. Like most large energy companies, Exxon has made a large bet on the oil sands business, a relatively new way to produce significant amounts of crude. It also continues to increase its capacity to bring crude from deep-sea locations, and it is investing $14 billion in the Hebron fields off the coast of Newfoundland. As have most of the world's largest energy companies, Exxon has embraced the clean energy and fuel-efficiency movements, and it says it plans to spend a staggering $185 billion in energy projects the next five years.

3. (tie) Chevron (CVX), market cap: $216.2 billion

• Forecast: Revenue of $260 billion, up 8%, earnings of $24 billion, unchanged

• Stock price: $110.47, trading between $95.73 -- $118.53 per share

Chevron is the third-largest company in the U.S., based on revenue, according to Fortune, behind Wal-Mart and Exxon. Like most other large U.S. oil and diversified energy firms, much of Chevron's revenue comes from overseas. In the most recent quarter, Chevron's total sales were $55.7 billion, of which $32.4 billion was pegged as "international." Chevron recently forecast its financial results for the final quarter of 2012 would be particularly strong. Chevron has significant operations in the natural gas sector, operates gas stations under the Chevron, Texaco and Caltex brands, and has large shipping and pipeline operations. Chevron's stock has outperformed those of most of its global peers over the past five years and has risen 20% over that period.

3. (tie) Microsoft, market cap: $222.7 billion

• Forecast: Revenue of $80 billion, up 9%, earnings of $24 billion, up 7%

• Stock price: $27.25, trading between $22.26 -- $32.95 per share

Microsoft, once the most powerful and largest software company in the world, has fallen on hard times. Its flagship product — Windows — was recently updated. The new operating system, Windows 8, has not done well, partly because global PC sales have slowed considerably. Unfortunately for Microsoft, PC sales are not expected to improve this year, as consumers move to tablets and smartphones. Microsoft has several other challenges. Its Online Services Division, made up of its Bing search engine and MSN portal, has struggled with losses. Google remains the dominant search engine by far, which has hurt Bing's growth chances. Microsoft has also had trouble gaining adoption of its mobile Windows product, which relies in large part on its partnership with handset giant Nokia (NOK). Microsoft's struggles have hurt it on Wall Street — its stock is down more than 20% the past five years.

5. JP Morgan Chase (JPM), market cap: $175.4 billion

• Forecast: Revenue of $100 billion, up 2%, earnings of $20 billion, up 6%

• Stock price: $46.46, trading between $30.83 -- $46.49 per share

Until recently, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was considered the preeminent chief executive in his industry. His name was often mentioned as a possible candidate for Treasury Secretary when Tim Geithner retired. As a matter of fact, Warren Buffett said he favored Dimon for the job. But JP Morgan has had its share of trouble recently, and Obama's chief of staff, Jack Lew, was nominated to be the next Treasury secretary. The heart of JP Morgan's trouble was a large trade that cost the bank more than $6 billion. It was made by London investment employee Bruno Iksil, who has been called the "London Whale" because of the magnitude of the hit to JP Morgan's financials. Dimon readily admitted that poor management was the cause of the problem, which cost the bank's chief investment officer her job and caused Dimon to replace the head of London trading operations. As a result, Dimon lost most of his bonus for last year.

6. (tie) Wells Fargo (WFC), market cap: $183.4 billion

• Forecast: Revenue of $85 billion, down 1%, earnings of $19 billion, up 9%

• Stock price: $34.93, trading between $28.77 – $36.60 per share

Wells Fargo is one of America's "big four" commercial banks, alongside Chase, Citigroup (C) and Bank of America (BAC). The company recently reported better-than-expected earnings. The quality of those numbers confirmed what many analysts believe: Wells Fargo has been able to build "a reputation as one of the strongest banks in the country," as ABC News reported. An indication of Wall Street's admiration for the bank is that its share price has well outperformed its peers the past five years. Like the other large American banks, Well Fargo is highly diversified. It has retail bank operations, commercial operations that handle business lending, an investment bank and a wealth management business.

6. (tie) International Business Machines (IBM), market cap: $217.9 billion

• Forecast: Revenue of $107 billion, up 2%, earnings of $19 billion, up 10%

•Stock price: $194.47, trading between $177.35 – $211.79 per share

IBM is one of America's largest tech companies. It is also one of the most diverse. Its strength in sales to corporations and government has allowed it to largely avoid many of the troubles that have faced firms like Dell (DELL) and HewlettPackard (HPQ), which are more dependent on sales to consumers. IBM has significant operations in Europe and Asia. It sells hardware — including mainframe computers — software and IT services. It also has consulting operations and a finance division. IBM is one of America's oldest tech companies, and in 2011 celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding. The company last year appointed its first female CEO — Ginni Rometty.

