NEW YORK, April 2 -- Despite the startling rise in high-tech firms, just one purely Internet company, America Online Inc., broke into the ranks of the annual Fortune 500.
Other tech companies benefiting from the Internet boom climbed in the rankings, but there was little evidence of the Internet start-ups that have turned young entrepreneurs into millionaires because the list is based on 1999 revenue, not stock values.
MCI Worldcom Inc., a telecommunications company that is the largest carrier of Internet traffic, rose to 25 from 80. Dell Computer Co., the nation's largest seller of computers, rose to 56 from 78.
Microsoft Corp., the company with the highest market value, rose to 84 from 109, and Cisco Systems Inc., which makes equipment for the Internet, rose to 146 from 192.
Amgen Inc. became the first biotechnology company on the list, at 463. Hewlett-Packard Co., at 13, was the highest-ranking Fortune 500 company with a female chief executive, Carleton Fiorina.
General Motors Corp. remained No. 1 for the 12th consecutive year, with revenue of $189 billion. Ford Motor Co. fell to fourth place from second, displaced by fast-growing retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc., previously in third.
In third place was oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp., following the merger of Exxon Corp., previously No. 4, and Mobil Corp., ranked No. 6 in 1998. General Electric Co. remained fifth in revenue, but led in profit, earning $10.7 billion.
Rounding out the Top 10: International Business Machines Corp., unchanged at sixth; Citigroup Inc., unchanged at seventh; AT&T Corp., climbing to eight from 10; Philip Morris Cos., falling to nine from eight; and Boeing Co., falling to 10 from nine.
