Microsoft Corp’s shares performed so strongly last year that it has leapt to third place overall in the global league table of the world’s biggest companies. The news comes courtesy of the latest figures published in the Financial Times FT Global 500, which measures company size by market capitalization. The world’s 50 biggest companies now includes six giants from the computing and information technology sector. After Microsoft Corp comes its partner in crime, Intel Corp, which claims sixth place. Just outside the top ten comes IBM Corp in 11th place, followed by a big jump to 24th place and Hewlett-Packard Co. Compaq Computer Corp is 34th and Lucent Technologies takes 45th.
