Fortune 500 Daily

When you look at the most profitable companies on the Fortune 500, or at the companies making the biggest jumps up the list, you see a lot of relatively young tech names—like Apple and Netflix. But not all technology companies on the list are fresh-faced newcomers. Founded in 18-84, N-C-R Corporation is the oldest tech company on the Fortune 500. N-C-R sits at number four-hundred and sixty-five, with revenues topping out at six-point-four billion.

The Fortune 500 welcomed 21 new companies to the list this year. Some of them, like energy giant Hess, are actually returning to the list. Hess was one of the original members of the Fortune 500, and stayed there for 63 years. When fuel prices headed south a couple of years ago, it fell off. But with prices on the upswing, it’s back and sitting at number four hundred sixty one. Other companies debut on the list as the result of a corporate split or spin-off.

We spend a lot of time talking about who is at the TOP of the Fortune 500. But sometimes it’s fun to look at the very bottom of the list. Coming in at number 500 this year is denim stalwart Levi Strauss. The company has been making jeans—though for many, many years they were actually called “waist overalls”—since the mid 18-hundreds.

Apple is the most profitable company on the Fortune 500, pocketing more than 59 billion dollars in 2018. And while nobody’s going to argue with last year’s profit growth of 23 percent, it’s becoming increasingly clear that services, not hardware, are key to the company’s future. Think iCloud, the app store, Apple Music, Apple News and, in theory, the upcoming Apple TV Plus. But in the meantime, hardware is still the core business. And for that, the company relies on China.

The oldest company on the Fortune 500 was started by Alexander Hamilton. Long before he inspired a hit Broadway musical, the Founding Father started a bank. The Bank of New York was founded in 1784, in the wake of the Revolutionary War. It was the first company traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and it issued the first loan to the U.S. government. In 2006, Hamilton’s bank merged with Mellon Financial.

The first Fortune 500 was published in 1955. Since that time, just three companies have held the list’s top spot: automaker General Motors, oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil, and now, Walmart. This is the seventh year in a row that Walmart has landed at number one. Its revenue in 20-18: Five hundred fourteen billion dollars. That’s up two-point-eight percent from the year before when the retailer became the first Fortune 500 company to break the half-a-trillion mark.