The World’s Largest Companies in 2024 … and in the Past
Five years ago, we took a look at the biggest companies in the world. Today we update that look with a few tables, based on the data provided in the annual Fortune magazine Global 500 lists. You can see the shift from a US-centered (and to some degree European)...
The Largest American Corporate Employers 1994-2024
Today we publish the last of our series of four annual animated charts on the top American public companies, focused on the largest employers. This list may seem to change more gradually than our prior lists based on revenues, stock market valuations, and...
In the Headlines: Historic Railroad Mergers
Four years ago we published a history of the American railroad system, showing how mergers had reshaped the industry in the late 20th century and beyond. That article contains maps and illustrations that bring life to this story. At that time, we concluded...
The Birthing of a New (Distribution) Technology: the Discount Store
Few subjects are more interesting than the evolution of innovations and new technologies. When a new idea catches fire, new enterprises enter the fray. Then there is a shakeout, with many of the early movers dying. Then there may be additional...
Most Valuable American Companies 1995-2024
Here we continue with our series of annual updates on America’s biggest companies from the recently published Fortune 500. This chart shows the 20 US public companies with the largest market capitalizations from 1995 through 2024. You can pause and move to...
Largest American Employers 1994-2023
Here we continue with our series of annual updates on America’s biggest companies. This chart shows the 20 biggest employers among US public companies from 1994 through 2023. You can pause and move to any year between 1994 and 2023. (There is also a...
Highest Profit US Companies 1994-2023
Here we continue with our series of annual updates on America’s biggest companies. This chart shows the 20 highest profit US public companies from 1994 through 2023. You can pause and move to any year between 1994 and 2023. (There is also a video...
Largest US Companies 1994-2023
We’re delighted to present our annual update of our charts on the largest American companies, ranked by revenue, reflecting full year results for 2023. Here are two charts which you can pause and move to any year between 1994 and 2023. One chart is the top...
Understanding How Business Works, with Book Recommendations
I am often surprised how many entrepreneurs, and even folks with MBA degrees, don’t fully understand how big business really works, how company leaders think, and how companies strategize and compete. One of the best ways to understand all this is to study the...
Why Should We Study Business History?
This article was originally published by the Discourse Magazine. Great scientists learn from and build upon what has gone before them. Similarly, attorneys make their careers by studying precedent and the legal cases of the past. Military leaders still study...
J.W. Marriott: From Herding Sheep to Hospitality Empire
This article was originally published by the Archbridge Institute. Growing up on a hardscrabble sheep and sugar beet farm in Utah, John Willard “Bill” Marriott sought opportunities beyond his humble Mormon beginnings. In 1927, the twenty-six-year-old Marriott opened...
Can We Build a Department Store for the 21st Century?
This article was first published by Discourse Magazine. At its peak, the large urban department store was like a center of the American universe. From the late 19th century to about 1970, these stores were major tourist attractions, drew huge crowds, sat at the core...
The Simple Key to Breakthrough Innovation
History lovers, I have been busy rebuilding my life and my library since my house burned down a year ago. I’ve spent some time on writing longer biographical articles, such as our recent story on Sam Walton and Walmart. I hope to get back to...
How Curiosity and Humility Built the World’s Largest Company: the Sam Walton Story
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. The most important principles of retailing are quite simple: Know your customers and the role you play in their lives. Know your merchandise and its suppliers. Know your competitors....
Whole Foods Founder Begins a New Adventure
Whole Foods Founder Begins a New Adventure At the American Business History Center, we rarely comment on current events or living entrepreneurs. At the same time, our study of the lessons of the past is motivated by our desire to understand the present and the...
America’s Largest Employers 1994-2022
Today we present our annual update of the twenty biggest employers among US public companies over the last 28 years. You can see the chart above. Enjoy and share! Gary Hoover Executive Director American Business History...
America’s Most Valuable Companies 1995-2023
An updated 2024 version of this chart can be seen here. Today we present our annual update of the market capitalizations of the twenty most valuable US public companies over the last 28 years. You can see the chart below, which you can control, or a video here....
