Top 10 Companies of 2007

2007 has been an eventful year for global commerce. News headlines featured considerable mergers, acquisitions, product launches and even bankruptcies. Keeping current on national and global economic trends is paramount for those looking to make informed investment decisions.

Before you make your next investment decision, read this list of 2007's top newsworthy companies:

Google Inc.
This Web Giant has a history of phenomenal success and 2007 is yet further evidence of the company's flexibility in finding, and aggressively pursuing, new markets. After losing out to Microsoft in a bid to get a share in Facebook's pie, Google has announced the upcoming release of OpenSocial, an open Web platform. And in the wake of the iPhone, Google is launching a software-specific mobile project that should have a heavy impact on the mobile market.

Apple Inc
The much awaited release of the iPhone occurred June, 29, 2007 to much hype and speculation. The new gadget exploded onto the market, selling 1.4 million in the U.S. during the first 90 days and making waves in the mobile industry. The iPhone is now set to hit the market in the UK on Friday, November 8, 2007.

Boeing
Boeing is a major aerospace and defense corporation which has also long been one of the world's largest civil aircraft companies. The company has its hands full now as the new Dreamliner delays threaten its other programs.

Toyota Motor Corp.
Japan's top automaker has been doing very well in 2007, posting record sales and profit for the fiscal first-half and reporting an 11% jump in second-quarter net profit on solid sales. Soaring gas prices have boosted the appeal of Toyota's hybrid Prius and fuel-efficient models, such as the Camry and Corolla.

Citigroup Inc.
Charles Prince resigned on November 4, 2007 as chairman and chief executive of Citigroup. The bank faces an $11 billion write off of sub-prime mortgage losses in addition to a $6.5 billion write-down from last quarter.

Time Warner Inc.
The world's largest media and entertainment conglomerate, headquartered in New York, is taking a hit due to the struggles of subsidiary AOL. The company's third quarter net earnings fell by more than half as AOL's strategy to focus on online advertising at the expense of subscriptions hit revenues.

BP PLC
Formerly known as British Petroleum, BP is a British energy company and a multinational oil company with headquarters in London, England. Oil shares have been bolstered as price-per-barrel reach almost $100. Net income for BP slid 29% to $4.41 billion, or 23 cents a share, from $6.23 billion, or 31 cents, in the year earlier period.

Microsoft Corp.
Microsoft is an American multinational computer technology corporation with 79,000 employees in 102 countries and global annual revenue of $51.12 billion as of 2007. So far in 2007, Microsoft's Halo 3 (the latest version of a popular video game) and Windows Vista pushed the company's profits upward. They are reporting one of their biggest quarters in recent history -- topping Wall Street's profit expectations and boosting their annual sales forecast by $2 billion.

Nintendo Company Ltd.
Nintendo is one of the most powerful video game companies in the industry and it is Japan's third most valuable listed company with a market value of more than $85 billion. Aside from Video games Nintendo is also the majority owner of Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners and a partial owner of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks. The success of the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo Wii has helped the company to triple its first-half profit and boosted the annual earnings outlook

Sprint Nextel Corp.
2007 has been a tough year for the #3 U.S. wireless provider. Customer service issues, the resignation of their CEO and other problems have led to a rash of stock downgrades from January to October. Recently, Sprint has hitched its wagon to the Open Handset Alliance and is receiving positive attention for it. They will be working in conjunction with Google and the Open Handset Alliance on the open source Gphone platform, which will provide users with the ability to modify the operating platform for their phones and PDAs.

About The Author-- Charlotte Buelow is a contributing business writer for Goliath. Goliath is one of the Internet's largest collections of business research, news and information. Learn more about Goliath.

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