8. General Electric (GE), market cap of $222 billion

• Forecast: Revenue of $148 billion, up 2%, earnings of $18 billion, up 11%

• Stock price: $22.04, trading between $18.02 – $23.18 per share

GE is considered the world's largest conglomerate. It provides global infrastructure products and services, health care systems, jet engines and transportation services, and household appliances. It also has a large financial services division. One of the major criticisms of GE management is that the company has grown very little over the past several years. Wall Sreet has reacted negatively, and the stock price has fallen by over a third over the past five years. GE CEO Jeff Immelt is highly visible in business and government circles, and currently heads the U.S. Jobs Council set up by President Obama.

9. Pfizer ( PFE), market cap: $197 billion

• Forecast: Revenue of $58 billion, down 1%, earnings of $17 billion, up 6%

• Stock price: $26.54, trading between $20.75 – $26.77 per share

Pfizer's largest challenge, like that of most other large pharmaceutical companies, is the expiration of patents for much of its drug portfolio. Cheaper, generic versions of these drugs have taken market share. In a recent example, Pfizer had to drop the price of Viagra in Canada to compete with generic versions sold there. Pfizer has gone through a series of layoffs to protect its margins, most recently at its U.S. sales operations. In the latest reported quarter, revenue fell to $14 billion from $16.6 billion in the same period a year ago.

10. Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), market cap: $228.7 billion

• Forecast: Revenue of $467 billion, up 5%, earnings of $16 billion, up 10%

• Stock price: $69.20, trading between $57.18 – $77.60 per share

Wal-Mart employs more than 2 million people, making it the largest company in America by headcount. In the most recent Fortune 500 ranking, Wal-Mart fell just behind Exxon in total revenue. Wal-Mart is made up primarily of three divisions: Wal-Mart's domestic stores, its Sam's Club warehouse operation and Wal-Mart International. Wal-Mart has had a year marked by scandal. Allegedly, executives at the company's Mexico division bribed government officials. Democratic Congressmen Elijah E. Cummings and Henry A. Waxman recently released information indicating Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke was aware as early as 2005 of allegations company executives had bribed Mexican government officials.

McIntyre is a partner of 24/7 Wall St.,a financial news website.

The year that brought high-flying Silicon Valley back down to earth ...

CNN —

On the first trading day of 2022, Apple hit a new milestone for the tech industry: the iPhone maker became the first publicly traded company to hit a $3 trillion market cap, with Microsoft and Google not far behind. As eye-popping as that valuation was, there were headlines speculating about how long it would be before Apple and its rivals topped $5 trillion.

The tech industry, already dominant, only seemed destined to grow even bigger at the start of this year. The spread of the Omicron variant suggested a continued pandemic-fueled demand for digital goods and services, which had buoyed many tech companies. Near 0% interest rates meant startups still had easy access to the funding that had fueled their high valuations and risky ventures.

But the year is ending on a much different note. A perfect storm of factors have forced a dizzying reality check for the once high-flying tech sector, making it one of the biggest losers of 2022.

Over the course of the year, pandemic-era demand for many tech tools shifted; inflation soared; interest rates rose and fears of a looming recession weighed on consumer and advertiser spending, the latter of which makes up the core business of many household names in tech.

The result was a bloodbath unlike anything the tech industry has seen in the past decade. Tech stocks plunged, amid a broader market downturn. Tens of thousands of rank-and-file tech workers lost their livelihoods amid mass layoffs, both at tech giants like Amazon and Facebook-parent Meta as well as at smaller tech companies like Lyft, Peloton and Stripe. The crypto world all but imploded. And an entire industry known for burning cash on ambitious moonshots instead started shutting down projects and announcing cost-cutting efforts.

Even the title of world’s richest man, which previously belonged to serial tech founder Elon Musk, ended up passing to Bernard Arnault, the chairman of French luxury goods giant LVMH, after Musk’s chaotic purchase of Twitter appeared to sour investors on his car company, Tesla.

The sharp shift in sentiment not only removed the air of invincibility for the industry; it also exposed some of its underlying myths. For years, Silicon Valley has held up its founders as visionaries who can see far into the future. But suddenly, many of its most prominent founders had to admit a harsh truth: they couldn’t even predict two years ahead.

As Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg put it in a memo to staff last month announcing the company would cut 11,000 employees: “Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected.”

He was far from the only one in the industry caught off guard.