Business History on the History Channel
Dear friends, You can see me talking about business history on these upcoming shows on the History Channel. The series is called The Mega-Brands that Built America. I hope you enjoy them! Gary HooverExecutive DirectorAmerican Business History Center “Battle of...
Highest Profit US Companies 1994-2022
Here we present our annual update to our animated chart of the highest profit American companies, now extended to include results for 2022. You can pause them and move them to any year to see the lists of the top 20. We find studying them over and over very...
Largest US Companies 1994-2022
In this, our 161st newsletter, we present our annual update to our animated chart of the largest companies, now extended to include results for 2022. The picture above shows the leading companies when Fortune first did a list of all US companies for 1994 (previously...
Fire at the American Business History Center
American Business History Center subscribers, On Monday, October 3rd, 2022, the home and library of our Founder and Executive Director, Gary Hoover, burned to the ground. Thankfully, he made it out alive and is now surrounded by good friends and neighbors who...
Magnanimous Merchant: Julius Rosenwald
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series.\ In this American Originals series, we’ve recounted the life stories of men and women who created great inventions and enterprises. None of them had more energy and drive than the shy...
The Wonders of Chain Stores and Franchises
This article was originally published by the Archbridge Institute. I often hear people say that they dislike chain stores or chain restaurants, “big box” stores, or franchises. America has long had a love-hate relationship with the big chains. Understanding the...
Back to School! Expand Your Mind with Peter Drucker and History: Automobiles, Airlines, Computers, and Retailing
Autumn is the time many Americans put on their thinking caps and start learning again, after a summer break. So we’re offering zoom courses with Gary Hoover. We are excited to add new industry-specific, very affordable classes on the automobile, airline,...
Learn from History’s Great Innovators!
For four successive Tuesday evenings, starting August 23, I will moderate small group Zoom discussions about some of the most important entrepreneurs and innovators in American business history. This series follows our successful Great Leaders course which...
America’s Largest Hotels through Time
The world couldn’t function without the lodging industry. Wayside inns for the traveler have been with us for centuries. The American West was built on stagecoach stops and hotels near the train depot. Today, most Americans have experienced hotels and motels,...
Largest Employers 1994-2021
This week we present our animated chart of the largest employers in America among our big, public companies. In the last three weeks, we have published similar charts based on revenues, on profits, and on market capitalization, all of which can be found by clicking...
Most Valuable U.S. Companies 1995 Through 2022
An updated 2023 version of this chart can be seen here. Two years ago, we created animated charts showing the change in America’s largest companies, first by size (revenues), then by profits, market capitalizations, and number of employees. The new Fortune...
Highest Profit US Companies 1994 Through 2021
An updated 2023 version of this chart can be seen here. (Our original post listed this as the 25 highest profit companies but should have said 20 highest profit companies.) Two years ago, we created animated charts showing the change in America’s largest companies,...
2022 UPDATED Largest Companies Charts
Two years ago, we created animated charts showing the change in America’s largest companies, first by size (revenues), then by profits, market capitalizations, and number of employees. The new Fortune magazine “Fortune 500” list of the biggest public companies...
New “Lessons of the Greats” Zoom Course
We’re introducing two short zoom courses in which we explore the lessons we can learn from great business leaders and innovators. Each of the two courses consists of four successive Tuesday evening 90-minute sessions, led by me, Gary Hoover. The first...
Americans Leaving Older Cities for Greener Pastures
In the twelve months ended on July 1, 2021, Dallas-Fort Worth and their suburbs attracted almost 75,000 people from around America, while the greater San Francisco Bay area witnessed more than 170,000 folks running to other parts of the country. These population...
Learning History Through Advertising and Design: The Airlines
We can learn much about the history and evolution of technology, business, geography, fashions, and design by studying the advertising materials of companies. The passenger transportation industries have produced some of the most vivid posters, ads, and...
