How is Dow Jones Index Calculated?

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  Dow Jones Industrial Average.

  IA - Dow Jones Industrial Average - is one of some market indices created by Charles Dow the editor of The Wall Street Journal and the founder of the Dow Jones & Company. This index was created to watch the development of industrial component of the Us markets. Dow Jones is the oldest index among the current US market indices. For the first time the index was published on May, 26, 1896. At that moment the index represented the arithmetical average of the stock prices of 12 US industrial companies. From that 12 companies only the General Electric company is represented in today’s version of the index. In 1916 the number of companies increased to 20, and in 1928 to 30.
  One of the main disadvantage of  Dow Jones is its calculation method resulting the situations when a significant price change of a relatively cheap stock may be compensated by a minor price change of a more expensive stock. Above all covering just 30 stocks the Dow Jones can’t be considered to be an indicator of the total activity of the stock market. Today the index covers just 30 largest US companies. The prefix Industrial is a history tribute — many companies of the index are not from this sector. Basing on the market conditions some components of the DJIA change from time to time. The editors of The Wall Street Journal select the components to replace. The value of the index is adjusted when the components are replaced. The average value of the index does not change directly after the components were replaced.

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  Index Calculation.

  To calculate the DJIA, the sum of the prices of all 30 stocks is divided by a "divisor", which is published on the Chicago Board of Trade's website.
  The divisor is adjusted in case of splits, spinoffs or similar structural changes, to ensure that such events do not in themselves alter the numerical value of the DJIA. The initial divisor was the number of component companies, so that the DJIA was at first a simple arithmetic average; the present divisor, after many adjustments, is less than one (meaning the index is actually larger than the sum of the prices of the component prices). That is:

  

  DJIA Calculation

  where p are the prices of the component stocks and d is the Dow Divisor. Events like stock splits or changes in the list of the companies composing the index alter the sum of the prices of the component prices. In these cases, in order to avoid discontinuity in the index, the Dow divisor is updated so that the quotations right before and after the event coincide:

  

  Stock Split

  Stock split –is the increase of the corporation stocks in circulation. If the Company had 1 mln stocks in circulation, and the split is held with 2 to 1 ratio the company would have 2 mln stocks and every owner of 100 stocks would have 200. Herein the price falls about twice as little. The market capitalization of the company and percentage of the shareholders remain unchanged but the liquidity of stocks increase and as a result the volumes of stock trading increase too.

  Note: Because the DJIA is an average of stock prices, it is more strongly affected by relative changes in performance of high-priced stocks than by lower-priced ones. For example, a 100% price increase of a $1 stock would have the same effect on the index as a 1% price increase of a $100 stock, even if both companies had the same market capitalization. In this sense higher-priced stocks have a greater "weight" in the index. A list of the effective weight of each component is published daily by Dow Jones, (although the weights change whenever the prices of the component stocks change). The weights are simply proportional to the stock prices, and are not used in calculating the DJIA.

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  Mergers, listing and withdrawal to/from DJIA.

  On November, 1, 1999 the companies Chevron, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Sears Roebuck and Union Carbide were removed from the DJIA, and instead of them the Intel, Microsoft, Home Depot, and SBC Communications appeared.

  On April, 8, 2004 there was one more change – the companies International Paper, AT&T, and Eastman Kodak were replaced in the index by Pfizer, Verizon and AIG. On December, 1, 2005 the initial #T symbol of the AT&T company returned to the DJIA as a result of the SBC Communications and AT&T merger. Stocks of all the companies composing the DJIA are traded on NYSE. Besides the Intel and Microsoft, that became the first companies of the DJIA, and whose stocks are traded on NASDAQ. On December 1, 2005, AT&T returned to the DJIA as a result of the SBC Communications and AT&T merger. Altria Group and Honeywell were replaced by Chevron and Bank of America on February 19, 2008. On September 22, 2008, Kraft Foods replaced American International Group in the index. General Motors and Citigroup are also mentioned as being "on the way out".

  The most significant fall in percentage was on the "Black Monday” (1987 Black Monday), when the Dow Jones lost 22,6%. On the first trading day after the terrorist attack on September, 11, 2001, the index lost 7,1%.

Components of Dow Jones

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  Alcoa.

  

  Alcoa. (NYSE ticker: AA) — American metals Company, the world largest aluminum smelting company.
  
  Web-site: www.alcoa.com.
  
  Headquarter —  Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, USA.
  