Silicon Valley’s rude awakening

When the pandemic upended the broader economy in early 2020, tech firms only seemed to grow bigger and more powerful as people were forced to live out their lives online. Facebook (now Meta) could afford to nearly double its headcount and make multi-billion-dollar bets on a future version of the internet dubbed the metaverse. Amazon similarly went on a hiring spree and doubled its fulfilment center footprint to meet the surge in online shopping demand.

“At the start of Covid, the world rapidly moved online and the surge of e-commerce led to outsized revenue growth,” Zuckerberg wrote in his memo to staff last month. “Many people predicted this would be a permanent acceleration that would continue even after the pandemic ended. I did too, so I made the decision to significantly increase our investments.”

Then the market shifted.

A person walking past the offices of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, in King's Cross, London, on November 9. Meta has confirmed it plans to cut more than 11,000 jobs globally as part of a major restructuring of the tech giant. The cuts will reduce the size of the company's workforce by about 13 percent. Joshua Bratt/PA Images/Getty Images

“People are terrible at predicting the future, and we always think that what’s happening now is going to happen forever,” Angela Lee, a professor at Columbia Business School who teaches venture capital, leadership, and strategy courses, told CNN. “But the reality is that the pandemic was a black swan event, and none of us knew what would happen going forward.”

One by one, the visionaries of Silicon Valley issued mea culpas. The founders of Stripe, Twitter and Facebook each took turns admitting they either grew their companies too quickly or were overly optimistic about pandemic-fueled growth in their sector.

“We were much too optimistic about the internet economy’s near-term growth in 2022 and 2023 and underestimated both the likelihood and impact of a broader slowdown,” Patrick Collison, CEO of Stripe, wrote in a note to employees last month announcing 14% of the staff would be cut.

It wasn’t only a shift in consumers living their lives offline again that hurt the industry. The tech sector was particularly pummeled by the impacts of rising interest rates this year. Silicon Valley as a whole is arguably more sensitive to interest rate hikes than other industries, as many tech companies rely on easy access to funding to pursue their ambitious projects, typically before even turning a profit.

In a move to tame inflation, the Fed approved seven-straight rate hikes in 2022. Since the beginning of the year, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index shed more than 30% as of Dec. 21. By comparison, the Nasdaq soared more than 40% in 2020 and a further 20% in 2021. And the S&P 500’s Information Technology sector shed more than 28% this year through Dec. 21, considerably higher than the broader S&P 500’s fall of just 19% over that same period.

Apple’s market cap now hovers just above $2 trillion. Amazon’s stock has shed some 50% year to date. And shares for Meta have been hit even harder, losing nearly two thirds of their value in 2022. Once a trillion-dollar business last year, Meta has since seen its market value drop below companies like Home Depot.

‘Return to sanity’

The shift in sentiment for tech has also hit the next generation of companies that aspire to be household names.

Global venture funding hit a nine quarter low of $74.5 billion in the third quarter of 2022, according to data from analytics firm CB Insights. This marked the largest quarterly percentage drop in a decade (34%), and a 58% decline from the investment peak reached in the fourth quarter of 2021.

In another sign of how this played out in the startup world: more than two new unicorns (startups valued at $1 billion or more) were born on average per business day in 2021, according separate data from CB Insights. That rate dropped to a pace of less than one new unicorn for every other business day in the third quarter of 2022, per CB Insights’ most recent analysis, the lowest since the first quarter of 2020.

Lee, who is also the founder of investing network 37 Angels, said when she met with tech founders this year, “I have said these words, which is, ‘I might have done this deal last year, but I am not going to do it now.’ And I’ve heard a lot of other people say that as well.”

While the belt tightening might be painful for tech founders, Lee says she views it as a good thing for the tech industry overall. Many industry insiders have long said these sorts of corrections can help weed out some of the excess in the market and ensure more financially viable companies are the ones that survive.

“Right now, there are like a lot of headlines that are just like, ‘The sky is falling, the end is near,’ and the way that I describe it is more of like a return to normalcy,” said Lee, noting that most charts tracking VC spending (from the number of mega-rounds to the number of IPOs) had a huge hump in 2020 and 2021 when interest rates were low, and now these charts are starting to look like how they did in 2019.

“I would just call it like a ‘return to sanity,’ versus like, ‘the sky is falling,’” Lee said. “I do not think venture is cratering, or the tech industry is cratering as an industry.”

But for now, at least, there appears to be no end in sight to the pain for Silicon Valley and those who work in it.

In his own memo acknowledging job cuts at Amazon, CEO Andy Jassy said the layoffs at Amazon, reported to total some 10,000 roles, would continue into 2023. At a conference last month, he called the earlier hiring spree a “lesson” for everybody.

