1. BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1
TEAM BIZDOM
April 14, 2011
Complied by: Sid

2. BIZDOM : COMPANIES HISTORY PART 1
Table of Contents
AB VOLVO ............................................................................................................................................................. 5
ABB LTD ............................................................................................................................................................... 7
S!D
ABN AMRO HOLDING, N V ............................................................................................................................. 8
S!D S!D
HOLLAND'S KING LAUNCHES ABN IN 1824 .......................................................................................... 8
AMRO IS BORN IN ROTTERDAM: 1863 .................................................................................................. 9
1990: ABN AND AMRO MERGE ............................................................................................................ 10
ACNIELSEN CORPORATION ............................................................................................................................. 11
NEW RESEARCH TECHNOLOGIES: 1960S TO EARLY 1980S................................................................ 12
MARKET RESEARCH IN THE INFORMATION AGE .................................................................................. 13
AEROFLOT SOVIET AIRLINES .................................................................................................................... 14
AOL TIME WARNER INC .................................................................................................................................. 15
S!D
FOUNDING A MEDIA EMPIRE IN THE 1920S........................................................................................... 16
COMING OF AGE IN THE 1970S .............................................................................................................. 18
PIONEERING THE ONLINE MARKET IN THE 1980S ............................................................................... 20
AT&T BELL LABORATORIES, INC ..................................................................................................................... 21
S!D
AXA ..................................................................................................................................................................... 27
ACER INC ............................................................................................................................................................ 28
S!D
EARLY 1990S SETBACKS ........................................................................................................................... 29
NEW METHODS PACE MID-1990S TURNAROUND.............................................................................. 29
AER LINGUS GROUP PLC ................................................................................................................................. 31
AIWA CO , LTD .................................................................................................................................................. 32
S!D S!D
LATE 1980S RECOVERY FROM NEAR BANKRUPTCY ............................................................................ 32
AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES, INC ....................................................................................................................... 34
S!D
ALFA ROMEO ..................................................................................................................................................... 36
FOUNDING AN AUTOMOTIVE LEGEND IN 1910 .................................................................................. 36
ALFA LAVAL AB ............................................................................................................................................... 39
SURVIVING THE WAR YEARS ................................................................................................................... 40
GROWTH AND EXPANSION: 1950S-80S................................................................................................ 41
ALLIANZ AG ...................................................................................................................................................... 42
GROWTH IN THE 1920S ........................................................................................................................... 42
PREWAR GERMANY AND WORLD WAR II ............................................................................................ 44
ATARI CORPORATION ...................................................................................................................................... 46
BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1 |
NEW GAMES AND NEW COMPETITION IN THE EARLY 1980S ........................................................... 47
AUTOMOBILI LAMBORGHINI HOLDING S P A ............................................................................................. 50
S!D S!D S!D
FERRUCCIO LAMBORGHINI'S ROAD TO CAR MAKING ........................................................................ 51
BASF AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT ....................................................................................................................... 54
NOTORIOUS WORLD WAR II YEARS..................................................................................................... 56
POSTWAR REBUILDING OF BASF............................................................................................................ 57
BHP BILLITON ................................................................................................................................................... 58
EARLY 20TH-CENTURY EXPANSION INTO STEEL ................................................................................. 58
WORLD WAR I BRINGING INCREASED DEMAND, LABOR UNREST................................................... 59
BT GROUP PLC................................................................................................................................................... 60
Feedback at bizdomonline@gmail.com
1

3. THE BIRTH AND GROWTH OF THE TELEPHONE INDUSTRY IN ENGLAND: 1869-1969 ................. 60
THE MOVE TOWARD PRIVATIZATION: 1969-90.................................................................................. 61
BACARDI LIMITED ............................................................................................................................................ 61
A CHANGING LANDSCAPE, 1877 TO 1931 .......................................................................................... 63
THE NEW BACARDI, 1960-89 ................................................................................................................. 65
BAJAJ AUTO LIMITED ...................................................................................................................................... 66
BANANA REPUBLIC INC .................................................................................................................................. 69
S!D
ACQUIRED BY THE GAP IN THE 1980S .................................................................................................. 70
THE TURN OF THE DECADE AND A NEW CORPORATE IDENTITY ................................................... 71
BANCA MONTE DEI PASCHI DI SIENA SPA.................................................................................................. 72
MODERN ITALIAN BANKING LEADER ..................................................................................................... 74
BARCLAYS PLC ..................................................................................................................................................... 74
MERGERS IN LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURIES ...................................................................... 75
BARNES & NOBLE, INC ...................................................................................................................................... 77
S!D
OPENING OF NUMEROUS SUPERSTORES: EARLY 1990S....................................................................... 79
BATES WORLDWIDE, INC ............................................................................................................................... 80
S!D
1940S BIRTH OF THE UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION: 1940S ........................................................... 81
BATA LTD .......................................................................................................................................................... 81
S!D
WORLD WAR I BOOT CONTRACT A TURNING POINT ..................................................................... 83
BATA SHOES RETURNS TO THE CZECH REPUBLIC IN 1991 ................................................................ 85
BAUSCH & LOMB INC ...................................................................................................................................... 87
S!D
PREPARING FOR WORLD WAR II............................................................................................................ 88
DEVELOPMENT OF SOFT CONTACT LENSES IN THE 1960S................................................................. 89
BAYER A G ........................................................................................................................................................ 92
S!D S!D
BAYERISCHE MOTOREN WERKE AG............................................................................................................ 95
ORIGINS AS AN AIRCRAFT-ENGINE BUILDER........................................................................................ 95
BLOOMBERG L P ............................................................................................................................................ 100
S!D S!D
DESKTOP DATA FOR THE BOND TRADER: 1966--1984 .................................................................. 100
BLOOMBERG BUSINESS NEWS: 1989--1991 ....................................................................................... 101 BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1
"KING OF THE MEDIA": 1996--1997 ................................................................................................... 102
CASIO COMPUTER CO , LTD ...................................................................................................................... 104
S!D S!D
CREDIT AGRICOLE ................................................................................................................................... 106
CADBURY SCHWEPPES PLC ........................................................................................................................ 110
INNOVATION AND EXPANSION: 1879-1964 ..................................................................................... 110
DIVERSIFICATION AND INTERNATIONAL GROWTH: 1870-1969 ................................................... 112
CALVIN KLEIN, INC ....................................................................................................................................... 113
S!D
ROCKETING TO STARDOM IN THE 1970S .......................................................................................... 113
BRANCHING OUT IN THE 1980S ......................................................................................................... 115
CANAL PLUS ................................................................................................................................................... 117
@Team BiZdoM 2