  Chairman of the board of directors and the general manager of the Company - Alain Belda.
  In 1886, Charles Martin Hall, a graduate of Ohio’s Oberlin College, discovered the process of smelting aluminium, almost simultaneously with Paul Héroult in France. He realized that by passing an electrical current through a bath of cryolite and aluminium oxide, the then semi-rare metal aluminium remained as a byproduct. This discovery, now called the Hall-Héroult process, is still used 117 years later by Alcoa to produce aluminium. With the help of financial backers, Hall started the Pittsburgh Reduction Company, which changed its name to Aluminum Company of America in 1907. The acronym "Alcoa" was coined in 1910, given as a name to two of the locales where major corporate facilities were located (although one of these has since been changed), and in 1999 was adopted as the official corporate name.
  In 1951 Alcoa was listed on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
  Until 1950, Alcoa was concerned with its domestic market, while its Canadian subsidiary Aluminum Limited (Alcan) took care of the international markets.
  From 1937 to 1957 it was under stricter than normal governmental supervsion, pending a final verdict in the U.S. vs Alcoa antitrust case. Alcoa's monopoly was effectively ended by the disposal of Defense Corporation Plants after WWII by the War Assets Administration. This enabled Reynolds Metals Company and Kaiser Chemicals to become fully integrated producers of primary aluminum. They were soon joined by Anaconda Aluminum Company, a subsidiary of the copper-industry giant. In 1958 Harvey Machine Tools Company began primary aluminum production, marking the end of Alcoa's monopoly over the process which had led to its domination American market.
  Now Alcoa is the world’s leader in aluminum smelting capacity, and the world’s second largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa leads the world in alumina
  production and capacity. Alcoa serves the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation, and industrial markets, bringing design, engineering, production, and other capabilities of Alcoa’s businesses as a single solution to customers. In addition to aluminum products and components, Alcoa also makes and markets consumer brands including Reynolds Wrap®, Alcoa® wheels, and Baco® household wraps. Among its other businesses are closures, fastening systems, precision castings, and electrical distribution systems for cars and trucks. The company has 129,000 employees in 43 countries.
  Revenue: $30.748 billion (2007) Net Income: $2.564 billion (2007) Employees: 107,000 (2008).
  Market capitalization of the Company was $28,2 bln on February, 12, 2007.
  At the beginning of February, 2007, there was an information that a joint British-Australian mining Company BHP Billiton and Australian Rio Tinto consider the purchase of Alcoa. The transaction amount may reach $40 bln.

   

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  Kraft Foods Inc.
  

  

  Kraft Foods Inc.(NYSE ticker: KFT) is the largest food and beverage company and the second largest in the world (after Nestlé SA).
  
  Website     http://www.kraftfoodscompany.com/
  
  Headquartered in Northfield, Illinois, USA, a Chicago suburb. Their European headquarters are in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire in the UK.
  
  Philip Morris Companies Inc. (now known as Altria Group, Inc.), acquired Kraft for $12.9 billion in 1988, eventually merging it with another food subsidiary, General Foods, which it had acquired in 1985. In 2000, Philip Morris acquired Nabisco and merged it with Kraft. Altria sold 280 million Kraft shares via an initial public offering in 2001, retaining an 88.1% stake. On January 31, 2007, after months of speculation, the company announced that its 88.1% stake would be spun off to Altria shareholders at the end of March 2007. Kraft is now an independent publicly held company.
  
  Canadian born and of German origin James L. Kraft started a wholesale door-to-door cheese business in Chicago in 1903; its first year of operations was "dismal", losing $3,000 and a horse. Still, the business took hold and Kraft was joined by his four brothers to form J.L. Kraft and Bros. Company in 1909. As early as 1911, circulars and advertisements were in use by the company. In 1912, the company established its New York headquarters to prepare for its international expansion. By 1914, 31 varieties of cheeses were being sold around the United States, due to heavy product development, expansion by marketing, and opening a wholly owned cheese factory in Illinois.
  
  Kraft Foods' core businesses are in beverage, cheese and dairy, snackfoods and confectionery, convenience foods and cereals.
  
        Revenue: US$ 42.201 Billion (2008)
  
        Net income: US$ 2.901 Billion (2008)
  
        Employees: 98,000 (2008)
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  American Express.

  

  American Express (NYSE ticker: AXP) — the global financial Company.
  Web-site: www.americanexpress.com.
  
  Headquarter — 200 Vesey Street, New York, NY 10285-3106
  
  The chief executive officer — is Kenneth Chenault.
  
  The Compay is well-known because of its credit card, recharging card and original traveler's cheque.
  
