home » Business types » The oldest companies in the world that still exist. The largest companies in the world Companies that have existed for over 100 years

The oldest companies in the world that still exist. The largest companies in the world Companies that have existed for over 100 years

You are probably familiar with the aristocrats - these are companies that are included in the sp500 index and have been increasing their dividend payments over the past 25 years. But, this time, I chose companies that have paid dividends for at least 100 years. They didn't increase their dividends every year, but at least many of them didn't reduce their payouts. Most of these companies come from humble beginnings but have grown into multi-billion dollar corporations over time. Let's look at the oldest companies.

Let's start with Exxon Mobil Corp.- an oil giant, one of the ten largest companies in the US stock market, included in the S & P500 and DJ30 index. The company was established in 1870 as a derivative of John Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust. The company began paying dividends in 1882. Behind Last year, the company paid a dividend of 4.01% .

The next company is Stanley Black & Decker Inc.. The company was founded as a manufacturer hand tool back in 1840. At the moment, this is a company with a capitalization of more than $21 billion, and is included in the S&P500 index. The company began paying dividends in 1877. Over the past year, the company has paid a dividend of 1.78% .

And the oldest company is The York Water Company, founded back in 1816 (more than 200 years ago). She started her business as a small water supply company for the city of York and other surrounding cities. The company began paying dividends in 1816. Last year, the dividend was 2.06% .

We looked at the three oldest companies, but in general, there are about 15 such companies. Among them are such giants as Consolidated Edison, Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive and other well-known companies.

Apple

The founder of the company, Steve Jobs, not without reason became famous precisely as a man who managed to change the world. And change drastically. Interestingly, at the same time, the company did not actually invent anything new, but finalized existing ideas, bringing them to perfection. First, Apple released the first true personal computer, making it suitable for ordinary users, not just enthusiasts. Through the efforts of the company, concepts such as a graphical interface and a mouse, previously invented in the laboratories of another manufacturer, but actually buried there, entered our lives. Apple also didn't invent mobile phone, MP3 player and tablet computer. But it fundamentally transformed the market for these devices.

Atari

The first computer games were created for large computers. But they were not made for entertainment, but rather as a curious experiment, young programmers simply created new areas, demonstrated the potential of computer technology. In those years, computer time was very expensive, no one seriously could have thought that in the future ordinary users would be able to use computing systems specifically for games. Therefore, when Nolan Bushnell created his first slot machine, he could not even imagine that he was thereby creating a new direction in the business. It is thanks to Atari that game consoles have appeared in our homes. It was this company that laid down the concept of these devices, starting with primitive analog solutions and turning them into specialized computers.

Ford

Henry Ford did not invent the automobile, but he did invent a concept that made it possible for middle-income consumers to get behind the wheel as well. The story of the unsightly little car Ford T, which received many derisive nicknames, is an example of how sometimes a non-standard decision changes not only the fate of the company, but also the history of the whole world. It suddenly turned out that a car can be not only a luxury, but also a means of transportation. Subsequently, many affordable cars appeared in the world that became real legends - Volkswagen Beetle, Citroen 2CV ... But the Ford T was the very first of them.

Even if the company were limited solely to the creation of the search engine of the same name, it would be worthy of inclusion in this list. But it didn't stop there. The achievements of the brainchild of Sergey Brin and Larry Page must also be attributed to the emergence of the Android mobile operating system, the birth of which made possible the truly massive distribution of smartphones and tablet computers, which Finnish Nokia had not been able to do before. Google is also working in many other areas, whether it is the creation of augmented reality glasses or a car that can drive without a driver. These and many other achievements in the future will have a huge impact both on our daily life and on the economy of entire states.

IBM

The main activity of this company has little to do with ordinary users. However, thanks to her, the IBM PC appeared - a personal computer that eventually transformed both consumer market computing devices and the way a business is run, regardless of size. IBM itself quickly lost interest in its offspring and is not engaged in production today personal computers. But it was thanks to her that the RS standard appeared, which actually rules the market today. IBM has managed to do what Apple has never been able to do.

