Fortune Magazine has put out its annual list of the 500 biggest companies in the nation and Missouri has several, including one with a link to the biggest one. Wal-Mart, founded by Missourian Sam Walton, is number one, worth more than $288-Billion. Missouri’s highest-ranking corporation is Emerson Electric, worth more than 15.6-Billion and ranked 134th. Express Scripts is worth about a half-billion dollars less, and is 137th. Anheuser-Busch is 139th. The May Department Store Company, soon to be absorbed by a competitor, is 147th. Monsanto is 357th; Ameren, the utility company, is 380th. Furniture maker Leggett and Platte in Carthage ranks 384th. Charter Communications, the nation’s third-biggest cable television company, is 390th. H&R Block of Kansas City is 454th, with Graybar Electric Company of St. Louis 462nd. Peabody Energy, the big coal company, barely makes the list at 497th.
