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(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. |
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