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 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 …
