There are thousands of biotech companies around worldwide, ranging from tiny spin-off companies at universities to the big players like Monsanto. Many companies are part of bigger corporations. Over the last years a lot of biotech companies changed their names in mergers and de-mergers, thereby making their history invisible. Check Corporate Watch's Biotech Family Tree to keep track of them.

Oligoploy

Even while they are so many biotech companies around, only 5 control the seed and agrochemical markets and by consolidation more and more parts of food production become in the hands of a few, forming an olipoly. About 85% of all CM crops are heribicide resistant, most of them resistant to the Monsanto's total herbicide Roundup. The rest are mainly crops that produce a toxin against insects.

Over half of the world's 100 largest economic entities are transnational corporations (TNCs), not nations and TNCs have unprecedented power to shape social, economic and trade policies: The top 10 firms account for 54% of the biotech sectors' $42 billion revenues. The top 10 seed companies control one-third of the $23,300 million commercial seed market. For pesticides, the top 10 firms control 80% of the $27,800 million global pesticide market. and for foodt he top 10 control 57% of the total sales of the world's leading 30 food retailers.