Microsoft on top, but lonely
SeattlePi | at | by Mike
Microsoft Corp., which surpassed General Electric Co. last month as the world's biggest company by market value, is the only technology stock remaining among the top 10, according to Bloomberg rankings. Intel Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. fell off the list of the largest companies in the first half, replaced by BP Plc and Coca-Cola Co. The top-10 ranking represents a broader range of companies than it did during the late 1990s.
At the peak of the dot-com boom in 1999, seven of the 10 biggest companies were technology or telecommunications stocks. Since then, Cisco Systems Inc., Nokia Oyj, Lucent Technologies Inc., Intel, Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. and Deutsche Telekom AG have dropped from the list.