Kodak

Did you know that once a photo shoot was very not an easy task. In order to deliver all his bulky equipment to the place, the photographer had to hire a cab, deal with the tedious procedure of loading and unloading. It was Kodak who created a camera the size of a small box that could be carried around all the time. Today, when almost everyone has a mobile phone with a built-in digital camera in their pocket, it's hard to imagine what a great achievement Kodak's creation was then. Unfortunately, having existed for more than 100 years, the company failed to adapt to the realities of the market and went bankrupt.

Levi's

Jeans, as casual wear, have penetrated all countries. They are worn with pleasure by men and women of all ages and professions. In some countries (for example, in the Netherlands), it is jeans that are the main type of trousers that never go out of fashion. But it all started in the middle of the 19th century, when Levi Strauss organized a small company for tailoring clothes for gold miners. The trousers developed at that time turned out to be so practical and comfortable that they immediately became a real classic, gradually penetrating into all segments of the population.

McDonald's

The modern world cannot be imagined without culture fast food, which has developed precisely thanks to this company. The McDonald's restaurant chain has penetrated almost everywhere and continues to develop. These establishments can be found in many countries, both rich and poor, regardless of cultural traditions and official religion. What once began as a small restaurant in the backyards of America, today has turned into a huge international corporation, whose products were bought at least once in a lifetime by a variety of consumers.

Thanks to Apple, users for the first time were able to try out a computer with GUI. But there was one catch - for this it was necessary to purchase a Macintosh. Thanks to Microsoft, founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, other computer manufacturers were able to take advantage of the latest advances. Today, Windows is the leading operating system on the market. It is under it that the largest number is created software. Also among the achievements of the company, it is necessary to note the MS Office package, which has become an absolute standard among office applications.

Once, through the efforts of this company, a radio receiver designed for cars was created - a huge breakthrough for those years. But the real achievement of Motorola is cellular telephone without which life is unthinkable modern man. The company created not just a new device, but new market, new concept, a new style life. In addition, thanks to her, satellite communications became available not only to the military, but also to ordinary mortals. But the company itself failed to take advantage of all the advantages of its position. Today Motorola Mobility is owned by Google. Motorola itself switched exclusively to the creation of professional communication technology.

A company is considered a long-liver if it has existed for more than 10 years, and we can’t even talk about such terms as hundreds of years. Domestic businessmen need to learn how to extend the life of their company from foreign companies some of them have been in operation for centuries.

Interesting fact № 1: For example, a construction company in Kongō Gumi Co.,Ltd in Japan was founded in 578, and ended its existence in 2006, that is, after 15 centuries. At first she prospered by building castles for kings, then, during the Second World War, she had to sell coffins. Whether it had to produce corrugated PVC pipes is unknown. But by the end of the 20th century, the company had accumulated a lot of debt and in 2006 it was taken over by a rival firm.

Fun Fact #2: Almost as long worked and another Japanese Hōshi company specializing in hotel business. The first inn of this brand was opened to guests in 718. The firm has been continuously managed by 46 generations of the same family.

Fun Fact #3: In the capital Austria Vienna has a restaurant Stiftskeller St. peter, founded in 803. During his work, both crowned heads and even himself visited here. Christopher Columbus.

Fun Fact #4: One of the first breweries in Bavaria Weihenstephan Brewery of Bavaria has been brewing beer since 1040, when she received permission to produce this popular drink. Beer can be tasted in this institution today.

Fun Fact #5: Another brewery Affligem Abbey brewery of Belgium, already in Belgium, was founded by monks in 1074, and since then the beer recipe has not changed.

Fun Fact #6: In Wieliczka open to tourists upper levels salt mines The Wieliczka Salt Mine, which were founded in 1044. At the lower levels of the mines there is a restaurant and a church. At one time the mines were visited by Goethe, Copernicus, Bill Clinton.

Fun Fact #7: Mint Kremnica in Slovakia has been producing coins since 1328. Second World War caused great damage to the equipment, but it was gradually restored.

