The release of the 2015 Fortune 500 leads this week's edition, showing where nine of ID's Big 50 companies stack up among the largest in the U.S.
The rest of rundown is dominated by content covering Amazon and HD Supply, including pieces by ID editors Anna Wells and Jack Keough.
Here's this week's Top 5:
Grainger Leads Industrial Distributors On 2015 Fortune 500: This year's Fortune 500 list was released last Thursday, which included five of ID's 2014 Big 50 companies in the top 500, and three more in the top 1,000. Grainger led the way for industrial distributors, appearing at No. 290, five spots up from last year. HD Supply and WESCO International checked in at 316 and 360, while Anixter International and MRC Global were at 420 and 448. Genuine Parts Company, of which Motion Industries is a subsidiary, was No. 199.
New Online Ads Target Amazon Customers Over Worker Abuse: Ahead of Amazon.com’s Annual General Shareholder Meeting on Wednesday in Seattle, SumOfUs.org, an international consumer watchdog, launched a new online ad campaign targeting Amazon.com customers with ads that highlight supposed corporation’s human rights violations. The ads, designed to bring attention to Amazon.com’s worker abuse record, are part of an ad buy targeting hundreds of thousands of Amazon.com customers in the U.S. and UK in the beginning of June.
ID Exclusive: Q&A With Amazon Business Execs: ID executive editor Anna Wells recently sat down with Prentis Wilson, VP, Amazon Business, and Petra Schindler-Carter, Director and GM, Amazon Business Marketplace, for an exclusive interview on how AmazonSupply morphed into a brand new marketplace for B2B buyers and sellers.
HD Supply Profit Spikes In Q1: No. 4 on ID's 2014 Big 50 List, HD Supply reported its 2015 first quarter financials on Tuesday, showing a strong rebound after taking a considerable net loss in Q4 2014. The company reported Q1 sales of $2.22 billion, up 6.1 percent year-over-year. Net profit was $242 million, compared to a net loss of $12 million a year ago, and losses of $93 million in Q4 2014 and $66 million in Q3 2014. Operating income for Q1 was $167 million, compared to $116 million a year ago, as sales grew across all company segments in the quarter.
Jack Keough: Weather Fails To Dampen HD Supply's Outlook: ID contributing editor Jack Keough dives deeper into HD Supply's Q1 financials, which show the company was able to have a strong quarter despite bad weather resulting in 180 lost branch days due to full or partial closings in the quarter. Keough also looks at how HD Supply's Construction & Industrial - White Cap segment has stayed hot, and why HD Supply Joe DeAngelo isn't worried about Amazon Business.