Washington moved fast to crack down on TikTok but has made little ...

CNN —

In a matter of days, the United States is expected to ban federal employees from downloading or using TikTok on government-issued phones or tablets, marking the country’s broadest crackdown on the short-form video app to date.

The looming ban is the result of a bill that’s moved through Congress in the final days of the year with lightning-fast speed and bipartisan support. It’s gone from being just another proposal from a Republican lawmaker to being unanimously adopted in the Senate, backed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and added to a massive year-end congressional spending package. The proposed ban has support from the White House, which already blocks TikTok on its devices.

The TikTok measure, while limited in its impact on the app’s wider US user base, highlights how quickly lawmakers can act when a combination of national security fears, bipartisan anti-China suspicions, and more targeted proposals cause the legislative stars to align.

But in fast-tracking the bill, Congress can’t help but draw attention to its notable lack of progress on regulating American tech giants more broadly — despite years of reports, hearings and proposed legislation.

The stark difference between the two illustrates how simple narratives, well-funded lobbying and genuinely thorny policy questions can make or break a bill. It also hints at how a select few Big Tech companies continue to maintain their dominance in the market and their centrality in the lives of countless US households.

Washington finds a different tech villain

The tech industry’s largest players have faced a kitchen sink of allegations in recent years. From knee-capping nascent rivals; to harming children and mental health; to undermining democracy; to spreading hate speech and harassment; to censoring conservative viewpoints; to bankrupting local news outlets; Big Tech has been made out as one of Washington’s largest villains.

But over the course of this year, TikTok has once again emerged as an even bigger target, two years after the Trump administration threatened to ban the application in the United States amid rising tensions with China. And one reason why is the relatively straightforward case that US policymakers have put forward for banning the app.

The central allegation against TikTok is that the company poses a potential national security risk. US officials have worried that the Chinese government could pressure TikTok or its parent company, ByteDance, into handing over the personal information of its US users, which could then be used for Chinese intelligence operations or the spreading of Chinese-backed disinformation.

There’s no evidence yet that that has actually happened. Still, policymakers and security experts have said China’s national security laws make it a possibility — identifying a kernel of risk that fits into a broader anti-China narrative linked to issues including trade, human rights and authoritarianism. Those concerns were renewed after a report this year suggested US user data had been repeatedly accessed by China-based employees. TikTok has disputed the report.

In recent weeks, numerous states have leapt on the bandwagon, further increasing the pressure on Congress to act. More than a dozen states have now banned TikTok on state government devices, from Maryland to South Dakota.

TikTok has insisted it maintains robust security controls on its data and that it prioritizes user privacy. It has also taken steps in recent months to wall off US user data from other parts of its business, both technologically and organizationally. But earlier this year, it acknowledged that China-based employees can access TikTok user data and declined to commit to cutting off those data flows in general.

Since 2020, TikTok has been negotiating with the US government on a possible deal to keep the app running in the United States. But those talks have so far proven fruitless, giving an opening to policymakers in Congress and at the state level to seek restrictions on TikTok.

“We’re disappointed that Congress has moved to ban TikTok on government devices—a political gesture that will do nothing to advance national security interests—rather than encouraging the Administration to conclude its national security review,” said Brooke Oberwetter, a TikTok spokesperson.

Congress has moved swiftly on a bill that would ban federal employees from downloading or using TikTok on government-issued phones or tablets. But it's been far slower to take meaningful action on American tech giants. Sarah Silbiger/Reuters

TikTok’s head of public policy, Michael Beckerman, has called the ban affecting government devices a “political approach that doesn’t have any real impact on national security.”

“We think a lot of the concerns are maybe overblown,” Beckerman told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday, “but we do think these problems can be solved” through the ongoing government negotiations.

American tech giants better at playing defense

TikTok has significantly expanded its Washington presence in recent years.

In 2019, ByteDance had 17 lobbyists and spent $270,000 on lobbying, according to public records gathered by the transparency group OpenSecrets. By the end of last year, its lobbyist count had more than doubled and the company had spent nearly $5.2 million on lobbying.

That pales in comparison, however, to the full force of Big Tech’s lobbying machine, which has become one of the largest in Washington.

Meta was the biggest internet industry lobbying giant last year, spending upward of $20 million. Next was Amazon at $19 million, then Google at almost $10 million. Combined, that’s roughly $49 million in lobbying — almost 10 times what was spent by TikTok’s parent, which nevertheless clocked in at number four on the list.

