Last year was a bad year for many giants of industry, according to Fortune magazine’s annual ranking of top companies, which reported the profits of the largest 500 companies fell collectively by 85% from 2007 to 2008. But 2008 wasn’t so bad for the oil industry, which placed four companies in the top 10 (based on total revenues) of the Fortune 500, something no other industry managed to do. Exxon Mobil placed first, Chevron third, ConocoPhillips fourth, and Valero Energy tenth. When comparing companies by their profits, Chevron moved up to No. 2, with $23.9 billion, which was still a far cry from Exxon Mobil’s $45.2 billion. Non-oil companies posting big profits included Microsoft ($17.7 billion), General Electric ($17.4 billion), Wal-Mart ($13.4 billion), Johnson & Johnson ($12.9 billion) and AT&T ($12.9 billion).