In this context "zählen" is simply translated with: has.

or you could probably use "consists of", but this sounds very pompous

zählt heute rund 140‘000 Mitglieder

and counts today about 140.000 members

(it has about 140.000 members.)

I simply cannot imagine any native speaker of English saying something that sounds as ridiculous as "and counts today about 140.000 members".

Yes, we say so.

Check google i.e. "counts 12 members" and you'll see

Keith - counts 12 members is fine, of course. "...and counts today about xxx members" is not...

but I wanted to provide a literal translation

Quelle: http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=%22counts...

Anette - at least two of your "sources" are not native English sites. You can't honestly say it's rare - it's virtually non-existent.

NB: What is the use of a literal translation if it is not used? A translation is supposed to make some kind of sense.

:)

:)

Was ist mit "to number"?

"Soldiers who want to be heros
Number practically zero,
but there are millions
who want to be civilians."
Rod McKuen

Noch ein Beispiel:
"The 10 Amerindian nations and the Inuit nations number 71,415 people and account for approximately 1% of the total population of the Canadian province of Quebec."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_peopl...

X was founded in 1963. Today there are 140,000 members and the company has 57 exclusive holiday resorts in 18 countries located in some of the loveliest places in Europe, North Africa and the USA.

I'd give the company name instead of "Swiss company".