Tech giants have repeatedly deployed their CEOs to Capitol Hill, who in some cases have made arguments citing the threat of Chinese competition. They’ve also leaned on help from trade associations they’re members of and relied on advertising campaigns to make the case against some of the biggest legislative threats to their business.

One of those bills, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (AICOA), would erect new barriers between tech platforms’ various lines of business, preventing Amazon, for example, from being able to compete with third-party sellers on its own marketplace. That legislation was a product of a 16-month House antitrust investigation into the tech industry that concluded, in 2020, that many of the biggest tech companies were effectively monopolies.

For much of this year, supporters of AICOA insisted the legislation had enough votes to pass, and they called on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to bring it to a floor vote. But between intense tech lobbying and doubts about whether the bill did in fact have the votes, it never received the floor time its supporters wanted. The same fate awaited other tech-focused antitrust bills, such as one that would have forced Apple to allow users to download iPhone apps from any website, not just its own app store.

For a brief moment this month, lawmakers seemed poised to pass a bill that could force Meta, Google and other platforms to pay news organizations a larger share of ad revenues. But the legislation stumbled after Meta warned it could have to drop news content from its platforms altogether if the bill passed.

Time and again, Silicon Valley’s biggest players have maneuvered expertly in Washington, defending their turf from lawmakers keen to knock them down a peg.

An easy win for Congress

But it isn’t just lobbying that has made some of these bills difficult to pass. It’s much more challenging to impose sweeping regulations on an entire industry than it is to pass a bill governing how the US government handles its own technology.

The TikTok bill banning the app from government devices is seen as having a limited potential impact on the company’s wider US user base, which skews younger. A ban on public employees’ use of the app likely wouldn’t reach the many teens or other young people with whom the app has grown increasingly popular.

With at least 100 million US users as of 2020, and likely more by now, TikTok has become almost “too big” to ban outright, some analysts have said.

Politically speaking, in light of TikTok’s deep foothold among US consumers, a ban affecting government devices also represents low-hanging fruit for policymakers who enjoy clear legal authority over official devices and don’t have to worry about triggering a consumer backlash that a broader ban might invite.

By contrast, decisions about the rules government might impose on tech platforms have called into question how those regulations may affect different parts of the economy, from small businesses to individual users to the future of the internet itself.

In some cases, as with proposals to revise the tech industry’s decades-old content moderation liability shield, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, legislation may raise First Amendment issues as well as partisan divisions. Democrats have said Section 230 should be changed because it gives social media companies a pass to leave some hate speech and offensive content unaddressed, while Republicans have called for changes to the law so that platforms can be pressured to remove less content.

The cross-cutting politics and the technical challenges of regulating an entire sector of technology, not to mention the potential consequences for the economy of screwing it up, have combined to make it genuinely difficult for lawmakers to reach an accord.

It’s no wonder, then, that when Congress sees an easier victory within its grasp, lawmakers take it.

Facebook dislike: Mark Zuckerberg loses $32 billion as shares ...

Shares of the social media giant were down more than 26% Thursday.

The New York State Common Retirement Fund lost $470 million.

The California Public Employees Retirement System lost $440 million.

Facebook's parent company, Meta Platforms, just did a face plant on Wall Street.

Shares of the social media giant were down more than 26% Thursday, the first day of trading after Meta reported a decline in profit and users during the last three months of 2021 – and most tellingly, forecast revenue declines in the current quarter.

Meta's market value fell more than $230 billion to a market capitalization of about $661 billion. The company's market cap had been $898.5 billion early Thursday.

The loss is the largest one-day decline in U.S. history, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Last summer, when the company was still known as Facebook, the company became only the fifth U.S. company to achieve a market value surpassing $1 trillion – the others being Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet.

STOCKS SLIDE:Facebook parent company Meta plunges, other tech stocks also stumble

FACEBOOK:Network is losing users for the first time ever and shares in Meta have fallen off a cliff

Meta Platforms' shares closed Thursday at $237.76, down about 26%. The stock price was up more than 1% in aftermarket trading to $240.60.

Shares of Meta, which will change its trading symbol on Nasdaq from "FB" to "META" in the first half of this year, are down nearly 30% so far this year.

Facebook co-founder and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally lost nearly $32 billion Zuckerberg is the largest individual Meta shareholder, with more than 374.8 million shares, or about 12.5% of total shares outstanding, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Zuckerberg's shares had been valued at $121 billion before the market opened Thursday. When the markets closed, his holdings were worth $89.1 billion.

Zuckerberg, who has been No. 7 on Bloomberg's Billionaires, had already seen a decline of $4.9 billion in 2022.