4. BIZDOM : COMPANIES HISTORY PART 1
CANON INC ..................................................................................................................................................... 119
S!D
DIVERSIFIED INTO BUSINESS MACHINES IN THE 1960S ..................................................................... 119
CAP GEMINI ERNST & YOUNG .................................................................................................................... 121
CARGILL INC .................................................................................................................................................. 124
S!D
CHIAT/DAY INC ADVERTISING .................................................................................................................. 126
S!D
CHRISTIAN DIOR S A .................................................................................................................................... 127
S!D S!D
POSTWAR ORIGINS OF THE HOUSE OF DIOR.................................................................................... 127
CHUPA CHUPS S A .......................................................................................................................................... 130
S!D S!D
CISCO SYSTEMS, INC .................................................................................................................................... 132
S!D
1993-94: FIRST WAVE OF ACQUISITIONS .......................................................................................... 133
CITIZEN WATCH CO , LTD ........................................................................................................................... 134
S!D S!D
CITIGROUP INC ............................................................................................................................................... 135
S!D
EXPANSION IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY ....................................................................................... 136
1998: CITICORP + TRAVELERS = CITIGROUP ..................................................................................... 138
COLGATE-PALMOLIVE COMPANY.............................................................................................................. 140
COMMERZBANK A G .................................................................................................................................... 141
S!D S!D
BANK MERGERS BETWEEN THE WARS: 1918-45............................................................................... 142
REORGANIZATION AND GLOBAL EXPANSION: 1945-80................................................................. 143
COMPAQ COMPUTER CORPORATION ......................................................................................................... 144
CONAGRA, INC .............................................................................................................................................. 145
S!D
CORBIS CORPORATION ................................................................................................................................. 145
DAIKIN INDUSTRIES, LTD .................................................................................................................... 147
S!D
DC COMICS INC ............................................................................................................................................. 148
S!D
ATTACK ON COMICS, 1954 ................................................................................................................. 150
DHL WORLDWIDE NETWORK S A /N V ................................................................................................... 150
S!D S!D S!D S!D
LATE 1990S AND EARLY 2000S: GRADUAL BEGINNING OF THE DEUTSCHE POST ERA .............. 151
DAEWOO GROUP ............................................................................................................................................ 152
DAIMLERCHRYSLER AG .............................................................................................................................. 153
HISTORY OF CHRYSLER ......................................................................................................................... 154
DEUTSCHE BANK AG .................................................................................................................................... 155
KEY DATES: ............................................................................................................................................. 155
19TH-CENTURY ORIGINS ..................................................................................................................... 155
THE DEPRESSION AND NAZI ERAS ...................................................................................................... 156
BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1 |
DEUTSCHE LUFTHANSA AG ........................................................................................................................ 157
LUFTHANSA REBORN IN THE 1950S .................................................................................................... 158
DEUTSCHE POST AG ..................................................................................................................................... 160
DIEBOLD, INCORPORATED ........................................................................................................................... 164
QUICKLY BECAME ATM LEADER IN 1970S ........................................................................................ 166
DOLBY LABORATORIES INC ........................................................................................................................ 167
S!D
DOMINO'S, INC ............................................................................................................................................... 168
S!D
FRANCHISING IN THE 1970S ................................................................................................................. 169
DOW JONES & COMPANY, INC ................................................................................................................... 170
S!D
THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND THE WARTIME YEARS ....................................................................... 171
Feedback at bizdomonline@gmail.com
3

