Category Archives: This Day in Business History

The Beginning of the End for Netscape

Posted on November 24, 2012 by Steven Spaulding
Internet Explorer version 1

On this day in business history, 1998… AOL’s $4.2 billion acquisition of Netscape is confirmed.  AOL was previously the world’s largest Internet access company, and Netscape pioneered the software used on the Internet, and its Navigator web browsing software was the world’s most popular. The merger was an offensive tactic, …

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How to Sell Herb Tea to Miners

Posted on August 19, 2012 by Steven Spaulding
Hires Root Beer Ad

On this day in business history, 1851… Soft drink entrepreneur Charles Elmer Hires is born on a farm near Roadstover, NJ. In 1886 he began selling a ready-to-drink beverage made from sixteen different wild roots, herbs, bark, and berries in bottles. Hires selected the name “Root Beer” when a friend …

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Save Those Dying Fires

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Steven Spaulding
dispatch is the soul of business

On this day in business history, 1750… “Dispatch is the soul of business, and nothing contributes more to Dispatch than Method.”  –Lord Chesterfield, English statesman and diplomat, in a letter to his son, Philip Stanhope. Today, this is easily applicable to service industries, even if intelligence is your asset in …

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There’s One For you, Nineteen For Me

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Steven Spaulding

On this day in business history, 1963… “There is one difference between a tax collector and a taxidermist — the taxidermist leaves the hide.” – Mortimer Caplan, Director Internal Revenue Service (via Time magazine)

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Alexander Wept

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Steven Spaulding

On this day in business history, 1990… Walmart simultaneously opens 36 new stores between Florida and Arizona. Walmart is now the world’s 18th largest public corporation, and the largest when ranked by revenue.  As the largest retailer in the world, Walmart is also the biggest private employer with over 2 …

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Give No Quarter

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Steven Spaulding
give-no-quarter

On this day in business history, 1695… America’s first workmen’s compensation agreement is drawn … by a pirate. Captain William Kidd, who happened to have legitimate business headquarters in both New York and London, sets forth the following terms of employment on the Adventure Galley of 787 tons burden: One …

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When America’s Minutes Ran Out

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Steven Spaulding
aol-free-minute-discs

This Day In Business History, 2000 … The AOL Time Warner merger is decided over an extravagant dinner at the North Virginia home of AOL head Steve Case with Gerald Levin, Time Warner’s CEO.  An assistant reported that sometime between the 1990 Chateau Leoville-Las Cases wine and the chocolate mousse, …

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Is Creativity a Curse to Organizations?

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Steven Spaulding
Business Man Voodoo Doll

This Day in Business History, 1996… Excerpts from Nicholas Negroponte, Cofounder and Director, MIT Media Laboratory via Wired magazine January 4, 1996: “Many of the essentials of a fertile, creative environment are anathema to an orderly, well-run organization.  In fact, the concepts of ‘managing research’ is an oxymoron.  Setting short-term …

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Strength and Unfairness in Numbers

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Steven Spaulding
strength-in-numbers

This Day in Business History, 1882… Setting precedence as the first “Corporation of Corporations”, the Standard Oil Trust agreement is completed and dated.  Conceived and drafted by Samual C. T. Dodd and Henry Morrison Flagler, this document transferred stock and property of over 40 companies into the possession of only …

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Packard Hewlett’s Fifty-Fifty Fate

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Steven Spaulding
coin-flip-hp

This Day In Business History, 1939… Bill Hewlett at age 25 and Dave Packard at age 26 signed their informal agreement to create their HP partnership.  They started in a one car garage on Addison Avenue in Palo Alto California, which is now designated as the birthplace of Silicon Valley. …

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