New York

AT least 40 major US companies have substantial exposure to Venezuela's deepening economic crisis, and could collectively be forced to take billions of dollars of writedowns, a Reuters analysis shows.

The companies, all members of the Standard & Poor's 500, and including some of the biggest names in Corporate America such as auto giant General Motors (GM) and drugmaker Merck & Co Inc, together carry at least US$11 billion of monetary assets in the Venezuelan currency, the bolivar, on their books.