5. DR REDDY'S LABORATORIES LTD ............................................................................................................ 172
S!D S!D
DURACELL INTERNATIONAL INC ............................................................................................................... 172
S!D
E I DU PONT DE NEMOURS & COMPANY .................................................................................................. 173
S!D S!D
A GUNPOWDER MONOPOLY BY 1900 ............................................................................................... 174
ESPN, INC ....................................................................................................................................................... 176
S!D
EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY...................................................................................................................... 177
ELECTRONIC ARTS INC ................................................................................................................................ 180
S!D
ELECTROLUX AB ........................................................................................................................................... 180
ELI LILLY AND COMPANY............................................................................................................................ 183
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA, INC ......................................................................................................... 184
S!D
ENERGIZER HOLDINGS, INC ........................................................................................................................ 186
S!D
ERNST & YOUNG............................................................................................................................................ 187
EXXON MOBIL CORPORATION .................................................................................................................... 188
THE STANDARD OIL MONOPOLY: 1870-92 ...................................................................................... 190
INDEPENDENT GROWTH INTO A "MAJOR": 1911-72 ...................................................................... 193
FANNIE MAE ................................................................................................................................................... 195
FEDEX CORPORATION ................................................................................................................................... 197
FIAT SPA............................................................................................................................................................ 198
FORD MOTOR COMPANY .............................................................................................................................. 200
CASH-STRAPPED IN THE 1920S ............................................................................................................ 201
THE WAR YEARS .................................................................................................................................... 202
FORBES INC ...................................................................................................................................................... 203
S!D
THE GREAT CRASH AND NEW COMPETITION: 1929--45 ............................................................... 204
FRITO-LAY COMPANY .................................................................................................................................... 206
EARLY YEARS OF H W LAY & COMPANY ........................................................................................... 208
S!D S!D
FRUIT OF THE LOOM, INC .............................................................................................................................. 209
S!D
BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1
@Team BiZdoM 4

6. BIZDOM : COMPANIES HISTORY PART 1
AB Volvo
Key Dates:
1915: The Swedish firm Svenska Kullagerfabriken (SKF)
forms a subsidiary called AB Volvo to investigate the
manufacturing of cars S!D
Volvo began as a subsidiary of AB Svenska Kullagerfabriken
(SKF), a large Swedish industrial company In 1914 Scania Vabis ceased production of what had
S ! D
been Sweden's only domestically built automobile to concentrate on more profitable trucks A year S ! D
later, with the encouragement of the Swedish Association of Engineers and Architects, SKF began a
confidential study of the feasibility of
manufacturing its own car Assar Gabrielsson S ! D
and Gustav Larson started the project S ! D
Gabrielsson, who had represented SKF in
France and the United States, was a ball
bearing salesperson who had closely studied
American automobiles Larson was an engineer
S ! D
with substantial experience in Britain, having
worked for the English company White &
Poppe S ! D
SKF named the secret project Volvo--Latin for
"I roll"--a dormant product name the company had introduced in 1915 for a line of ball bearings S ! D
Independently incorporated in 1915, hence the title aktiebolaget, or "AB," the venture itself was only
informally associated with SKF The primary owners were Larson and Gabrielsson
S ! D S ! D
After agonizing over dozens of designs, the
two partners settled on a simple model that
would negotiate Swedish roads, with their
snow, mud, steep hills, and millions of
potholes, especially well The original design, a
S ! D
car called the GL, or "Larson," was assembled
at an abandoned SKF ball bearing factory at
Hisingen, near Göteborg, from parts ordered
BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1 |
out of various supplier catalogs from
throughout Europe and the United States The S ! D
first production model, an öV4, later called the
"Jakob," rolled out of the factory on April 14,
1927 To the horror of all involved, it was discovered that th e differential had been misconnected,
S ! D
resulting in a car that had three gears in reverse and only one gear for forward motion The mistake S ! D
took only ten minutes to correct and Volvo survived the comical episode S ! D
Volvo's cars and trucks were extremely sturdy and, by many measures, better assembled than
American and other European models In what was the most effective advertising of the day, Volvo
S ! D
Feedback at bizdomonline@gmail.com
5

7. models won several speed and endurance tests, racing across Sweden and speeding from Moscow to
Leningrad, and later winning contests in Monte Carlo and Argentina Because both Larson and
S ! D
Gabrielsson detested automobile contests, however, Volvo refused to sponsor racers S ! D
Challenges During the Great Depression and World War II
As the economy ground to a halt from the effects of the Great Depression, car sales slumped S ! D
General Motors Corporation (GM), which had a Chevrolet plant in Stockholm at the time, attacked
Volvo for being, in effect, "kit made " The company conducted a quick study that revealed that its
S ! D
cars were about 90 percent domestic content Thus, it hit back at GM, advertising its products as
S ! D
"the Swedish cars "
S ! D
BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1
@Team BiZdoM 6

