Microsoft is no longer the word's biggest company  21  market capitalization. Three other U.S. companies have overtaken  22  stock market value. The firm's value has gone down sharply by 14% to $358 billion  23  this year. The fail mostly resulted from the uncertainty promoted by the ongoing anti-trust case. It has been overtaken by General Electric, now worth $506 billion, Intel, $441 billion and Cisco Systems, $436 billion.

The company holding the title of the word's biggest company is an industrial giant which makes everything from toasters to jet engines. GE has sales of $110 billion—nearly ten times  24  Microsoft. It has been its profits grown by 15% a year to $11 billion. GE Capital Services, its financial subsidiary,  25  nearly half of its sales. GE produces power generation system, locomotive, and electrical appliances. It also owns the U.S. television network NBC and its financial news subsidiary, CNBC, and ironically, a joint venture with Microsoft to provide news on the Internet.

Microsoft's shares now face a further period of uncertainty as the company's legal  26  continues. It could also face difficulty in recruiting and retaining employees whose pay has been boosted by their share options. The Seattle based firm might go to an appeal court on any rulings, it could suffer  27  from lawsuits brought by competitors, who would be able to  28  triple damages for any loses suffered. And with its energy and  29  tied up in the lawsuit, the company may find it difficult to continue in the future, or move so aggressively to  30  competitors.