Hayakawa (Japan), 705

Japanese hotel (onsen) at the hot spring. Engraving by Toyohara Chikanobu. 1890sThe Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

General view of the Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan Hotel today© pop-picture.blogspot.com

Private bath underneath open sky hotel "Nishiyama onsen keiunkan" today© Keiunkan Inn

One of the baths at the Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan Hotel with hot spring water today© pop-picture.blogspot.com

Until 2011, the oldest hotel in the world (and the oldest company in general) was considered a Japanese traditional ryokan hotel Ryokan- a type of inn, and later a hotel, which is distinguished by simple rooms with tatami mats instead of beds and the presence of a hot spring, in which there is a bath for guests."Hoshi". It was opened in the city of Ko-matsu in 717 and for 13 centuries offered visitors accommodation near the hot springs. The title of the oldest was awarded to him in 1994 by the Guinness Book of Records, after which "Khosi" even joined the so-called "Enoch" club. Enoch Club- an unofficial organization that arose in France in 1981 and received its name in honor of the Old Testament patriarch Enoch, who lived, according to the Bible, for 365 years., uniting companies that are over 200 years old. However, in 2011, the representatives of the Gin-ne-ss Book of Records reconsidered their decision and gave the title of the oldest hotel to the Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan ryokan (“Ni-shiyama onsen keiunkan”) in the village of Haya-kawa in the central part of Japan. Owned by the 53rd generation of the same family since its founding in 705, this hotel is still a classic ryokan offering traditional service and furnishings, as well as hot spring baths.

oldest bank

Siena (Italy), 1477

Finances of the municipality in peacetime and in wartime. Painting by Benvenuto di Giovanni. 1468Archivio di Stato di Siena, Museo delle tavolette di Biccherna / Wikimedia Commons

The main entrance of Palazzo Salimbeni, where the Monte dei Paschi di Siena bank is located. 2006© Vyacheslav Argenberg / CC BY 2.0

The Monte dei Paschi di Siena Bank ("Monte dei Paschi di Siena") was founded in 1477. This is almost 120 years earlier than its closest neighbor on the list of the world's oldest banks, the German Berenberg. The bank was founded in the Republic of Siena, an Italian city-state that existed in the 12th-16th centuries and was considered one of the largest financial centers of the Italian lands. Banking there developed rapidly from the 12th century, and the banking houses of the city operated throughout Western Europe, lending to the Vatican, the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire and the royal court of France. The Monte dei Paschi di Siena bank was created already at the end of the Republic of Siena and at first functioned as monte di pieta- so in medieval Italy they called a special “charitable” pawnshop, where a person could take money, leaving property as collateral covering a third of the loan. If the borrower did not repay the funds on time, only this part of his property was sold at the auction and no other measures were taken. For a long time, the church supported such monte di pieta: it did not approve of the growth and encouraged financial assistance the poor. However, by the 17th century, Monte dei Paschi di Siena had become a full-fledged bank, after which it was reorganized many times. It now has branches in 20 Italian cities and is known, among other things, for its extensive collection of Italian paintings, which has been collected throughout the history of the bank.

The oldest pharmacy

Tallinn (Estonia), ca. 1420

Town Hall Pharmacy. Tallinn, 1966© Roman Valdre / Kultuurimälestiste riiklik register

Interior of the Town Hall Pharmacy. Tallinn, 2011© Tom Wright / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Medicines in the Town Hall Pharmacy. Tallinn, 2013 Wikimedia Commons

Town Hall Pharmacy. Tallinn, 2008 Wikimedia Commons

The Town Hall Pharmacy (Est. Raeapteek) has been located on the Town Hall Square in Tallinn since at least 1422. Over the six centuries of its existence, it has changed dozens of owners, the most famous of whom was a native of the Hungarian lands, Johann Burkhart Belavari de Sekava. As a chemist and doctor, he moved to Tallinn in the 1580s, and in 1583 the city council appointed Burchart the chief apothecary of Tallinn, leasing the Town Hall Pharmacy to him. For more than a hundred years, his descendants rented a pharmacy from the city, and only in 1688 did Johann Burchart IV manage to buy it from the city. Later, the enterprise was inherited until the middle of the 19th century, however, in the 1890s, Johann Burchard X died without leaving a male heir, and his sisters were forced to sell the business in 1911. After that, the pharmacy changed several owners, was owned by the state, and in 2003, after a long reconstruction, it reopened in its original place.

