- The state first had a 40 percent share, which was boosted to 51 per-
cent in 2003. Gazprom offered 1 percent of its stock to foreigners in 1996. - Royal Dutch Shell (the Netherlands)
The company known today as Royal Dutch Shell was formed from the
merger of two global oil conglomerates in 2003—Royal Dutch Petroleum
(founded by a Dutchman in 1890) and Shell Transport and Trading
(founded by an Englishman in 1897)—that have been in a close relation-
ship for over a century. Royal Dutch has oil and gas operations in over
27 countries, and it sells its products to over 130 companies. Its 2006
sales were over $320 billion. - BP (British Petroleum) (United Kingdom)
Like its competitors Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil, and Cono-
coPhillips, today’s BP comes from the recent merger in 1993 of two mas-
sive oil conglomerates—British Petroleum, founded in 1911, and Amoco,
a spin-off of the Standard Oil Trust in 1911. BP is a multinational, earn-
ing 29 percent of its revenue from its native United Kingdom, 31 percent
from the United States, and 22 percent from Continental Europe. As
Britain has very few oil reserves, production is accomplished almost en-
tirely abroad. Its 2006 sales were over $260 billion. - China Mobile (China)
China Mobile serves almost 300 million subscribers in China, and it en-
joys a 67 percent market share. It’s the world’s leading wireless company
by subscribers. Like many other modern Chinese corporations, China
Mobile was once part of a state-owned monopoly but is now publicly
traded. As of October 2007, its total market value soared to $370 billion. - Toyota Motor Corporation (Japan)
The largest foreign company by market value is Toyota Motor, founded
in 1926 as Toyoda Loom Works by Sakichi Toyoda. In 1950 the company
was reorganized into Toyota Motor Corporation, and in 2008 it will
overtake General Motors as the leading automobile manufacturer in the
world. Toyota, which has recently expanded into financial services, pro-
duces automobiles in 27 different countries, and only 37 percent of its
automobiles are produced in Japan.
CHAPTER 10 Global Investing and the Rise of China, India, and the Emerging Markets 183