Microsoft Corp has replaced General Electric as the world’s most valuable company, according to a Financial Times global survey of the world’s top 500 companies judged by stock market capitalization. Microsoft is accompanied in the top twenty-five by fellow IT firms Intel Corp, IBM Corp, Cisco Systems Inc and Lucent Technologies Inc. Dell Computer Corp rocketed from 89 in 1997 to 28 on the back of its direct sales strategy, passing Oracle Corp which fell from 80 to 116, while Computer Associates Inc slipped even lower from 126 to 171. The survey shows that IT is overtaking traditional industry sectors with hardware, software and telecommunications companies supplanting many established oil and retail names. Telecommunications grew worldwide, with firms in Europe and the US taking advantage of recently liberalized markets. With European national and US regional monopolies removed, competition has fostered lower prices and sector growth. Four telecoms companies, Nippon Telegraph and Telegraph (NTT), AT&T, MCI Worldcom and British Telecom feature in the top 25 of the Global 500, even without the mergers in the sector since September 1998. Recent deals include Vodafone buying Airtouch and Lucent acquiring Ascend, which, hypothetically, would make Vodafone worth $68.2bn (38th) and Lucent $99.9bn (19th). Other trends include a substantial number of new companies (120), partly explained by the increase in mergers, and the pre-eminence of US firms, nearly half (244) of companies were American, up from last year’s 222, at the expense of the Far East and emerging markets. Japan’s representation plummeted from 71 to 46, leaving NTT and Toyota Motor the only Japanese representatives in the top 100. Among those leaving the list, companies from Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore were reduced from 25 to just 10, residual evidence of the fall-out from the Asian crisis.