The oldest watchmakers

Geneva (Switzerland), 1466

Halle Watch Factory. Switzerland. 1900s galletwatch.com

Watchmakers La Chaux-de-Fonds at work. Late 19th century Wikimedia Commons

Little is known about Humbertus Gallet, considered the founder of Gallet & Co. In 1466, he received the right to live in Geneva, where he took up watchmaking, which he later passed on to his son. Several generations of the Galle family were engaged in the manufacture of watches, and in 1826 a direct descendant of Humbertus Galle, Julien Galle, officially registered trademark and moved the company from Geneva to the Swiss city of La Chaux-de-Fonds, known today as a watch factory city, where about a third of the working population is employed in the watch industry. Thanks to this circumstance, La Chaux-de-Fonds even ended up in Marx's Capital, where he analyzed the division of labor in the watch factories of the city. Since the end of the 19th century, Gallet & Co. began to consider the United States as the main market for its products. The most famous model of the factory - the Flying Officer Chronograph - was created in 1939 by order of Harry Truman (at that time - Senator from Missouri) for combat pilots: one of its features was a rotating a dial with the names of cities, which allowed pilots to easily calculate the change in time zones. Truman himself, who became President of the United States in 1945, also wore this watch; they are now in his museum.

oldest newspaper

Stockholm (Sweden), 1645

Issue of the newspaper "Regular Post News", No. 15, for April 9, 1645flickr.com/elcromaticom/CC BY 2.0

Two editions of Post- och Inrikes Tidningar - 1835 and 2006Centro de Documentacion Publicitaria

The newspaper Ordinari Post Tijdender (that is, "Regular Post News") was founded by order of the Swedish Queen Christina in 1645 - nine years after the creation of the Royal Post Office, which also exists to this day. At first, the newspaper was the main supplier of news in Sweden, and the collection of this news was largely entrusted to local postmasters, who were instructed to collect all the news that fell into their field of attention and transfer it to edition. The distribution of the newspaper was carried out by all the same post offices: they were required to post fresh issues in public places. In 1821, the newspaper was merged with the Swedish Inrikes Tidningar ("Local news"), giving a new edition - Post- och Inrikes Tidningar ("Post and local news"). After that, the newspaper experienced two more important events: in 1922, unable to withstand competition from commercial newspapers, it began to publish only state decrees and court decisions, and since 2007 it has been published only in in electronic format.

The oldest shipbuilders

Heraklion (Greece), 1438

Parking of boats in Chioggia at the fish market. Venice, 1890–1900s Library of Congress

Building a Camuffo boat today bisiacivan.blogspot.com

Camuffo, the oldest operating shipbuilding company, was founded in 1438 on the island of Crete, which then belonged to the Venetian Republic. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the strengthening of the Ottoman Empire in the Aegean, the son of the founder transferred the production of ships to the Italian Chioggia near Venice. At that time, this city was the largest trading port in the Adriatic Sea, and the Camuffo craftsmen provided themselves with orders for the construction of fishing boats, barges, pleasure, merchant and transport boats in the Venetian style for several hundred years. At the moment, the company, which was owned by 18 generations of the same family, produces only three models of motor yachts from 18 to 20 meters in length. Until now, many valuable types of wood are used in their manufacture, for which, in the second half of the 20th century, Camuffo received the nickname “Stradivarius on the Sea” from profile magazines, which it uses in its advertising materials.

