The history of the BEIC is long and varied, but it actually ran into financial difficulty repeatedly and had to be bailed out by the British government, and was always vastly smaller and less profitable than the Dutch equivalent.  The VOC did something like 5 times the amount of trade the BEIC did, at their respective peaks.<p>(Incidentally, one of the many bailouts of the BEIC company took the form of the Tea Act of 1773.  American&#x27;s probably know it better as the trigger for the Boston Tea Party, and one of many steps on the road to revolution.  And you thought Occupy Wall Street was upset about corporate bailouts...)