8. BIZDOM : COMPANIES HISTORY PART 1
ABB Ltd S ! D
Key Dates:
1883: Ludwig Fredholm establishes Elektriska Aktiebolaget in Stockholm as a
manufacturer of electrical lighting and generators S!D
Elektriska Aktiebolaget in Stockholm was established in 1883 by Ludwig
Fredholm to manufacture electrical lighting and generators based on the designs
of a young engineer named Jonas Wenström Wenström's innovative designs
S ! D
quickly led to financial success, and Fredholm soon wanted to expand the scope
of his firm's operations He arranged a merger with Wenströms & Granströms
S ! D
Elektriska Kraftbolag, a company founded by Jonas Wenström's brother Goran S ! D
Allm&auml-a Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (whose name was later shortened to ASEA AB) was
created on November 18, 1890, to provide electrical equipment for Swedish industry S ! D
BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1 |
The dawning of the electrical age provided ASEA with large new markets as the industrial and
residential use of electricity became commonplace in Sweden The company quickly established itself
S ! D
as a pioneer in the industrial field ASEA's installation of electricity at a rolling mill in the town of
S ! D
Hofors is believed to be the first of its kind in the world, and in 1893, ASEA built Swe den's first
three-phase electrical transmission, between Hellsjon and Crangesberg ASEA's early success was
S ! D
short-lived In 1896 one of Sweden's leading inventors and industrialists, With the help of the
S ! D
Stockholms Enskilda Bank, management opposed to Laval eventually extricated the company from
Feedback at bizdomonline@gmail.com
7

9. his control Disorganized and deeply in debt, the firm lost a significant share of the electrical
S ! D
equipment market in Sweden Bank played a major role in ASEA's financial recovery In fact, it was
S ! D S ! D
only after the bank agreed to guarantee his salary that J S ! D
ASEA prospered during the early years of the war because the scarcity of coal stimulated the
development of electricity, including the company's first major railway electrification project The S ! D
postwar years brought a deep recession to Sweden that lasted from 1920 to 1923 Yet Edstrom's S ! D
cautious spending policies enabled the company to survive By the late 1920s, ASEA was once again
S ! D
on the road to profitability and growth In 1926 the company provided the electric locomotives and
S ! D
converter equipment for the first electric trains on the Stockholm -Gothenburg line, and in 1932 ASEA
built the world's largest naturally cooled three-phase transformer S ! D
During the 1930s, company management decided to concentrate on expandin g and improving its
domestic operations After several years of negotiations, ASEA and LM Ericsson Telephone Company
S ! D
signed a pact in 1933 stipulating that the two companies would not compete with each other in
certain sectors of the electrical market As part of the agreement, ASEA purchased Elektromekano
S ! D
from Ericsson, giving ASEA undisputed control over a large portion of the electrical equipment
market in Sweden S ! D
ABN AMRO Holding, N V S ! D S ! D
Key Dates:
1824: Dutch King Willem I create The Netherlands Trading Society (NTS), parent company
of ABN S!D
1863: Rotterdamsche Bank (Robaver) is founded and lends funds to Dutch companies
operating in Indonesia S!D
1928: The progressive Robaver opens Vrouwenbank, a bank specifically for women S!D
Holland's King Launches ABN in 1 824
BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1
The 1991 marriage of the two largest banks in the
Netherlands--Amsterdam-Rotterdam Bank (AMRO) and
Algemene Bank Nederland (ABN)--gave rise to ABN AMRO S ! D
However, each bank arrived at the wedding as a product of
previous banking mergers ABN's original ancestor was The S ! D
Netherlands Trading Society (Nederlandsche Handel -
Maatschapijj), a company created in 1824 by decree of the
Netherlands' King Willem I--Holland's Merchant Monarch The King and company founders intended
S ! D
to revive the trading in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) that had flourished during the 17th and
@Team BiZdoM 8

10. BIZDOM : COMPANIES HISTORY PART 1
18th centuries with the Dutch East Indies Company The Netherlands Trading Society (NTS) S ! D
managed its operations from the Dutch colony on Java, Indonesia's largest island and commercial
hub It financed the export of agricultural products which, between 1840 and 1880, brought the
S ! D
Dutch treasury an average of 18 million guldens a year, about one -third of the country's budget NTS S ! D
opened offices in Shanghai (1825), Singapore (1858), Hong Kong (19 06), and elsewhere around
Asia, and soon expanded into traditional banking operations with credits, time deposits, and security
orders In 1926, NTS founded Saudi Hollandi Bank in Jeddah to serve the Islamic pilgrims from the
S ! D
Dutch East Indies For many years it operated as Saudi Arabia's central bank maintaining the gold
S ! D
stock of the country, and processing its first oil-related transactions S ! D
NTS survived both World War I and worldwide depression in the 1930s World War II, however, S ! D
crippled the company Germany occupied the Netherlands and Japan controlled Indonesia NTS
S ! D S ! D
attempted to recover by focusing on expansion and opening branches throughout the Netherlands S ! D
But by the early 1960s, competition among the numerous Dutch banks had escalated and produce d
a period of consolidation In 1964, NTS opted to merge with Twentsche Bank, a 100 -year-old Dutch
S ! D
agriculture bank, and took on the new moniker--Algemene Bank Nederland (ABN) Seeking more S ! D
international balance, ABN in 1967 acquired Hollandsche Bank Unie, which had a large presence in
South America In 1975, ABN bought Mees & Hope Bankiers, a Dutch bank with significant
S ! D
investment banking business and solid network of branches Mees & Hope continued to do business S ! D
under its own name, and later added private asset management and fiduciary services for
international clients ABN's international reach also extended to the United States In 1972, the
S ! D S ! D
bank formed ABN Corporation to represent its North American subsidiaries The bank secured a firm S ! D
foothold in the Midwest in 1979 when it purchased LaSalle National Bank, the sixth largest bank in
the Chicago area with 700 employees Two years later, in a restructuring move, LaSalle Bank
S ! D
became part of the ABN holding company LaSalle National Corporation The holding company went S ! D
on to acquire six other Midwest banks including Exchange Bancorporation S ! D
AMRO Is Born in Rotterdam: 1863
AMRO, ABN's merger partner, also began by financing Dutch East Indies trade In 1863, a group of S ! D
Rotterdam businesspeople and bankers created the Rotterdamsche Bank, lending funds to Dutch
companies operating in Indonesia The bank expanded its local lending activity to other businesses in
BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1 |
S ! D
the Netherlands, then added brokerage and securities firms to the banking operations through
mergers By the early 1900s, the company had a listing on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange
S ! D S ! D
Renamed the Rotterdamsche Bankvereeniging, or Robaver, the bank continued to acquire local banks
and also establish overseas bank branches in the West Indies (Antilles and the Bahamas) and Russia S ! D
By the early 1920s, Robaver stood as one of the largest banks in the Netherlands, and one of the
more progressive banks as well In 1928 it opened Vrouwenbank, a bank specifically for women
S ! D S ! D
Robaver persevered through the Depression and World War II, and in 1948 became the
Netherlands' largest bank in when it merged with Incasso Bank, a Dutch institution founded in 1891 S ! D
Feedback at bizdomonline@gmail.com
9

