YEREVAN, May 7. / ARKA /.Twenty-seven Russian companies have been listed by Forbes in its 13th Annual Global 2000 list of the world’s biggest public companies.

The highest ranked is Gazprom, which shares 27th place with the US telephone provider AT&T.
The other Russian companies include: Rosneft (59th), LukOil (109th) and Sberbank (124th), which also rank quite high.

Two Russian companies, United Aircraft Corporation and Moskovskaya Birzha have been included for the first time this year.

This year’s Global 2000 companies hail from 61 countries (compared to 62 countries last year).
For the first time, China’s four biggest banks have taken the top four spots; along with PetroChina, which is ranked eighth, China has landed five of the top ten spots for the second year in a row. The other five are held by the US.

France fell out of the top 5 countries, ceding its spot to South Korea while Argentina and Cyprus made their debut on the list this year. There are 200 newcomers to this year's list including some household names like travel company Expedia and luxury jewelry retailer Tiffany.

Forbes said the most notable gainers on the list include Facebook, which jumped more than 200 ranks this year thanks to rising revenue and profits.

With 121 spots, construction overtook utilities as the third leading industry this year, in part thanks to the more upbeat global economic outlook, Forbes said.-0-