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 18 2012: Facebook started trading on NASDAQ as FB, with common stock priced at $38 per share. This gave Facebook a $104B valuation, nearly four times Google’s $23B valuation at it’s 2004 IPO. The IPO was notable for more than its size; as technical glitches at NASDAQ later led to lawsuits from shareholders. Sources: 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 …
May 17, 1792 – Outside of 68 Wall Street under a Buttonwood Tree, 24 New York City stockbrokers and merchants signed the Buttonwood Agreement which began the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Stock Exchanges have been around for while in United States. In 1790, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, originally named the Board of Brokers of Philadelphia, was founded, and was Read More …
May 6, 1994: The “Chunnel,” a rail tunnel under the English Channel, officially opened. This 31 mile tunnel connects Folkstone, England with Sangatte, France. Construction began in 1988, with drilling commencing from both countries. The tunnel goes down as far as 50 feet deep, and the underwater section is 23.5 miles, the longest undersea tunnel in Read More …
April 17, 1837: J.P. Morgan was a titan of American business. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, his position and connections put him squarely in the middle of the development of American industry. Even today the name remains in the forefront of the global business financial world. John Pierpoint Morgan was born April 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 6, 1992: This updated version of Windows established some features that are taken for granted today. This includes the CTRL-ALT-DEL command to avoid rebooting your computer, and allowing you to cut and paste from one application to another. As internet access moved forward, Windows 3.1 also supported modem speeds up to 9600 bps. To 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 …
