Curated playlist
American brands
- MicrosoftBill Gates claimed he had a working BASIC program before he had written any of it.
- PfizerIn 2025, a single Pfizer medicine called Eliquis brought in 7.9 billion dollars. That was 13 percent of the company's revenue for the year. Pfizer is an American pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation, and its headquarters sit at The…
- Coca-ColaCoca-Cola began as a morphine addict's attempt to invent a cure. John Pemberton first sold it in Atlanta in 1886.
- Apple Inc.Steve Jobs sold his Volkswagen Bus to help start Apple. Steve Wozniak sold his HP-65 calculator to fund a circuit board.
- Westin Hotels & ResortsWestin Hotels & Resorts, an American upscale hotel chain now owned by Marriott International, began with a chance encounter over breakfast in 1930. The setting was the coffee shop of the Commercial Hotel in Yakima, Washington. Severt W.…
- ActivisionActivision began with an insult. According to programmer Larry Kaplan, Atari chief Ray Kassar, whose earlier job was at a textile company, called four of his best game designers "towel designers". Kassar also claimed that "anybody can do a…
- Sony Pictures TelevisionSony Pictures Television began as a small company called Pioneer Telefilms.
- JeepIn 1940, the U.S. Army asked 135 companies for a prototype in 49 days. Only two replied, and the result became the Jeep.
- Ford Motor CompanyFord's first president was a banker, not Henry Ford. Investors wanted John S. Gray in charge to calm their fears.
- Visa Inc.Visa does not issue credit cards, extend credit, or set your interest rate. Banks build on its payment network.
- The Ritz-Carlton Hotel CompanyThe Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company runs a luxury chain owned by Marriott International, yet one of its earliest hotels was once so empty that its owner staged a bluff. In 1933, only 30 guests were registered at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston.…
- HeinzThe H. J. Heinz Company, known to most people as Heinz, owes its most famous number to a sign seen from a train. In 1896, founder Henry J. Heinz was riding an elevated train in New York City when he noticed a shoe store advertising 21…
- Monopoly (game)Monopoly has sold an estimated 275 million copies. It has been licensed in more than 113 countries and printed in more than 46 languages. Yet every one of those boards carries the geography of a single seaside city, Atlantic City, New…
- AtariAtari took its name from a warning in the board game Go. In Go, atari means a group of stones is in danger of capture.
- ZyngaZynga, named after a bulldog, hit ten million daily players in six weeks.
- Tiffany & Co.Tiffany & Co. started in 1837 as a stationery shop, not a jeweler. Just $1,000 from a cotton mill owner funded it.
- Jack Daniel'sJack Daniel's, a Tennessee whiskey brand, sold 12.9 million nine-liter cases of its Black Label in 2017, making it the best-selling whiskey in the world. It is made in the small town of Lynchburg, Tennessee, in a hollow beside a limestone…
- Hot WheelsHot Wheels began as a 98-cent toy car in 1968, and in 2000 a single pre-production example sold for close to $70,000. The brand is an American franchise of scale model cars. Elliot Handler, a co-founder of Mattel, invented it, and the…