Fortune Magazine's top 50 list includes 3M, Target, St. Jude Medical and General Mills. Maplewood-based 3M was the highest ranking Minnesota company in the 18th spot for most-admired companies. Best Buy did not make the list this year after being named the 36th most-admired company last year.

Allianz Life Insurance was lauded for devoting the whole month of September to celebrating its employees. General Mills and Mayo Clinic also made the list, which was topped by Google.

All three Twin Cities firms were named on Computerworld’s list of the "100 Best Places to Work in IT 2012." Golden Valley-based General Mills came in fourth, St. Paul-based Securian Financial Group ranked No. 10 on the list and Fridley-based Medtronic went from 23rd place last year to 99th this year.

Ethisphere Institute selected 145 companies worldwide for the list. Best Buy, Ecolab, Mosaic, Target and Thrivent Financial for Lutherans were all on the list unveiled Thursday.

Golden Valley-based General Mills Inc. has spent more than $1.1 million to convince Californians to vote against Proposition 37 -- a new law that would require food manufacturers to label products containing genetically modified ingredients, the Star Tribune reports.

General Mills did not disclose the financial terms of the deal. The Massachusetts-based natural snack foods company makes tortilla chips and sweet potato chips.