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Samsung tops Apple in Fortune Global 500

Samsung Electronics is the world's 14th-largest company in terms of revenue, beating out Apple, which took the 19th spot in the list.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
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Don Reisinger

The Apple-Samsung war extends far beyond smartphones and patents.

Fortune on Monday released its Global 500, a ranked list of the world's biggest companies by revenue. Samsung Electronics nabbed the 14th spot in the list with revenue of $178.6 billion last year. Apple was close behind in 19th place with $156.5 billion in revenue.

Samsung jumped from 20th place last year, after securing $149 billion in revenues. Apple was all the way back in 55th place in 2012 with $108 billion in revenue.

Despite their success at winning the technology space, it appears neither Samsung nor Apple should expect to hit the top spot anytime soon. Royal Dutch Shell is this year's top Global 500 company with $481.7 billion in revenue.

Here's a brief list of some of the top technology industry companies in the Global 500:

  • Samsung -- 14th place
  • Apple -- 19th place
  • Hon Hai Precision Industry -- 30th place
  • NTT -- 32nd place
  • AT&T -- 34th place
  • Hewlett-Packard -- 43rd place
  • Verizon Communications -- 48th place
  • Hitachi -- 54th place
  • IBM -- 62nd place
  • China Mobile Communications -- 71st place