That may be the key statement, if not why is HSBC ranked #1. Won't M$ be worth more than them? HSBC's "market value" is $180.81bln but their asset value is $2348.98 bln. The market value just seems to represent the worth of investing in the company at present not necessarily how much the company would cost because that would mean HSBC would cost less than M$.

Because HSBC also has huge liabilities.

Let me sum up:

Market cap is the stock market's estimate of a company's net worth. Net worth equals total assets minus total liabilities.

When you own a company's stock, you own their assets as well as their liabilities.

"...it becomes blatantly clear that Sony and Microsoft simply don't have what it takes right now to compete and more consumers are more excited about Nintendo's platform than anything Sony or Microsoft can dole out."

"Sony's gaming division is quickly becoming a drain on its financial stability and shareholder confidence, while Microsoft is chugging along at a pretty good clip even though it has little influence in Asia"...  "Sony has blamed its gaming division's financial problems on high manufacturing costs and slow sales, but it's probably easier to blame it on poor management."

"And why wouldn't (MS) be? By acquiring Sony's games division, Microsoft effectively eliminates the major competitor in its space and can increase its presence overseas -- a major sticking point for the company.

Right now, Microsoft is a major force in the US and Europe, but it's practically nonexistent in Asia. On the other hand, Japan has always been a Playstation 3 stronghold and even now, it far outpaces the Xbox 360 on almost every measure of performance.

But by acquiring Sony's games division, all those troubles are behind Microsoft. After the ink dries, it'll have a full-fledged customer base in Asia and together with its US and Europe customers, it can expand its Xbox Live platform to more people than ever before and truly become a fearful competitor to Nintendo.

Full article here - http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10007014-17.html

 I guess it make sense that buying the company also means buying the right to pay employee salaries and the like so since sony has way more employees and made less profit than nintendo, then, sony would be cheaper because whoever buys it has to pay off such things, hence, ExxonMobil has the highest market value because its the most profitable company in the world.

This guy is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Anyone could write something like this. Plus I would like to see Sony documents that state in plain text they feel their gaming division is a "drain" on the rest of the company.

Absolutely... It's a very complicated thing to estimate a company's net worth, which is why the stock market goes up and down all the time. The market cap. usually gives a reasonable estimate though (except when there are huge bubbles from speculators and situations like that).