Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Capitalism and "Creative Destruction"

While some people would still have us subsidizing buggy whip manufacturers, I understand the idea of creative destruction:
What do the companies in these three groups have in common?

Group A: American Motors, Brown Shoe, Studebaker, Collins Radio, Detroit Steel, Zenith Electronics, and National Sugar Refining.

Group B: Boeing, Campbell Soup Company, Colgate-Palmolive, Deere & Company, General Motors, IBM, Kellogg Company, Procter and Gamble Company, and Whirlpool Corporation.

Group C: Amazon, Facebook, eBay, Home Depot, Microsoft, Google, Netflix, Office Depot, and Target.

All of the companies in Group A were in the Fortune 500 in 1955, but not in 2019.

All of the companies in Group B were in the Fortune 500 in both 1955 and 2019 (and have remained on the list every year since it started in 1955).

All of the companies in Group C were in the Fortune 500 in 2019, but not in 1955.

The list of Fortune 500 companies in 1955 is available here and the list for 2020 was just released last week and is available here (based on sales for the fiscal year ended on or before Jan. 31, 2020). Comparing the 1955 Fortune 500 companies to the 2020 Fortune 500, there are only 51 companies that appear in both lists and have remained on the list since it started....

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