European Business Rates Poorly in Global Top 100

The top ten most valuable companies are mainly based in the United States - they occupy the top eight positions. General electric has taken Microsoft's position at the top of the list with Microsoft moving into second place, ahead of Exxon, pharmaceuticals group Pfizer and Citigroup. The two EU companies in the top ten are both British: Petrochemical giant BP is ranked ninth and HSBC bank is tenth. Overall, the 25 member states of the EU could muster only 29 companies in the top 100, compared to 55 from the United States. The top EU performer was Britain, with nine companies. France and Germany follow with six and five respectively. The top company in France was oil company TotalFinaElf (23rd) and you have to go down to 40th place to find the top company from Germany - Deutsche Telekom. Italy, Spain, Finland and the Netherlands are the other EU countries to have companies in the global top 100. The companies in the list are ranked by their market capitalisation, which is defined as the value of shares in the company multiplied by the number of shares outstanding. (EUobserver.com)