Curated playlist
Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange
- BPBP began in May 1908 when British geologists struck oil in southwestern Persia.
- UnileverUnilever, the world's largest soap producer, began as a 1930 margarine and soap merger.
- Hyundai Motor CompanyHyundai's first US car, the Excel, set a sales record in 1986 and then became a joke.
- FTSE 100 IndexThe FTSE 100 was almost called the SE 100. That name left out the Financial Times, days before the 1984 launch.
- Bloomsbury PublishingBloomsbury took on the first Harry Potter book after other publishers had rejected it.
- Royal MailBritain is the only country whose stamps do not carry its name. Its Penny Black was the first adhesive stamp.
- Future plcFuture plc's founder sold it for £52.7 million in 1994, then bought it back for £142 million.
- Games WorkshopGames Workshop began in 1975 by making wooden backgammon boards. Three founders sold handmade boards for games like Go.
- DiageoDiageo, maker of Guinness, did not exist before 1997. It now produces 40% of all Scotch whisky.
- KonamiKonami's legal team blocked Hideo Kojima from accepting his Game Awards 2015 prize. The audience booed.