America’s Largest Airlines 1950-2019 in Two Animated Charts
The United States airline system, one of the technological and business wonders of the twentieth century, evolved in the 1920s and 1930s. With early subsidies from the Post Office for carrying mail, airplanes began connecting US cities. With successive air...
Americans Vote with Their Feet
Last week, the Census Bureau published their annual estimates of population, as of July 1, 2020. Population trends underly all economic activity, so we study that data as soon as it is released. The fastest growing and shrinking cities and metropolitan areas...
Superwealth: A Historical Perspective
Few business subjects fascinate people as much as the very wealthy. Our obsession with celebrity goes back centuries but seems to have accelerated in recent decades. Forbes produced its first list of the richest Americans in 1982 and later started publishing it...
Bye Bye, New York
One of the most significant shifts in American business over the last several decades has been the shrinking number of big corporations headquartered in New York City. At first, some moved “upstate” to the New York suburbs and to Connecticut. But more...
Giant Companies Rarely Survive
A careful study of this week’s list will show you the huge American industries which once dominated stock markets, employment, and community life, but which are not as important in the age of Amazon and Google. Our readers know we love lists. There are few other...
Retailing Trends 1992 through 2020
The $6.3 trillion US retailing industry has evolved continuously since the end of the Civil War, when the first chain grocery stores and first department stores began to develop. This chart, based on data from the US Census, shows how the different types of...
The Biggest Companies in the World
Fifty-seven years ago, meatpacking giant Swift was the 15th largest public company in the world. Today that 15th spot is held by American health insurer UnitedHealth. Apple sits in the 12th position formerly held by Texaco, now part of Chevron. ...
Most Valuable Companies: The Last 25 Years
On Market Capitalization as a Measure of Size or Success Your history reporter has been studying big business for fifty-seven years (I started subscribing to Fortune magazine in 1963, when I was twelve years old). Over the decades, we have witnessed many...
America’s Highest Profit Companies 1994-2019
This week we present another of our animated charts based on Fortune magazine’s annual lists of the 500 largest US public companies (based on revenues). This time, our focus is on the companies which made the highest dollar profits, from 1994 through 2019. You...
Big Companies Hiring (and Laying Off) Employees
This week we present another of our animated charts based on Fortune magazine’s annual lists of the 500 largest US public companies (based on revenues). This time, our focus is on the largest employers among these big companies, from 1994 through 2019. You...
Dinosaur Age: Charting Giant Companies 66 Years Ago
“Last week we brought you an unprecedented animated chart of the Fortune 500 list since 1994. Here we go back another 40 years, when steel companies and meatpackers were still giants. Taken together, you can learn a lot from 65 years of history.” Last...
25 Years of the Fortune 500 Animated Chart
The saga of American business in one chart! The fall of Enron, the rise of Apple and Amazon, the enduring legacy of John Rockefeller in Exxon and Chevron – see the years fly by! Below the two charts is more information about the history and quirks of...Where Americans are Leaving
Two weeks ago, we presented an animated chart showing the most popular American cities – the metropolitan areas which received the most domestic migrants in each year from 2010 through 2018. This week, we created an animated chart showing “the...24 years of Big Company Change
American Spending Patterns 1929 to 2018
This week, we present more of our animated “bar race charts” made with Flourish.studio, in which you can see how change takes place over time. We have produced two versions, one for close study that takes five minutes and a very fast one that you can watch in...The Rise and Fall of American Cities
History lovers, Today we present something a little different….an animated chart showing the rise and fall of American cities. If you play (or replay) the graphic linked here, you will see the rise and fall of the thirty most populous metropolitan areas in the...The First Fortune 500 – 1954 Data
The first Fortune 500 – 1954 Data set Source: Fortune Magazine 1954 The First Fortune 500 1954 Data (XLSX)US Auto Production by Make 1896-1966
Here are estimates of the largest car makers in the early years of the industry, 1896-1966. Source: The American Car since 1775, 1971, by the Editors of Automobile Quarterly US Auto Production by Make 1896-1966...1955 Fortune 500 companies no longer independent
Here is our first effort to list the companies that were on the Fortune 500 list in 1955 that no longer exist as independent companies. We have more work to do here, going down the entire list. But it should remind us of all the fallen giants! Source:...Market Capitalization Large US Companies 1964
Largest US companies and their Market Capitalizations in 1964. Market Capitalization Large US Companies 1964 (XLSX)1969 largest hotel chains
Here is a list of the largest US-based hotel chains in 1969, including the number of hotels and motels (“units”). Source: Institutions Magazine 400 1969 list. 1969 largest hotel chains (XLSX)Largest Companies 1917 and 1929
Here are lists of selected large American companies in 1917 and 1929. The notes on the spreadsheet tabs are important to read. Source: Forbes Magazine 50th Anniversary Issue, 9/15/1967 Largest Companies 1917 and 1929 (XLSX) In our continuing research, we...
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