The biggest moneymakers! The best investments! The hall- of-famers and the one-hit wonders! The triumphs, the failures, the milestones! Fifty years of... AMAZING FACTS!
By Julie Schlosser and Ellen Florian Reporter Associates Abrahm Lustgarten and Dana Vazquez Castillo

(FORTUNE Magazine) – 1955

In the Beginning...

A FORTUNE editor, Edgar Smith, suggests publishing a list of the 500 largest companies (the first 500 issue is pictured above).

Disneyland and Ray Kroc's first McDonald's open. A year after RCA launches the first color TV, the "Golden Age of Television" begins.

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are born.

1956

GM becomes the first company to net more than $1 billion. Ford goes public and appears on the list.

1957

1958

The list, which started as a special insert in FORTUNE, becomes part of the magazine itself.

1959

Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel, introduces Barbie.

1960

Coca-Cola comes in an aluminum can for the first time.

1961

Procter & Gamble launches Pampers. Commonwealth Oil becomes the first Puerto Rican company to make the list.

1962

The first Wal-Mart store opens in Rogers, Ark. General Dynamics posts a staggering $143 million loss, the largest on the list to that date.

1963

AT&T introduces the touch-tone telephone.

The first Learjet takes off in Wichita.

1964

Blue Ribbon Sports (now called Nike) ships its first shoes.

Ford introduces the Mustang.

1965

Frito-Lay and Pepsi-Cola merge to form PepsiCo. Warren Buffett (above) takes control of Berkshire Hathaway.

1966

1967

McDonnell Aircraft merges with Douglas Aircraft to form McDonnell Douglas.

1968

Roy Jacuzzi introduces his eponymous bath at California's Orange County Fair.

1969

Don and Doris Fisher open the first Gap store in San Francisco. Levi Strauss joins the list at 399.

1970

FORTUNE expands the list to include the second 500 largest companies. For the first time U.S. Steel doesn't make the 500's top ten; IBM moves up to the top five.

1971

Intel introduces the first microprocessor.

IBM introduces the floppy disk.

Southwest Airlines, co-founded by Herb Kelleher, begins service.

1972

A revision in the definition of "industrial" allows broadcasting and motion picture companies on the list: American Broadcasting, CBS, and Warner Communications join.

1973

Frederick Smith's Federal Express begins service. The company officially adopts the name FedEx in 1994.

1974

1975

Thanks to high oil prices, Exxon finishes No. 1 on the 500, the first time the spot has been held by any company other than GM.

1976

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak found Apple Computer in their garage.

Singer suffers what is then the single largest loss to date: $451.9 million.

1977

Despite completing what is so far the biggest takeover in U.S. history (buying Utah International, a mining company), GE doesn't budge from its spot at No. 9 on the 500. 20th Century Fox releases Star Wars.

1978

Combined sales of the FORTUNE 500 surpass the trillion-dollar mark.

1980

CNN goes on the air. Microsoft licenses its operating system to IBM.

The $1.5 billion in loans Lee Iacocca negotiated with Congress kick in, saving Chrysler. 3M introduces Post-it Notes.

1981

IBM puts the first PC on the market. MTV launches on cable networks; it is bought by Viacom four years later. Jack Welch becomes CEO of GE.

1982

FORTUNE 500 appears in Webster's New World Dictionary for the first time.

1983

Coleco Industries' Cabbage Patch Kids become an overnight sensation.

Chrysler introduces the minivan.

1984

Apple Computer introduces the Macintosh.

1985

General Electric announces it will acquire RCA, which owns NBC, for $6.3 billion. New Coke launches and is declared a debacle.

1987

In the midst of a lengthy legal battle with Pennzoil, Texaco files for bankruptcy.

LTV takes a $3.25 billion loss, the largest so far.

1988

KKR agrees to pay $25 billion for RJR Nabisco. It is the largest takeover to date.

1989

Michael Milken is indicted.

Exxon Valdez grounds on reef in Prince William Sound.

Berkshire Hathaway appears on the 500 for the first time since 1959.

1990

Seinfeld debuts on NBC.

Saturn is GM's first new U.S. car division since 1918. Gillette introduces the Sensor razor.

1991

1992

1993

For the first time, the 500 roster as a whole loses money, thanks to FASB's Statement 106, which required companies to pay bookkeeping penance for retiree health liabilities they had built up.

Sears Roebuck catalog is discontinued.

1994

California becomes home to more 500 companies than New York for the first time (48 vs. 43).

1995

Netscape goes public, kicking off the dot-com boom.

For the first time service companies are included with industrial companies on the main 500 list and the Global 500.

1996

1997

1998

William Dillard steps down as CEO of Dillard's after heading the company for 60 years, a record tenure for a FORTUNE 500 boss.

1999

Tyco is booted from the 500 following its move to Bermuda (only U.S. companies can make the list).

Pfizer launches Viagra.

2000

AOL becomes the first pure Internet company to make the 500; it says it is merging with Time Warner the same year.

2001

Enron files for bankruptcy.

Jack Welch retires from GE.

2002

United Airlines files for bankruptcy.

JDS Uniphase posts a record loss of $56.1 billion.

2003

AOL Time Warner takes the biggest bath of all, posting a $98.7 billion loss.

Kodak plans for a digital future and says it will no longer make big investments in its film business.