World's 10 Most Valuable Companies

Nestle

Nestle is a Swiss multinational nutritional and health-related consumer goods company headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It is the largest food company in the world measured by revenues.  In 2011, Nestlé was listed No. 1 in the Fortune Global 500 as the world's most profitable corporation. With a market capitalization of $ 200 billion, Nestlé ranked No. 13 in the FT Global 2011. Nestle was formed in 1905 by the merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactee Henri Nestle, founded in 1867 by Henri Nestle. The company grew significantly during the First World War and again following the Second World War, expanding its offerings beyond its early condensed milk and infant formula products.

Microsoft

Microsoft is the world's largest software maker measured by revenues.  It is also one of the world's most valuable companies. Microsoft was established to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. It rose to dominate the personal computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems. The company's 1986 initial public offering, and subsequent rise in its share price, created an estimated three billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees. Since the 1990s, it has increasingly diversified from the operating system market and has made a number of corporate acquisitions. In May 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion in its largest acquisition to date.