More strikingly the sector can be credited for nearly a quarter of economic growth

More strikingly, the sector can be credited for nearly a quarter of economic growth in the country.Equally telling is the continuing willingness of investors to put their faith in Microsoft in spite of those legal storm clouds. These are the so-called Microsoft Millionaires.And, in spite of well-publicised legal difficulties, Microsoft remains well positioned to sustain its growth. “Microsoft has been fortunate to be at the forefront of growth in the technology industry, but success can be fleeting in an industry so competitive”.If GE spells the industrial age, Microsoft has long been the icon of the information era. Its success in multiplying share value is the stuff of legend. With its dominating presence in providing software systems to personal computers and its success in exploiting the explosion of the Internet, it has seen its stock value multiply almost 5,000 per cent in 10 years.The generosity of the company in distributing shares to its employees has delivered no fewer than 4,000 millionaires around its Redmond, Washington, base. “While growing shareholder value is important, Microsoft doesn’t view market capitalisation as a particularly critical measurement,” a spokeswoman said.

“GE has many businesses that have value and superior management,” said Robert Spremulli, an analyst with Teachers Insurance, which holds 35 million shares in the company. “In the long scheme of time GE, with its makeup, will prevail.”For now, however, the winner’s trophy is Microsoft’s. That it has overtaken GE in the value stakes is remarkable from many standpoints For one, it is still small by comparison. In the year ended 30 June, Microsoft had $14.5bn in revenue and $4.79bn in earnings. That compares with revenues at GE in 1997 of $90.8bn and earnings of $8.2bn.With that in mind, Microsoft played down the significance of what, after all, was a paper victory. If the bull returns it could quickly reclaim its $300bn crown. Confidence in the company derives in part from the extraordinary reputation of Mr Welch, 62 He is expected to stay at least until the end of 2000.

Asked recently which chief executive in America he most admired, Microsoft’s Bill Gates did not hesitate before naming Mr Welch.GE’s NBC television unit, meanwhile, continues to achieve double-digit growth and has reigned among the networks for five years. More than a century old, it was born in 1892 of the combination of Thomas- Houston Co and Edison General Electric. Moreover, it is the only company that has had its shares listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average since the index’s inception.Its public image, moreover, is still overwhelmingly as an industrial manufacturer. It is known in particular for those big-ticket items that are especially vulnerable to cyclical downturns – large domestic appliances, from clothes washers to cookers, as well as aircraft engines. No less than 40 per cent of its revenue, however, comes these days from GE Capital Corp, its financial services unit.Notwithstanding the recent toll on its shares, GE is hardly in the doldrums. At Monday’s close, Microsoft was valued at $261.2bn compared with $257.4bn for Connecticut-based GE.Nobody else is even close.

Third, but miles behind, is another leviathan of American industry, Exxon Corp, with a valuation of $171.9bn at Monday’s close. Next comes beverages giant Coca-Cola with $156.1bn.Microsoft has long been the standard-bearer of the hi-tech revolution, but GE might be seen to stand for the past, if only by virtue of its age. Eta is understood to have been heavily influenced by the peace process.June 1998 The latest Eta death as a car bomb kills Popular Party councillor Manuel Zamarreno.. DOZENS OF important-looking men in suits and braided uniforms gathered to chat in a grand, high-ceilinged room with Russian landscape paintings on the walls. It looked as though it might be some interminable cocktail party But this group was involved in crisis talk, not small talk. In the Russian city of Tver, north-west of Moscow, officials and police chiefs are discussing with the provincial deputy governor how to cope with the upheaval that has turned Russia upside down in recent weeks.
The deputy governor of Tver province, Yuri Krasnov, insisted that “the situation is under control”.

But this crisis meeting in Tver, which will be repeated every few days until further notice, made clear that fears run deep.To prevent things from getting out of hand, the city authorities have resorted to command economy methods to keep prices down. There is a phone line for citizens to report unreasonable price rises. The tax police are then dispatched “to put the frighteners” on offenders, in the words of one official. Retailers can be prosecuted for unreported profits.Russia’s departing Prime Minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin, warned that impending social unrest meant that blood might flow. So far, the attempts to keep Tver and other cities tranquil have been successful Tver region sells itself as “the soul of Russia”. Certainly, most Russians would agree that their country consists above all of the various provinces.