Meta stock plummets, what some lost

Many of the top Meta shareholders who took losses, too, on Thursday will be familiar as many Americans have investments including 401(k) plans with them:

The Vanguard Group, which holds 182.9 million shares, , saw its value drop to about $43.5 billion from $59 billion.

BlackRock (nearly 155.9 million shares): down to $37.1 billion from about $50.4 billion.

Capital Research and Management Co. (Capitol Group/American Funds; nearly 137 million shares): about $44.3 billion from about $32.6 billion

FMR LLC (Fidelity Investments; 123.8 million shares): about $29.4 billion from about $40 billion.

UBS Asset Management (20 million shares): about $4.8 billion from about $6.5 billion.

Fisher Investments (7.6 million shares): about $1.8 billion from about $2.5 billion

California Public Employees Retirement System (5.7 million): $1.36 billion from $1.8 billion.

New York State Common Retirement Fund (5.47 million): $1.3 billion from $1.77 billion.

Sheryl Sandberg, Meta COO (1.42 million shares): $337.6 million from $458.7 million.

North Carolina Department of State Treasurer (1 million): 237.8 million from $323 million.

Marc Andreessen, Meta independent director (44,434 shares): $10.6 million from $14.4 million.

Peter Thiel, Meta independent director (12,947 shares): $3 million from $4.2 million.

Facebook faces 'unprecedented' competition

During Wednesday's earnings report, Meta reported that Facebook's daily active users had fallen for the first time: 1.929 billion daily active users compared to 1.93 billion in the previous quarter.

Zuckerberg said competition from other social media platforms including viral video-sharing app Tiktok is "having an impact on our business."

Zuckerberg echoed that sentiment during an all-hands virtual meeting, saying the company faced an “unprecedented level of competition," Bloomberg reported, citing a person who attended but was not authorized to speak publicly about it,

He also said the company's weak revenue forecast for the current quarter triggered the historic stock decline, Bloomberg reported.

That forecast of slowed revenue growth "was a headline grabber and not in a good way," wrote Michael Nathanson of investment research firm MoffettNathanson in a note to investors Thursday.

Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.

Companies paying the most in income taxes

Douglas McIntyre, 24/7 Wall Street

24/7 Wall St. looks at which companies pay the most in income taxes

Oil companies make up three of the top 10

Large technology and banking companies are also on the list

There has been a bruising battle over how much America's largest corporations should pay in taxes, especially as the size of the federal budget deficit grows. While on paper the federal corporate tax rate is 35%, companies usually pay far less than that because of loopholes and subsidies.

That has caused some activists to say that companies should pay the full rate regardless of special accounting charges, or if some revenue is earned overseas. Still, several huge American companies pay the 35% rate, and because of their size, the amount is well into the billions of dollars.

The companies paying the most in taxes tend to fall into only a few categories. The first is huge oil companies that often post outsized profits every year. They are both large and getting larger as the price of oil rises and remains near historic highs.

Another group of companies that pays very high taxes are the large tech companies, particularly those that have been around for some time. Unlike the darlings of the moment such as Facebook (FB), Microsoft (MSFT) pays tremendous taxes and has done so for many years. Even though its growth has slowed, it continues to be very profitable.

The third group is the most unlikely, at least in the eyes of most investors. The banking industry was nearly ruined by the 2008 global financial crisis. However, since then banks have bounced back, and many have huge profits from trading and investment banking operations, and even from renewed demand for mortgages.

Oddly, while some politicians and the public would like to see the tax burden on the mammoth companies raised, other experts want to see the tax rate reduced. Organizations such as the Tax Foundation have made the case that lower taxes will encourage companies to add workers, expand and make more purchases of plants and other equipment. While this opinion is probably not very popular, it illustrates how complex the issue of corporate taxes can be.

Regardless of how this debate will shake out, each of the 10 companies on this list paid at least $4 billion in taxes, and one of them, ExxonMobil (XOM), paid more than $30 billion. It is at least some evidence that America's large companies often pay extraordinary amounts.

To identify the companies that pay the most taxes, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed corporate tax payments for the top 150 companies by revenue. Included in our analysis were company financials, including income, employee count and earnings before taxes. These were either provided by Capital IQ, or obtained by 24/7 Wall St. reviews of SEC filings or financial statements. All data, including taxes paid, are for 2012, or the most recent complete fiscal year.

