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Sunday 22 June 2014

Company

There are more than 5000 companies worldwide that are older than 200 years. More than 3000 of them are located in Japan and the oldest company in the world was Kongō Gumi, a Buddhist Temple builder that had been in business continually for 1,428 years before succumbing to financial difficulties in 2006.

The five oldest companies, still running, are in Japan, and 52.8% of the worlds 985 oldest companies (that's 520) are in Japan.

The Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC in old Dutch), was established on March 20, 1602, when the Netherlands gave a group of small trading companies a 21-year monopoly to trade in Asia. It was the first company to issue stock, one of the first multinational corporations, and possibly the first megacorporations. The Dutch East Company had the power to start wars, make treaties, make its own money, and start new colonies.

Between 1602 and 1796 the Dutch East Company sent almost a million Europeans to work in the Asia trade on 4,785 ships, and netted for their efforts more than 2.5 million tons of Asian trade goods.

The Dutch East India Company's headquarters in Amsterdam. By Amsterdam Municipal Department for the Preservation and Restoration of Historic Buildings and Sites (bMA), Attribution, Wikipedia Commons

Weighed down by corruption in the late 18th century, the Company went bankrupt and was formally dissolved in 1800. Its colonies became the Dutch East Indies which later became Indonesia.

The East India Company was formed in 1600 to pursue trade with the "East Indies" but ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and Qing China.. By 1803, at the height of its rule in India, the British East India company had a private army of about 260,000 - twice the size of the British army. It also once accounted for half of the world's trade.

The General Electric Company was founded on April 15, 1892, through the merger of the Edison General Electric Company and the Thomson-Houston Company. Four years later, in 1896, General Electric was one of the original 12 companies included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was created to track the performance of the U.S. stock market. 

General Electric is the only one of the original 12 companies still listed on the Dow index, and it has remained a major player in the technology, energy, and healthcare industries throughout its history.

General Electric in Schenectady, NY, aerial view, 1896

UPS was started in Seattle by two teenagers, James Casey and Claude Ryan, with one bicycle and $100 borrowed from a friend on August 28, 1907. Their motto was "best service and lowest rates".


Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard held a coin toss in 1939 to decide whose name would go first when they set up the company. Packard won the toss and chose to put Hewlett's name first so itbecame Hewlett-Packard.

On April 8, 1946 Électricité de France, the world's largest utility company, was formed as a result of the nationalisation of a number of electricity producers, transporters and distributors.


IBM announced a loss of $4.97 billion for 1992 broke the then record for the largest single-year loss in US. corporate history.

In 1998 Mercedes-Benz bought Chrysler for $40 billion and formed DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.

 On November 30, 1998, Exxon and Mobil signed a merger agreement, creating ExxonMobil Corporation. The merger was valued at $73.7 billion at the time, making it the largest merger in history. The new company became the world's largest publicly traded oil company, and it remains one of the most profitable companies in the world today.


AOL Time Warne's loss of $98 billion dollars in 2002 was the largest loss in history. The loss was roughly the same size as the gross domestic product of Israel.

On May 14, 2008 there were 5,586 companies with over 200 years of history across 41 countries. More than 3,000 of those were in Japan and 837 in Germany. 

Japan has the highest number of old companies because it has a long history of economic stability and prosperity. The country has also been very successful in preserving its traditional culture and values, which has helped to create a strong foundation for business growth. 

Germany has the second highest number of old companies because it has a long history of innovation and entrepreneurship. The country has also been very successful in rebuilding its economy after World War II, which has created a favorable environment for business growth.

Walmart regained the No. 1 title on Fortune’s list of the top 500 companies in 2013, with Exxon Mobil dropping back to runner-up. According to Fortune, the world’s biggest retailer has held the top spot nine times since 1955, swapping only with the oil giant (13 times) and Detroit stalwart General Motors (37 times).

Walmart Stores, Inc is the largest private-sector company employer in the world. In 2014 it had 2,200,000 employees on its books.

Inside the Walmart Supercenter in West Plains, Missouri. By 7OA - Wikipedia Commons

Nolan Bushnell, founder of the video game company Atari, also founded the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant chain.

The founders of Home Depot, Geico, Coca-Cola, IBM and KFC were all over 50 when they launched their famous businesses.

Cisco is not an acronym. It's short for San Francisco, where the company was founded.

A tiny brick building at 1209 North Orange Street in Wilmington, Delaware is the legal business address for more than 300,000 companies. Numerous business entities register their companies there at the  CT Corporation due to Delaware's incorporation laws.

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