Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell is the biggest company in the world, according to the 2012 Global 500 list published annually by Fortune Magazine.

The list of the world’s 500 largest companies is based on annual turnover. For two years, the American supermarket chain WalMart headed the list, but has now slipped to number three.
Shell takes over the top spot with turnover of €395bn and profit of €24.5bn in 2011; a respective increase of 28% and 54% on the year before.
Second on the list is the American oil giant ExxonMobil with an annual turnover of €368bn.
The only fully Dutch company in the top 100 is banking group ING at number 18.
Other Dutch companies on the list are Unilever (139), Aegon (228), Ahold (243), Rabobank (281), Philips (307), Gasterra (375), SHV (459), Heineken (464) and Randstad (489).