These are the companies paying the most in taxes:

1. ExxonMobil

• Income tax expense: $31.05 billion

• Earnings before taxes: $78.73 billion

• Revenue: $428.38 billion

•1-year share price change: 6.56%

• Industry: Oil and gas

Large multinational oil companies have been among the largest payers of corporate federal taxes for years. Exxon's (XOM) income tax amount was approximately the same in 2011 as it was in 2012 — $31 billion. A simple reason for Exxon's position at the top of the tax paying list is its size. It vies with Wal-Mart each year for the spot as the publicly traded U.S. company with the greatest revenue. Exxon's revenue has averaged more than $400 billion a year from 2007 to 2012. Part of Exxon's success is tied to the price of crude oil. A barrel of WTI crude was worth $35 in 2003. The price reached $60 in 2006 and rarely dropped below it thereafter. It rose above $100 in 2008 and has occasionally topped that price since then. Whether Exxon can stay atop both the tax and revenue list much longer depends on several factors, not the least of which are new sources of energy led by solar, wind and particularly shale-based fossil fuels. One benefit Exxon has that may allow it to keep the top position as America's largest company is its role as the number one producer of natural gas.

2. Chevron

• Income tax expense: $20.00 billion

• Earnings before taxes: $46.33 billion

• Revenue: $222.58 billion

• 1-year share price change: 9.52%

• Industry: Oil and gas

It is somewhat unfair to say that Chevron (CVX) is a more modest sized version of Exxon, but in many cases it is. Chevron is the third largest public company in the U.S. based on sales, just above another energy multinational, ConocoPhillips, which was recently broken into two parts. Chevron has paid more than $10 billion a year in taxes in every year except one since 2005. And its revenue since the same year has only once dropped below $200 billion during that time. Like other large energy companies, it has added liquid natural gas to its reserve base, because natural gas currently accounts for 23% of the world's energy consumption. One challenge Chevron faces as it moves forward is the difficulty of finding new oil fields. This will require Chevron to make greater and greater efforts at deepwater drilling and oil sands production. Chevron is sanguine about its long-term prospects; it expects to increase production 20% by 2017.

3. Apple

• Income tax expense: $14.21 billion

• Earnings before taxes: $55.96 billion

• Revenue: $164.69 billion

• 1-year share price change: -20.68%

• Industry: Computer hardware

Apple (AAPL) has made a furious race up the ladder of top corporate tax payers. As appeal for its iPad, iPhone and Mac products has exploded, its tax payments have gone from $2 billion four years ago to $4.5 billion two years ago. And it has increased threefold since then. But these days Apple is facing several growth challenges, which could threaten its spot near the top of the tax tables and already have cut its stock price by one-quarter from record levels. Due to the iPhone's success, Apple was the dominant producer of smartphones since 2007. But Samsung passed Apple in smartphone sales in 2011. The iPad's dominance, too, has been threatened by Google Android-based tablets, the growth of which will put it ahead of Apple iOS-based products this year, according to research firm IDC. Other threats to Apple's growth include the fact that its success in the mammoth Chinese market has been very modest.

4. Wells Fargo

• Income tax expense: $9.10 billion

• Earnings before taxes: $28.47 billion

• Revenue: $79.45 billion

• 1-year share price change: 16.77%

• Industry: Banks

Wells Fargo (WFC) is often considered the most successful of the four U.S. money center banks, the others being Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America. Since the start of 2008 (when the bank bought Wachovia and nearly doubled its size), the year of the global financial crisis, Wells Fargo shares have rallied more than those of the other three. Wells Fargo's success is largely due to the fact that it has not relied heavily on investment banking and proprietary trading. The former is considered an unreliable source of revenue, the latter risky. Wells Fargo leans more on consumer banking. And its national customer base tends to be concentrated in a few markets that it dominates. That keeps the firm's cost of maintaining large numbers of branches low. As Morningstar recently commented, "more than one third of the bank's deposits come from markets in which Wells Fargo is the pre-eminent player, and more than two-thirds are gathered in markets in which the company ranks among the top three." Wells Fargo's annual tax bill dropped as low as $602 million in 2008, and has risen steadily each year since.

5. Wal-Mart

• Income tax expense: $7.98 billion

• Earnings before taxes: $25.74 billion

• Revenue: $469.16 billion

• 1-year share price change: 21.87%

• Industry: Supermarkets

Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) is the largest company in the United States and the largest employer. Unlike some of the other companies on the highest taxpayer list, particularly the banks and oil companies, Wal-Mart is relatively young, founded in 1962. Since that time, expansion has outpaced traditional American retailers, such as Sears, Kmart and J.C. Penney, each of which has struggled as Wal-Mart has expanded. Wal-Mart's annual tax payment has been above $7 billion in each of its past five fiscal years. Wal-Mart's size has become something of a disadvantage because it is hard for the retailer to grow much faster than the economy in general. Recently, the company's U.S. same-store sales were up only 2.2% In a recent conversation with the media, Charles Holley Jr., Wal-Mart's chief financial officer, said "I don't think the economy's helping us."

