Fortune magazine has just published its traditional ranking of the 500 largest global companies. For the tenth consecutive year, Walmart ranks first as the largest company by sales, followed by the oil company Saudi Aramco, which also ranks as the most profitable company on the list, with profits of US$159 billion.

Other interesting facts from the list?

- The combined sales of the 500 companies in the ranking total US$41 trillion (billions), equivalent to more than a third of the world's GDP. They employ a combined 70 million people.

- Only 29 of the 500 companies are led by women.

- 118 of the companies in the ranking are state-owned, two-thirds of which are Chinese.

- The number of U.S. companies in the ranking is 136, the highest since 2010.

Top 10 Fortune 500 companies
1. Walmart (U.S.)
2. Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia)
3. State Grid (China)
4. Amazon (U.S.)
5. China National Petroleum (China)
6. Sinopec (China)
7. Exxon Mobil (U.S.)
8. Apple (U.S.)
9. Shell (U.K.)
10. UnitedHealth Group (U.S.)