11. The same 1960s bank consolidation movement that produced ABN also swept up Robaver and
Amsterdamsche Bank, another Dutch bank founded in the previous century In 1964,
S ! D
Amsterdamsche Bank and Robaver merged to become the Amsterdam -Rotterdam Bank, or AMRO S ! D
1990: ABN and AMRO Merge
In the late 1980s the Dutch government softened its merger
and acquisition laws The deregulation paved the way for its
S ! D
national banks to pursue global operations and to sidestep
takeovers by dominant global banking players in United
States, Japan, and Great Britain As with the banking
S ! D
consolidation frenzy of 1964, ABN and AMRO proved
prominent playersS ! D
BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1
@Team BiZdoM 10

12. BIZDOM : COMPANIES HISTORY PART 1
ACNielsen Corporation
Key Dates:
1923: Arthur Charles Nielsen, Sr , founds the A C Nielsen Company S!D S!D S!D S!D
In 1996 Dun & Bradstreet separated from two of its biggest holdings, Nielsen and
Cognizant, splitting them off into independent publicly held companies S!D
The company's origins date back to 1923, when an engineer by the name of
Arthur C Nielsen borrowed $45,000 to start a business running quality tests
S ! D
and offering buying suggestions on conveyor belts, turbine generators, and
other machine-related parts After that business was nearly bowled over by
S ! D
the Depression, Nielsen shifted to measuring consumer sales In 1933, S ! D
Nielsen introduced measurements for drugstore and retail store sales A year S ! D
later, similar measurements were introduced for gr ocery and department
store sales By going beyond conventional consumer questionnaires and having
S ! D
auditors actually survey store shelves and accounting books to determine sales
patterns, Nielsen helped pioneer key market research tools --including the
concept of market share in 1935 S ! D
While he was shaping the discipline of marketing research, Nielsen faced the difficult task of
drumming up demand for his services The labor required to gather and tabulate useful data was
S ! D
expensive, and many businesses were skeptical about paying top dollar for data that they thought
they could gather almost as effectively themselves 'For years my father would go around and try and
S ! D
explain that his work was worth something He'd quote the price And he couldn't get any takers,'
S ! D S ! D
Arthur C Nielsen, Jr , told Barry Stavro of Forbes in 1984 Nielsen recalled that his father's attempts
S ! D S ! D S ! D
to sell his services to Kellogg Co were rebuffed on the grounds that the cereal giant already had its
S ! D
own, cheaper alternative: 'a guy stationed outside the gates trying to see how many carloads General
Foods shipped out '
S ! D
Though sales did not always come easily to the budding leader in marketing research, A C Nielsen S ! D S ! D
Company enjoyed continued growth into the 1950s That decade saw the emergence of new S ! D
industries in mass media through radio and television&mdasheas that called for new forms of
marketing measurement that Nielsen was equipped to provide Indeed, as early as 1942, Nielsen
BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1 |
S ! D
began measurement of radio audiences on a national scale In radio's heyday following World War II, S ! D
determining radio ratings was a labor-intensive endeavor: listeners would send cards to advertisers,
who would actually weigh the mailbags to determine which shows were most popular Improving S ! D
upon this technique, Nielsen attached meters to radios in sample households and, eventually,
installed cameras that took pictures of the meter readings The heads of the households then mailed S ! D
the pictures in to the rating company on a regular basis In the 1950s, the advent of television and S ! D
the need for ever-quicker rating techniques spurred the development of meter readers that Nielsen
attached to telephone lines for 'overnight' TV ratings This method saved time over past techniques, S ! D
but costs were extremely high Still, the relatively young company persisted, driven by the belief that
S ! D
Feedback at bizdomonline@gmail.com
11