From Dog Dung to Plexiglas: the Rohm and Haas Story
Few industries are more important to modern life than the chemical industry. Almost everything we touch, the clothes we wear, and much of what we eat contains chemicals or was processed by chemicals. Yet the companies are usually out of sight of...
Drucker Zoom Study Group with Gary Hoover: 8-Week Course Limited to 9 Participants
SOLD OUT Do you want to engage in a serious discussion about the purpose of business and the roles of leaders and managers? Do you want to expand your understanding by studying the ideas of the great business thinker, Peter Drucker? No scholar or professor of...
A Tale of Entrepreneurial Failure: TravelFest Austin Part Two
If you read Part One of this story, published in our last newsletter, you know that TravelFest was an immediate success with customers. The store was not big enough to handle the traffic, so we decided to build larger stores. The original 6,000 square foot...
A Tale of Entrepreneurial Failure: TravelFest Austin: Part One
Read the second part of this two-part story here. Two years ago, we started our “Share Your History” page on our website. We solicited contributions from our readers, telling us of their history with enterprises large or small. To start the page, we seeded...
Flexible Apparel Giant: VF Corporation
No industry touches us more frequently or intimately than the apparel industry. Yet few if any books document the history of this important industry. There are plentiful books about costume and fashion trends, but not about the enterprises which made the...
Not So American Anymore: Book Publishing (Part Two of Two)
Read the first part of this two-part story here. In our last newsletter, we told the story of the great publishing house Harper Brothers, founded in 1817. In this issue, we continue our story with the tale of two powerhouse book publishers that arose over 100...
Not So American Anymore: Book Publishing (Part One of Two)
Read the second part of this two-part story here. The history of book publishing in America goes back to the earliest days of the country. Thousands of book publishing companies have existed, mostly small but with an outsized impact on education, culture, and...
The Sordid Saga of Mr. Singer and his Sewing Machine
Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-1875) had a dream: to become a great actor on the stage, performing Shakespeare to accolades. For almost the first forty years of his life, he failed to achieve any success in this pursuit. Continually tinkering with machines, he...
Free Download Gift
We at the American Business History Center wish all our fans, readers, and donors a Happy New Year! We love beautiful, nostalgic images. When we published our new book Bedtime Business Stories earlier this month, we left out the great color pictures in the...
Seeing Change Through History’s Lens
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards” – Steve Jobs The American Business History Center wishes happy holidays to all of our readers. As another year comes to a close, it’s a great time to think back over time,...
Our Collection of Great Business History Stories now on sale on Amazon!
Our new book is now available on Amazon for $19.95 for the paperback and $9.95 for Kindle version. There is no other book quite like it, full of diverse, short, unknown tales of business adventures (and misadventures). The many color pictures that go with...
The First Zoom Course on American Business History
Premiering our Introduction to American Business History Zoom Course The American Business History Center and Gary Hoover are pleased to introduce our first zoom course in American business history. We have been unable to unearth any other online or zoom course...
It’s Giving Tuesday! Why Support Our Work?
Here we are at Giving Tuesday! We’re sure you are inundated with messages like this today, and perhaps every day. But we sure would appreciate any contribution you might make to help us continue our work here at the American Business History Center. Each week,...
John Hertz: His Innovations Touch Millions but Few Know His Story
Sandor Herz was born in Sklabina, near Vrutky, Austria-Hungary (now Slovakia) on April 10, 1879, the oldest of the six children of Jakob and Katie Herz. When he was three years old, the family emigrated to America, and by 1884, at the age of five, young Sandor (now...
Recipe for Success: The Campbell’s Story
In this week’s newsletter, we publish one of the best essays from our high school essay contest, by one of our honorable mention winners. This excellent history of the Campbell Soup Company was written by Diya Patel of Woodland Park, New Jersey. Diya...
Announcing Our Forthcoming Business History Book!
We are pleased to announce our first book, Bedtime Business Stories: Short Sagas of Business Creation, Success, and Failure. The book is our response to many reader requests for our articles in book form. It will be available for purchase next month, on Amazon...Support Us
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