After all, these companies are big (in part) because we spend our money there!

In 2008′s edition to the Fortune 100 listing, the companies span many major industries, reflecting the current diversity of the world economy. Banking, mining, engineering, telecoms, energy, electronics, entertainment are all represented in the “best of the best” or, more simply said, the global companies with the biggest revenues.

Please note that the most impressive growth in revenue numbers, in 2007 compared to 2006, is held by the industries of (1) banking, growth and services, (2) mining and crude-oil production and (3) shipping.

Let’s jump right in and take a look at the list leaders:

Apart from instantly seeing if any of these companies made more or less money in 2007 than in 2006, this list is a great starting point to visit the lush web sites most of these companies have built, complete with investor information, media relations and lots of interactive features.

Surfing the company web sites, you may want to wander towards their various R&D-like sections where they explain their vision and how they intend to realize it, in the future. This could be your chance to offer them to help on one of their upcoming projects, thus helping your company score significant new business.

If you can make these companies look good at the next shareholder meeting, it’s obvious that they want to hear from you so package your message so that’s what they end up hearing.

If the hat fits, use this list wisely to grow your business alongside these global heavyweights that typically have deep pockets but also an obligation to continuously keep up with competitors. This race towards more innovation and novel methods represents, among other things, your chance to become “interesting” for at least some of these Fortune 100 companies.

Tags: fortune 500, fortune 100, top 100 businesses, top 100 companies, biggest companies, global companies, worldwide companies, us companies, french companies, deutsch companies, rich companies, rich businesses, global businesses, revenues, profits, money, shareholders

The “revenue” and “profit” numbers accompanying each of the Fortune 500 listees tell a story bean counters love because in their view, numbers alone make or break companies, business models and entire industries. Of course, each company being presented in this prestigious list has its own story, way beyond the numbers that are often overly glorified as being the ultimate “scorecard” for companies.

For instance, some companies made less profit but invested more in their employees’ pension funds while others, with larger profits, have closed down factories in their home country, putting (decently paid) hard working individuals out of work, to finance the opening a sweatshop-factory in a some foreign country where salaries are a joke and the military run the show.

So even though we’re going to take a look at the numbers from pharmaceutical companies, keep in mind that each one of them has a story that you may want to look up, in order to better understand “the big picture”.

The title states that the pharmaceuticals are rich and that’s a known fact — let’s look at the numbers:

As you can see, the profits generated by these pharmaceutical companies is nothing short of astronomical and with the help of the FDA, making it easier than ever to patent and market drugs of all sorts, the money making “drug machine” seems set for many more “good years”.

Are you under the impression that these pharmaceutical companies are making too much profit, selling drugs that have, for the most part, been developed with public funding in university labs?

Everyone has an opinion about the rich pharmaceuticals but the one thing that everybody agrees on is that they generate more profit than you and me ever will… unless we decide to launch a successful pharmaceutical company of our own.

Tags: pharmaceuticals, us pharma, big pharma, american pharma, fortune 500, pharma industry, pills, drugs, chemicals, health, disease, illnesses, insured health, health cost, health debt, health profit, health revenue, hospitals, sick citizens, sick population, usa, money

We’re talking about big name lenders who lost big on very shaky loans to individuals who were so tight in their budget (assuming they held one) that they got caught up in way too much debt, the instant the American economy hit a speed bump (in this case, most notably, a raise in the interest rates).

So here’s the top 5 list of (the estimated) write-downs on structured products, which include collateralized debt and loan obligations as well as asset and mortgage-backed securities (although leveraged loans aren’t included):

1. Citigroup • 9,8B$ — It’s a low estimate since Citigroup has stated that the figure could rise another 3B$ higher;
2. Merrill Lynch • 7,9B$ — Analysts are projecting for another 2B$ in write-downs, this quarter;
3. UBS • 4,4B$ — They still have roughly 40B$ in CDOs and mortgage-backed securities on their books;
4. Morgan Stanley • 3,7B$ — The total subprime exposure after write-downs could reach 6B$;
5. Wachovia • 1,0B$ — Was one of the year’s top subprime mortgage CDO issuers, this year.

Further down the list, you can find (in order) Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers, Bank of America, BearStearns and J.P. Morgan Chase.

Some analysts say greed alone made the subprime market grow, derail and later, explode. While this might be true, at least in part, the subprime debacle is basically all about risk and reward trumping fundamental values that just went flying out the window when the easy money mirage swept Wall Street off its feet.

Probably the biggest tragedy in the subprime fiasco is the fact that the mainstream media has offered very little coverage of the millions upon millions of families and individuals who lost their homes and their trust in “the money system”.

Even if the write-downs are huge for the banks, the real drama happens at street level, with ordinary American citizens just trying to build up their dream, usually through a nice house where they could raise their family.

The subprime mess is a grim reminder of the importance of placing true value on top of any purchase decision’s criterias, especially when “losing everything” isn’t an option.

You may want to revisit this post in a year from now and compare the numbers to see who lost the most in this subprime financial storm.

Tags: subprime, cdo, mortgages, loans, money, banks, rates, finance