> Check it out:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/452w2fu
>
> OK, so most of these aren't particularly surprising. Microsoft, Google,
> Apple, Intel, IBM, and a few oil companies. It's perhaps slightly
> surprising that (for example) IBM is more profitable than Apple. But
> there's no surprise that these guys are all at the top.

Why would it be a surprise that IBM is more profitable than Apple? 
Apple's customer base is individuals whereas IBM, since it got rid of 
its PC division, caters almost exclusively to the corporate crowd.  The 
profit margins are much bigger on big juicy corporate contracts than 
they are on cheap electronic gadgets.

>
> The real surprise is... wait, Exxon? For real?! Jesus, I thought they
> went bankrupt decades ago... Apparently they're still alive somehow.

Not just somehow... They're one of the bigger players in North America. 
  In fact, there's a famous picture of their CEO 
(http://www.goingfaster.com/darkthoughts/ceo.jpg) that has been going 
around the Internet for the last few years, usually in conjunction with 
complaints about high gas prices and the ludicrous explanations the 
industry comes up to justify them.

-- 
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/*    flabreque    */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/*        @        */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }

Post a reply to this message