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Google Tops Ranking of Companies Driving Global Economy
SAN FRANCISCO -- Google, the search engine that has become the central clearinghouse in a world exploding with information, tops the "Wired 40," Wired magazine's annual ranking of companies driving the global economy. The Wired 40, in its seventh year, identifies the 40 companies that, as masters of innovation, technology and strategic vision, are driving the global economy.Google's vast hive of servers, purportedly the most powerful private network in existence, not only caches seemingly every page on the Web, but also personal data like e-mail. "It's hard to say what the company will call upon this monster rig to do, but you can be sure that the 'Net will be better for it," write Wired's editors.As the economy perks up, newcomers are running the show: three of the top five companies on the 2004 list were founded in the past decade. Reflecting the churn expected in the tech economy, only nine selections appeared on the original list in 1998. Ten companies appear on the list for the first time this year, with four making their debuts in the top 10.Amazon.com appears in the second position, up from No. 7 in 2003. The online retailer-cum-global mall, which started with books, is fast becoming the Net's premier one-stop shop. It even has a page that accepts campaign contributions.Apple Computer, which debuts on the Wired 40 at No. 3, has created the kind of platform-and-content synergy that gadget makers dream of. Having sold 5 million iPods, Apple owns 55 percent of the music-player market. Its iTunes has coaxed the Big Five record labels into a single online store and persuaded fans to download -- legally -- more than 60 million songs.Also making its first appearance on the list is Genentech at position four. In the feast-or-famine world of biotech, Genentech has reaped a bounteous harvest, season after season. It was the first to splice genes into fast-growing E. coli bacteria, thereby mass producing therapeutic proteins, like insulin. It is well on its way to becoming a leading developer of drugs for cancer and immune disorders by 2010.Fifth-ranked eBay, up one notch from 2003, is termed by Wired's editors as more than an online auction site turned cultural phenomenon, but an economy unto itself. This year, roughly $30 billion worth of goods will pass through the company's servers. That will make the auctioneer the 81st largest economy in the world, just ahead of Kuwait and El Salvador.Rounding out the top 10 are Samsung Electronics (new this year), Yahoo! (No. 3 last year), Electronic Arts (28), Pixar (new) and Cisco Systems (11).The 40 companies are ranked on the basis of five criteria: innovation, technology, strategic vision, global reach and networked communication.Visit Wired magazine: www.wired.com"