13. the TV market would grow--and communications technology along with it&mdash-ough to
compensate for the high costs of tracking market trends S ! D
Nielsen's projections were right on the mark, and the rapi d growth of television worked to the
overwhelming advantage of the marketing research company By the mid-1980s, more than $19
S ! D
billion was spent on national TV advertising; Nielsen metered more than 5,500 homes and generated
approximately $100 million in revenue from that business segment alone Encouraged by the S ! D
continued success of its media rating service, the company established a separate division to manage
it Nielsen Media Research provided television advertisers, advertising agencies, syndicates, ca ble
S ! D
operators, networks, and stations with TV-rating information to increase the effectiveness of
television advertising and programming into the 21st century S ! D
New Research Technologies: 1960s to Early 1980s
Such technological and administrative advances helped position A C Nielsen Company for decades of
S ! D S ! D
growth and diversification From the 1960s through the early 1980s, the company developed new
S ! D
information-management systems and attracted a broader client base In 1963, Nielsen introduced S ! D
measurement of sales at mass merchandisers, providing a bulk of consumer -related information that
would have been virtually unmanageable just a decade earlier Three years later, a system of
S ! D
warehouse withdrawal reporting was introduced In addition, the company established a coupon
S ! D
clearinghouse segment that would top $91 million in volume by the mid -1980s, with no sign of
slowing down S ! D
A momentous advancement for Nielsen was the development of scanning technology, which allowed
the company to collect accurate and instantaneous data on consumer purchases as they occurred S ! D
Scanning of universal product codes at retail stores was introduced in 1977 By 1979, Nielsen S ! D
offered local SCANTRACK service, which gave clients proprietary means of tracking specific market BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1
trends and producing custom reports to develop better marketing and distribution plans A year later, S ! D
such services were available on the national level Scanning technology and data processing software
S ! D
continued to improve, and by the mid-1990s Nielsen considered retail scanning information 'the
nerve center of the changes now underway,' according to the company's promotional literature 'Not S ! D
only do scanning databases bring a speed and precision never previously possible, they also provide
the foundation for a range of diagnostic and analytical applications which can help clients find and
implement solutions that grow their revenues and minimize the cost of delivering their products to
their consumers ' In 1993, Nielsen became the first in the industry to offer sca nning-based
S ! D
information from warehouse clubs with the introduction of the Nielsen Warehouse Club Service S ! D
@Team BiZdoM 12

14. BIZDOM : COMPANIES HISTORY PART 1
Nielsen also formed other key alliances In August 1987, Dun & Bradstreet acquired Information
S ! D
Resources Inc (IRI), bringing the market research 'wonderkid' together with its rival, Nielsen IRI's
S ! D S ! D
flagship product, BehaviorScan, provided a highly effective method for analyzing the effectiveness of
TV commercials Under the auspices of the same parent, IRI and Nielsen were freed from the
S ! D
'upward battle' of head-on competition and were better positioned to focus on new product
development, according to David Snyder in Crain's Chicago Business A similar collaboration of S ! D
formerly competitive forces occurred in 1988, when Nielsen acquired Logistics Data Sy stems, the
market leader whose software product, SPACEMAN, helped retailers profitably manage shelf space
and display areas S ! D
Market Research in the Information Age
Capitalizing on new developments in networking, information modeling, and forecasting, Niel sen was
able to introduce a wave of new products in the early 1990s The company's decision-support and S ! D
software services enabled customers to retrieve data and analyze information via terminals and
personal computers installed in their offices Such information was accessible in a number of ways,
S ! D
including online connection to mainframes or permanent downloading of information into customers'
in-house information systems In 1990 alone, new product introductions included: a national
S ! D
Convenience Store Service representing all major U S chains; the SCANTRACK Food/Drug Combo S ! D S ! D
Retail Outlet Service, representing all major U S chains; the Discount Drug Service for health and
S ! D S ! D
beauty aids (HBA) customers; WealthWise, a modeling tool for consumer -oriented financial services
firms; and ScorePlus, which provided demographic and product -use data applicable to specific trading
areasS ! D
New product introductions kept pace with rapid growth in demand, as ever more powerful computer
processing systems were made available to Nielsen's customer base In 1991, the company S ! D
introduced Spotlight, a system that enabled users to locate and account for volume and share
changes for given brands That system would win an award for outstanding artificial intelligence
S ! D
application from the American Association for Artificial Intelligence in 1992 [Keywords]Other S ! D
products introduced that year included: Nielsen Sales Advisor, SCANTRACK Category Manager, and
BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1 |
ScanQuick In addition, PROCISION provided a single source for tracking all compon ents of HBA
S ! D
marketing, and the Nielsen Workstation provided Windows -based support for marketers In 1993, S ! D
the company introduced Nielsen Opportunity Explorer to help marketing and sales professionals
understand category dynamics and pinpoint sales opportun ities Along with Nielsen Promotion S ! D
Simulator, that product placed first in the software applications category at the Information Industry
Association's Product Achievement Awards in 1993 S ! D
This continued financial success and rapid growth sparked the inte rest of Dutch media and
marketing giant VNU, and in December 2000 a merger agreement was announced, making
Feedback at bizdomonline@gmail.com
13

