Business History Facts

Hewlett Packard was started at a garage in Palo Alto in 1939.

Originally, BMW was an airplane engine manufacturer.

In 1999, Pepsi, Inc. paid $0.00 in income tax!

The founder of IKEA was worth $58 billion. He drove a 1993 Volvo for two decades. He flew economy. He ate at IKEA. He bought his clothes at flea markets because it is a waste to throw out good things. He was once refused entry to his own Businessman of the Year award for arriving by public bus. Ingvar Kamprad lived like he was furnishing his first apartment from the place he built.

Originally, Du Pont, Inc. was a tiny gun powder mill in New Jersey.

Walt Disney was a high school dropout and he was fired by a newspaper editor because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas."

After Disney threatened to sue three day care centers for unauthorized use of their characters, Hanna-Barbera gave them the right to use Universal characters as decorations.

A Kodak engineer constructed the first digital camera in 1975. They didn't want to go digital. They went bankrupt in 2012.

Dave Thomas learned the restaurant trade under Colonel Sanders at a KFC franchise in Indiana. His boss sent him to Columbus, Ohio to rescue four failing KFC stores. Thomas turned all four around and sold his 45% stake back to KFC for $1.5 million. He poured that money into a new burger chain. It was Wendy's.

Harley-Davidson was bought in 1969 by AMF - a company best known for bowling equipment. They nearly quintupled output. Oil leaks, bad welds, and faulty electrics became routine. Riders called them "Hardly Ableson." Harley's market share fell from 80% to under 20%. In 1981, 13 executives led an $81.5 million buyout - and rode their Harleys to Milwaukee to celebrate. They rebuilt the American icon.