Qwest now apparently tops the Fortune 500 in terms of revenue among U.S. corporations in the Rocky Mountain West.
The Denver-based telephone company became No. 1 in the Rockies after the Albertsons grocery-store chain of Boise, Idaho, was bought June 2 by a consortium that included SuperValu, a publicly traded supermarket chain based in Eden Prairie, Minn.
On the Fortune 500 list in April, Albertsons ranked No. 47, with close to $40.4 billion in revenue. Qwest was the next-largest company in the Rockies at No. 160, with revenue of almost $14 billion. The Fortune list comes out each year in the spring, and rankings could change.
The Rocky Mountain West states are Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming.
The ranking offers little more than bragging rights for Denver, which already benefits significantly from being the home of Qwest’s headquarters.
Tucker Hart Adams, chief economist for U.S. Bank in Colorado, said having Qwest in Denver means big bucks for nonprofit groups in the metro area.
“They tend to give more to charities in which they have a personal interest/involvement,” Adams said.
Telecom jobs, on average, pay $76,000 a year. In Denver, every Qwest job generates almost five jobs in other industries, said Adams.
Barry Allen, Qwest’s executive vice president for operations, said nearly 40,000 employees who live and work in Qwest’s 14-state Western and Midwestern region contribute millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours to communities each year.
Staff writer Beth Potter can be reached at 303-820- 1503 or bpotter@denverpost.com.
Rocky Mountain top dogs
The top 10 companies in the Rocky Mountain West region – Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming:
National Revenue rank (millions)
1. Qwest Communications (Denver) 160 $13,903.0
2. Huntsman (Salt Lake City) 172 $12,986.0
3. Avnet (Phoenix) 212 $11,066.8
4. First Data (Greenwood Village) 224 $10,490.4
5. Phelps Dodge (Phoenix) 260 $9,030.4
6. TransMontaigne (Denver) 269 $8,549.4
7. EchoStar Communications (Englewood) 273 $8,425.5
8. Liberty Media (Englewood) 277 $8,350.0
9. Harrah’s Entertainment (Las Vegas) 309 $7,411.1
10. MGM Mirage (Las Vegas) 334 $6,482.0
Source: Fortune