15. ACNielsen a wholly owned subsidiary once again The deal reunited the company with Nielsen Media
S ! D
Research, which VNU had acquired the previous year Working together, the two market research
S ! D
leaders clearly enjoyed a competitive advantage as they moved forward into the information age S ! D
AEROFLOT SOVIET AIRLINES
Aeroflot Soviet Airlines, the airline of the former Soviet
Union, is the world's largest airline For more than 50 S ! D
years Aeroflot has been the focal point of Soviet and
Russian civil aviation Before 1920 Russian air S ! D
enthusiasts had experimented with aircraft development,
and in 1920 and 1921, as the Russian Civil War drew to
a close, small-scale experiments with air transport were
made under both private and state initiative Flights to S ! D
the Nizhni Novgorod fair, a traditional trade fair,
engendered a more systematic approach toward aviation S ! D
The Chief Administration of the Civil Air Fleet was s oon
established, and one of its first acts was to develop in
1921 a joint venture with German interests to create the
Deutsch-Russiche Luftverkehrs A G (Deruluft) Specializing in flights to the West, Deruluft's regular
S ! D S ! D S ! D
services began from Königsberg in eastern Germany to Moscow on May Day, 1927 In its tenth year S ! D
of operation it had two main routes--from Berlin to Moscow and from Königsberg to Leningrad --and it
carried 3,600 passengers and 145 tons of post and goods S ! D
Systemic domestic aviation developed at approximately the same time, with the state playing a more
significant role In March 1923 the first Soviet airline, Dobrolet, was created as a joint state and
S ! D
commercially based organization and the first regular service was introduced in July 1923 fro m
Moscow to Nizhni Novgorod The Russian people shared the West's interest in aviation, and an
BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1
S ! D
attempt was made to formalize this in March 1923 with the creation of a large public organization --
the ODVF, or Friends of the Air Fleet, under the slogan "worki ng people build the air fleet " Aviation S ! D
could be portrayed as an exciting diversion from the real difficulties of the New Economic Policy as
well as a potential source of future international conflict At the 13th Party Congress in May 1924 it
S ! D
was noted that "the rapid growth of military and civil aviation in capitalist countries makes it
necessary to strengthen and develop our own " S ! D
@Team BiZdoM 14

16. BIZDOM : COMPANIES HISTORY PART 1
AOL Time Warner Inc S ! D
Key Dates:
1903: The Warner brothers open their own movie theater in Newcastle, Pennsylvania S!D
1911: The Warners produce their first film, Perils of the Plains S!D
1915: Sam and Jack Warner move to Los Angeles, setting up film production studios,
while Harry and Albert Warner set up Distribution Company in New York S!D
1923: Briton Hadden and Henry Robinson Luce publish the first issue of Time magazine S!D
1924: Hadden and Luce launch their second publication, the Saturday Review of
Literature S!D
1925: Warner Bros acquires Vitagraph Studios in New York, launches Vitaphone joint
S!D
venture S!D
1927: Warner Bros release The Jazz Singer and revolutionizes film history by introducing
S!D
the "talkie " S!D
1929: Warner Bros acquires Stanley-Crandall movie theater network
S!D
1930: Time Inc publishes the first issue of Fortune
S!D S!D
1936: Company publishes the first issue of Life S!D
1949: Warner Bros is forced to sell off its movie theater network
S!D S!D
1954: Company launches Sports Illustrated S!D
1961: Company forms Time-Life Books, a book publishing subsidiary S!D
1966: Jack Warner sells Warner Bros to Seven Arts S!D S!D
1969: Kinney National Services acquires Warner Bros (and renames itself Warner S!D
Communications in 1971) S!D
1970: Ted Turner acquires first television station in Atlanta, forming future Turner
Broadcasting System S!D
1972: Time ceases publication of Life; launches Home Box Office (HBO) cable TV network
and Money magazine S!D
1974: Company publishes first issue of People S!D
1976: Turner renames his television station as Superstation TBS and begins supplying
programming to cable television operators S!D
1980: Time launches Cinemax cable TV network; TBS launches CNN S!D
1985: Steve Case forms Quantum Computer Services, Inc to provide online service for S!D
Commodore computer users S!D
1988: Quantum introduces an online service for owners of IBM computers S!D
1989: Quantum begins offering an online service for Apple computer users; introduces
"America Online," a new nationwide network for computer owners S!D
1990: Time Inc acquires Warner Communications, forming Time Warner Inc
S!D S!D
BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1 |
Cinema Pioneers
The Warner brothers--Harry, the oldest, born in 1881, Albert, Jack, and Sam--were the sons of
Polish-Jewish immigrants who settled in Youngstown, Ohio The Warners tried their hand at a variety S ! D
of occupations, until Sam Warner discovered the Edison Kinetoscope and began working as a
projectionist The Warners soon pooled their savings, some $1,000, to buy their own projector and
S ! D
launched their own traveling picture show--their first showing, in a mortuary, generated $300 in a
single week S ! D
Feedback at bizdomonline@gmail.com
15

