The 50 most powerful companies in America

Samantha Lee/Business Insider

Power comes in many forms, but it boils down to having influence: over people, resources, and the global conversation.

Major corporations often wield more power than individuals, so we decided to break down which ones command the most.

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To determine how powerful each company is, we factored together fiscal 2014 revenue, number of employees, press mentions on Google News over the past year, and social media influence, as ranked on a scale of 1 to 100 by Klout, a site that analyzes social-media influence of companies and individuals across all platforms.

You can read our full methodology here.

Walmart, with its army of workers and massive sales, ranks as the most powerful company in America. It's followed by competitor Target (No. 2) and General Electric (No. 3).

Scroll down to see the full list.