The oldest carrier

Aberdeen (Scotland), 1498

St. Catherine's Dock. Illustration by Gustave Doré for Douglas Jerrold's London. 1872 The Victorian Web

The Shore Porters Society car in the middle of the 20th century hiveminer.com

The Shore Porters Society of Aberdeen, Scotland, was founded six years after Columbus's first voyage to America, and has not changed its name since. For a long time the company was a simple association of workers in Aberdeen Harbor, but by 1666 it had grown so much that two divisions were created: the department of transportation, which owned horses and carts, and the department of property and warehousing. Until the middle of the 19th century, the Port Loaders Society belonged to the Aberdeen City Council, but then the company became a private partnership, after which its profile changed somewhat ---. Now, in addition to transportation across the UK, services of loaders and home moving services, the company is also engaged in expert transportation of antiques and art objects. Its services are used by both private buyers and auction houses.

The oldest gunsmiths

Gardone (Italy), 1526

Venetian arquebuser. Illustration from Cesare Vecellio's book Ancient and Modern Costumes from Around the World. 16th century greatestbattles.iblogger.org

The history of the Beretta company began in 1526, when the gunsmith Bartolomeo Beretta from the Italian Gardone received an order from Venice for 185 barrels for arch-bouzes - matchlock smoothbore guns. On this, he earned 296 golden Venetian ducats, and the contract that sealed the deal is still kept in the company's archive. Subsequently, in 1571, the gunsmiths again rendered a service to Venice, casting cannons for the Venetian fleet, which took part in the famous battle of Lepanto. Battle in the Ionian Sea between the Holy League Holy League- a coalition of Catholic states, which was created in 1571 at the initiative of Pope Pius V to fight the Ottoman Empire and lasted until 1573. and the Ottoman Empire ended in a crushing defeat of the Turks, and the Venetians showed themselves heroically in it. In the next five centuries, the company, owned by members of the Beret-ta family, developed rapidly. Beretta's current CEO, Hugo Gussalli Beretta, is a direct descendant of founder Bartolomeo Beretta, and one of his two sons is expected to take over the company in the future.

The oldest publishing house

Cambridge (England), 1534

The invention of printing. Engraving by Jan Kollaert I. Late 16th centuryThe Metropolitan Museum of Art

Cambridge University Press. 1900–1916danielcaruanalupi2.blogspot.com

The publishing house at the University of Cambridge was founded by order of King Henry VIII in 1534: the monarch issued a patent letter to the university for the right to "print all kinds of books." However, the first printed books appeared half a century later - after he became a printer in Cambridge scientist Thomas Thomas. In May 1582, he received a position, and the first book - "Dialectics" by the French philosopher Pierre de la Rama - was published by him in 1585. In 1591, Thomas's follower, John Legate, printed the Cambridge Bible, which began the centuries-old tradition of university publication of the Bible. Since then, Cambridge has annually published dozens and hundreds of books, among some were, for example, the works of John Milton and Isaac Newton, as well as scientific periodicals, monographs, reference books and textbooks in English which are now spreading all over the world. However, it was not until 1992 that the University of Cambridge opened its own store in the historic city center at 1 Trinity Street. some researchers consider this shop the oldest bookstore in Great Britain.

Zil, meaning "cymbals", and affix dji with the meaning "one who does", to which the Sultan added the suffix "yan" characteristic of Armenian surnames. Shortly after Avedis started making cymbals, Osman II was killed by rebellious Janissaries. After that, for more than two centuries, the descendants of Ziljyan made various percussion musical instruments, including combat kim-shafts, which were beaten to intimidate the enemy. Only in the 19th century did the company completely switch to musical plates, and at the beginning of the 20th century, the descendants of Avedis moved to the USA. Here, in September 1929, a company was registered under its modern name - Avedis Zildjian Company, or simply Zildjian. Since then, she has gained worldwide fame, and in the United States has become a prominent part of the musical culture. During World War II, when copper was considered an important strategic resource and its purchase by companies was limited, the US government issued special permission to Zildjian to purchase raw materials.

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Images: Pharmacy. Illustration from the manuscript of Matthew Platearius. Amiens, 1300-1325. british library