17. By 1903, the Warners had opened their own theater in
Newcastle, Pennsylvania, with the entire family chipping in,
including baby Jack Warner who provided in-between show
entertainment The following year, the Warners established
S ! D
their own distribution company, Duquesne Amusement &
Supply Co , which was driven out of business in 1909 by the
S ! D
Edison Trust monopoly which was intent on stamping out
patent infringements Instead, the Warners bought a newS ! D
projector and once again went on the road As part of their S ! D
new business, Sam and Jack Warner produced their first film,
called Peril of the Plains, in 1911 S ! D
In 1915, the brothers split up, with Sam and Jack Warner
moving to California in order to make films--the weather there
permitted a year-round filmmaking schedule--while Harry and Albert opened an office in New York in
order to handle distribution Warner Bros ' first hit came in 1918 with the film My Four Years in
S ! D S ! D
Germany, which grossed $1 5 million and permitted the company to open its own studios in Los
S ! D
Angeles that year Warner Bros quickly released a stream of
S ! D S ! D
slapstick comedies; its first big star, however, was a dog--Rin
Tin Tin--that appeared in a string of films in the 1920s S ! D
Warner Bros made movie history in that decade In 1925, Sam
S ! D S ! D
Warner went east (leaving Jack Warner in charge of the
production studios) The company had acquired Brooklyn-based
S ! D
Vitagraph Studios, and Sam Warner now formed a partnership
with Western Electric & Telegraph, called Vitaphone, to work
on means of synchronizing sound with film The invention was S ! D
to lead to the release of The Jazz Singer in 1927, considered to
be the first successful "talkie " Sam Warner died the night S ! D
before the film's showing Yet The Jazz Singer represented no S ! D
mere success Instead, it revolutionized the film industry,
S ! D
ushering in a new era in entertainment S ! D
Founding a Media Empire in the 1920s
BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1
In the meantime, another
company was fast placing its
imprint on the U S media
S ! D S ! D
markets Briton Hadden and
S ! D
Henry Luce met as students at the
Hotchkiss School in Connecticut,
where Hadden served as editor-in- chief
@Team BiZdoM 16

18. BIZDOM : COMPANIES HISTORY PART 1
at the school newspaper, while Luce held the same position for the school's Hotchkiss Literary
Monthly Hadden and Luce became friends and enrolled in Yale University together, where they
S ! D
became chairman and editor, respectively, of the Yale Daily News While serving in the officers' S ! D
training school during World War I, Luce and Hadden came up with an idea for a new type of
newspaper S ! D
Luce and Hadden parted ways briefly, but by 1921 had come back together, now as reporters for
the Baltimore News The pair returned to their idea for a new style of newspaper, and in 1922
S ! D
resigned their positions, founding what was to become the Time Inc publishing empire By 1923, S ! D S ! D
Hadden and Luce had succeeded in raising some $86,000, and the first issue of Time was launched
in March of that year Hadden took the role of editor, while Luce became the magazine's business
S ! D
manager Under their leadership, Time quickly established new journalistic standards, including a
S ! D
requirement that everything printed in the magazine be attributed to a sou rce S ! D
By 1924, Time already boasted a paid subscriber base of 30,000 In that year, the pair launched a S ! D
second magazine title, the Saturday Review of Literature The following year, the company moved its S ! D
headquarters to Cleveland, Ohio, in a move to cut co sts In 1928, however, the company split its S ! D
operations in two, with its printing handled by R R Donnelley in Chicago, and its editorial offices S ! D S ! D
returned to New York City Meanwhile, under Hadden's editorial direction the company launched a
S ! D
second title, Tide, geared toward the advertising industry, in 1927 S ! D
Hadden died in 1929 at the age of 31, leaving Luce alone to handle the company's growing success S ! D
Luce now took over sole leadership of the company, placing his imprint on the company's editorial
direction The following year, after selling off Tide, Luce proposed a new magazine, to be called
S ! D
Fortune, catering specifically to the country's business world Fortune enjoyed quick success, S ! D
despite--or perhaps because of--the country's plunge into the Depression Era S ! D
Time made a tentative entry into radio, with its own "March of Time" show in 1931 Yet the S ! D
company remained focused on its growing magazine empire In 1932, Luce, whose span of S ! D
interests included architecture, led the company to acquire 75 perc ent of Architectural
Forum, taking full control of the title the following year Over the course of the following S ! D
decade, Luce transformed that magazine into an industry leader, boosting its circulation from
5,000 to more than 40,000 Nonetheless, the title remained a money-loser S ! D S ! D
BiZdoM : Companies History Part 1 |
Luce's next foray came in 1936, with the launch of a new type of magazine based on
photographic essays The new weekly title, called, simply enough, Life, debuted in November
S ! D
of that year and became an instant success Expensive to produce, Life lost money in its early
S ! D
years, despite its soaring circulation At the same time, the new title drained off a number of
S ! D
existing Time readers Nonetheless, Life turned its first profit in 1939--and, with the outbreak
S ! D
of World War II, began its glory years as arguably the United States' most influential
magazine By 1941, Life boasted a circulation of more than 3 3 million Time, meanwhile,
S ! D S ! D S ! D
had boosted its readership to nearly one million--including some 200,000 subscribers that transferred
to the title after Time Inc acquired the Literary Digest in 1938
S ! D S ! D
Feedback at bizdomonline@gmail.com
17