For nearly two decades, Walmart has been the country’s largest company by revenue, a status it touted to prospective hires, employees and suppliers. It called itself a “Fortune 1” company. On Thursday, Walmart lost its crown. Amazon.com —a 31-year-old company—surpassed 63-year-old Walmart as the country’s largest company by annual revenue. Walmart had $713.2 billion in sales in the year through Jan. 31, compared with Amazon’s $716.9 billion for its most recent full year, a narrow difference that has been years in the making. It marks the rapid rise of Amazon, from its beginnings as an online bookseller started in Jeff…

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