Toyota eighth on Forbes list of top firms

NEW YORK (Kyodo) Toyota Motor Corp. came in eighth on this year's Forbes list of top corporations worldwide, with six other Japanese companies among the top 100, the U.S. economic magazine said Wednesday.

Toyota rose from 12th last year in the ranking of 2,000 global leading companies, based on sales, profits, assets and market value.

British major bank HSBC Holdings PLC topped the list, replacing U.S. financial giant Citigroup Inc., which sank to 24th due to huge losses in the wake of the U.S. subprime mortgage woes.

U.S. major electric and financial company General Electric Co. came in second, followed by Bank of America.

Battered by U.S. subprime mortgage-related losses, the ranking of many financial firms fell.

Meanwhile, international oil majors made big strides on the back of rising crude oil prices.

The number of Japanese companies in the top 100 remained unchanged at seven, including Toyota.

The six others included Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. at 35th, Mizuho Financial Group Inc. at 71st and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. at 82nd.

Also on the list were automakers Honda Motor Co. at 68th and Nissan Motor Co. at 96th. NTT Co. was 65th.