Apple Moves Up Fortune 500 List to Rank 17th

Fortune has released its 2012 'FORTUNE 500' list that ranks America's largest corporations. Apple advanced to 17th place from 35th place last year.

The company emerged from the tragic passing of co-founder Steve Jobs saddened but in no perceptible way weakened. Under CEO Tim Cook, the company continued pumping out new products -- like a significantly upgraded version of the iPad tablet. Apple nearly doubled its earnings per share in 2011, compared to 2010. That helped nudge management to announce plans for the firm's first dividend since 1995, returning some of the $97.6 billion in cash it had accumulated. Apple fans and analysts alike also continue to await a long-rumored television set from the gadget maker.

Take a look below at a nice graphic from setteBIT that shows Apple's ranking over the past 30 years.


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[via @setteB.IT]