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Houston falls on the Fortune 500 list: Boasts 23 companies, but Continental lossfelt

The new Fortune 500 list of the United States' top-grossing companies is out, and 23 Houston-based companies made it.

Wal-Mart Inc. topped the list as the top revenue-grosser with $421,849 million in revenue and $16,389 million in profit in 2010.

Houston metro area companies on the Fortune magazine list include (in reverse order): El Paso (No. 481 in the country), Spectra Energy (441), Targa Resources (416), Group 1 Automotive, Frontier Oil (389), EOG Resources (377), Cameron International (375), Calpine (349), Enbridge Energy Partners (309), Kinder Morgan (294), Centerpoint Energy (279), KBR (242), Anadarko Petroleum (223), Apache (206), National Oilwell Varco (202), Waste Management (196), Baker Hughes (170), Halliburton (144), Plains All American Pipeline (99), Enterprise Products Partners (80), Sysco (67), Marathon Oil (29) and ConocoPhillips (four).

Two energy companies with major Houston presence — ExxonMobil and Chevron — recorded profits this year that far outdid those of top revenue-earner Wal-Mart. ExxonMobil nearly doubled Wal-Mart's profits, taking in $30,460 million in profits. Still, it ranked second overall on the list.

The Houston area had 25 companies on last year's Fortune 500 list. Continental Airlines — which is no longer based in Houston — is one of the ones that fell off (since it has merged with United and is now based in Chicago). The other? CVR Energy, which ranked 472nd on Fortune's last list.ha

Within Houston companies in the top 100, ConocoPhillips regained some ground this year to jump two spots to No. 4, while Marathon Oil climbed from No. 41 to No. 29. Sysco dropped from No. 55 to No. 67, and Enterprise Products Partners moved up, from No. 92 to No. 80.

The number of Fortune 500 companies in Houston is a source of immense pride and is frequently used to advertise and promote the city. The Greater Houston Partnership touted that Houston had the third most Fortune 500 companies of any metro area in the U.S. on Fortune's last list (based on 2009 figures), behind only New York and Chicago.

Chicago gained a major new addition with Continental United coming in at 114th overall. But there is still plenty of good news. The Dallas metro area placed 18 companies on the Fortune 500, five less than Houston. Five San Antonio companies made the list and Texas boasts 51 of the 500 overall.

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Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”