6. ConocoPhillips

• Income tax expense: $7.94 billion

• Earnings before taxes: $15.42 billion

• Revenue: $60.35 billion

• 1-year share price change: -22.86%

• Industry: Energy exploration and production

ConocoPhillips (COP) joins its larger rivals Exxon and Chevron on the top tax payer list. By sales, ConocoPhillips was the fourth largest public corporation in the U.S. until it recently broke itself into two pieces. One of the new companies, Phillips 66, holds the former parent's downstream assets — those that handle refining and marketing. The rest of ConocoPhillips, which kept the parent's name, is the largest of all the U.S.-headquartered exploration and production companies. Among the company's initiatives are plans to drill above the Arctic Circle beginning in 2014. The move is risky. Competitor Royal Dutch Shell recently stopped its operations in the same area due to engineering problems. ConocoPhillips also has significant assets in the Far East and runs the deepwater drilling operations in China's largest offshore oil field.

7. JPMorgan

• Income tax expense: $7.63 billion

• Earnings before taxes: $28.92 billion

• Revenue: $91.66 billion

• 1-year share price change: 24.30%

• Industry: Financial services

Almost all the recent news about JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has been negative. What was once considered the best-run bank in the United States has gone through a series of missteps, the most visible of which was a $6 billion trading loss in its London offices. As a result of the catastrophe, the bank agreed with the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency that it would improve oversight of its trading operations. The loss also cost several senior JPMorgan executives their jobs and tarnished the reputation of the bank's highly visible CEO, Jamie Dimon. And, within the last few days, a Senate panel has accused the bank of a cover-up. Despite those issues, JPMorgan's earnings have been solid and rose 53% in the fourth quarter, largely due to strong results in its mortgage operations.

8. Berkshire Hathaway

• Income tax expense: $6.92 billion

• Earnings before taxes: $22.24 billion

• Revenue: $162.46 billion

• 1-year share price change: 31.01%

• Industry: Asset management

The house that Warren Buffett built continues to grow. Buffett bought huge railroad company Burlington Northern Santa Fe in 2009 for $34 billion. More recently, he agreed to buy Heinz with investment company 3G Capital. The sticker price on the transaction is $23 billion. Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) continues to remain something of a mutual fund as the company owns large positions in American Express, Coca-Cola, ConocoPhillips and General Electric. Berkshire's recent earnings were also bolstered by its derivatives trading operations.The company booked a $1.4 billion gain from this activity in the fourth quarter.

9. IBM

• Income tax expense: $5.30 billion

• Earnings before taxes: $21.90 billion

• Revenue: $104.51 billion

• 1-year share price change: 7.57%

• Industry: IT consulting

International Business Machines (IBM) by most measures, is the second-largest technology company in the United States, just behind Hewlett-Packard. However, there are significant differences between the two. Most notably, HP is falling apart, while IBM's continued financial success, most recently under its first female CEO, Ginni Rometty, has landed it on this list. One of the most critical reasons for IBM's success is that it operates in a broad array of businesses, which means it does not have to rely on a single sector of the tech world. While IBM's hardware operations are best known for its long line of mainframes, its software operations and IT services division are just as large. IBM is also geographically diversified, and very large parts of its annual sales come from Europe and Asia.

10. Microsoft

• Income tax expense: $4.57 billion

• Earnings before taxes: $20.03 billion

• Revenue: $72.93 billion

• 1-year share price change: -12.04%

• Industry: Software

In an industry in which success is often measured against fast-growing Google and Apple, Microsoft (MSFT) has been maligned for its lack of innovation and the resulting poor growth. What is ignored in that analysis is that Microsoft is a money machine and has huge operating margins in two of its oldest divisions. Microsoft had a net income of $6.38 billion in its fiscal second quarter on revenue of $21.5 billion. The Windows division alone had an operating income of $3.3 billion on revenue of $5.9 billion, a 56% margin. The business division had an operating income of $3.6 billion on $5.7 billion in revenue, a 63% margin. Other divisions, however, dragged down results. Microsoft's online operations, including its Bing search engine and its entertainment division, which markets Xbox products, posted operating losses. Largely due to the success of the two older operations, Microsoft has paid more than $5 billion in taxes in four of the past five years.

24/7 Wall St. is a financial website offering news and opinion