July 23, 1903: The freshly incorporated Ford Motor Company sells its very first Model A, ushering in a new era of transportation for Americans. Having spent nearly all of its initial cash investment of $28,000 prior to its first sale, in less than two months, the company profited $37,000. Source: Ford Motor Company Website Read Read More …
July 20, 1841: On this date, Lewis Tappan founded The Mercantile Agency to collect business information such as sales estimates and bill paying ability. In 1859, the company was sold to Robert Graham Dun and incorporated under a new name, R. G. Dun & Company. And in 1933, Dun & Co. merged with Bradstreet Company, a Read More …
July 17, 1955: On a sunny Anaheim, California Sunday afternoon, Walt Disney opens his first theme park, Disneyland. Offering 5 theme lands with 18 attractions, the park took more than twenty years to plan and cost $17 million to build. Disney’s financial advisers were skeptical of his plan, suggesting that it would be a disaster, but Read More …
July 2, 1962: Sam Walton opens his first Walmart store in Rogers, Arkansas at the age of 44. Sam Walton was no stranger to retail by this time. He worked for the J.C. Penney Company after college, which at that time was a relatively small retailer. After serving in World War II, where he was captain of Read More …
June 1, 1999: The world’s first peer-to-peer music sharing site, Napster, launched on this date. Before Napster, music lovers were limited to purchasing music as hard copies on CDs, vinyl, or cassettes. Napster enabled users to share music files in MP3 format, initiating a massive disruption in the music industry. Within just a year of Read More …
May 17, 1792: Outside of 66 Wall Street, under a buttonwood tree, 24 stockbrokers and merchants signed what became known as the Buttonwood Agreement, which established The New York Stock Exchange. The very first listed company on the exchange was Bank of New York. Source: History of the New York Stock Exchange via Library of Congress Read more Read More …
April 15, 1955: Ray Kroc opened the first McDonald’s franchise in Des Plaines, Illinois, having purchased the rights to franchise the restaurant across the country from the founders, Maurice and Richard McDonald. To announce the grand opening, Kroc ran in add in the Des Plaines Journal, advertising “speedee service” and “plenty of free parking,” along with Read More …
April 1, 1976: College dropouts Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computers, Inc. The two wanted to make computers small enough for people to have in their homes and offices. Ever wondered how they came up with the company name? According to an interview that Wozniak did with Byte magazine in December 1984, he credited Jobs with Read More …
March 30, 1971: Well before Howard Schultz walked into the picture, a small coffee shop with a name inspired by Moby Dick opened its doors in Seattle’s Pike Place Market for the first time. What started as a humble coffee shop has boomed since then into a monolithic organization which leads the industry. Today, it Read More …
March 14, 1927: Initially designed to be just an air mail and passenger service operation between Key West, Florida and Havana, Cuba, Pan Am grew to be one of the most influential and innovative airline companies of the twentieth century. Within the same year of its launch as a mail carrier, the company was selected Read More …