  The current CEO is Kenneth Chenault, who took over in 2001 from Harvey Golub, CEO from 1993 to 2001.
  American Express is commonly abbreviated in speech as "Amex".
  
  Revenue: $31.557 billion (2007).
  
  Net Income: $4.012 billion (2007).
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  The Boeing Company.

  

  The Boeing Company (тикер на NYSE: BA), — is a major aerospace and defense corporation.
   Web-site: www.boeing.co.

  Headquartered in Chicago(Illinoice) USA.

   

  Incorporated in 1916. Boeing is the largest global aircraft manufacturer by revenue, orders and deliveries, and the second-largest aerospace and defense contractor in the world. Above all Boeing produces a wide range of aerospace military equipment (including helicopters), and develops wide-scale aerospace programs.

  On July 15, 1916, as "Pacific Aero Products Co." following the June 15 maiden flight of one of the two "B&W" seaplanes built with the assistance of George Conrad Westervelt, a U.S. Navy engineer. n May 9, 1917, the company became the "Boeing Airplane Company".
   During World War II, Boeing built a large number of bombers. Many of the workers were women whose husbands had gone to war. In the beginning of March 1944, production had been scaled up in such a manner that over 350 planes were built each month. To prevent an attack from the air, the manufacturing plants had been covered with greenery and farmland items. During these years of war the leading aircraft companies of the US cooperated. The Boeing-designed B-17 bomber was assembled also by Lockheed Aircraft Corp. and Douglas Aircraft Co., while the B-29 was assembled also by Bell Aircraft Co. and by Glenn L. Martin Company.

  Revenue $61,5 bln (Feb.2006)
  
  Net profit — $3,0 bln (2006)
  
  Employoees — more 153 000.
      
  
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  Citigroup.

  

         Citigroup Inc. (тиккер на NYSE: C) — Citigroup Inc. has the world's largest financial services network, spanning 107 countries with approximately
        12,000 offices worldwide. The company employs approximately 300,000 staff around the world, and holds over 200 million customer accounts in more
        than 100 countries.
        Web-site: www.citigroup.com.
  
        Headquartered in New York City, USA.
  
        The chief executive officer — Charles Prince/ the Chairman of the board.
  
        The history of the corporation now known as Citigroup is primarily the history of two separate organizations, Citicorp and Travelers Insurance.
        Citicorp was a multinational banking corporation operating in nearly 100 countries. Travelers was an amalgamation of many different companies            beginning with Commercial Credit in Baltimore and gradually expanding with purchases of Primerica (consumer finance), Smith Barney (brokerage) and Traveler (Insurance).
        At the time of the merger between Citicorp and Travelers, Sandy Weill was the chairman of Travelers and John Reed was the Chairman of Citicorp.
   
        Under the auspices of creating a one-shop stop for insurance and banking products, the merger became a takeover by Travelers shortly thereafter. The
        two CEOs could not have been more different in management style and their paths to the top. Initially setup as co-CEOs, within two years of the merger
        John Reed was no longer with Citigroup.
        The company has just under 300,000 employees and over 200 million customer accounts in more than 100 countries, with total assets of nearly 1.6 trillion USD.
        It is a primary dealer in U.S. Treasury securities.
  
        Revenue: $120,318 bln (2006),
  
        Net Income: $−27.684 billion (2008).
  
        Employees: 326 900 (2006).

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  Caterpillar.

  

  Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE ticker: CAT) — the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and
  industrial gas turbines." Famous for their products featuring caterpillar tracks and a distinctive yellow paint scheme (which is a special pigment titled
  "Caterpillar Yellow," as featured on an episode of American Chopper), Caterpillar produces a wide range of heavy equipment, mainly engineering vehicles.
  Web-Site: www.cat.com.

  Headquartered in Peoria, Illinois, USA

  The chief executive officer — James W. Owens.

  Founded in 1925 . The story of Caterpillar Inc. originates in the late 19th century, when Daniel Best and Benjamin Holt experimented with ways to
  fulfill the promise that steam tractors held for farming. By 1904, these large steam powered tractors had been plowing California fields for 14 years, and occasionally got bogged down in the soft California soil, especially after heavy rains. These huge tractors were difficult to pull free, even with teams of horses. Benjamin Holt had an idea -The results were impressive, and the modern tractor was born. Caterpillar formed April 15, 1925 with the merger of Holt Manufacturing Company of Stockton, California and the C. L. Best Gas Traction Company of San Leandro, California, forming the Caterpillar Tractor Co. Sales the first year were $13 million. By 1929, sales climbed to $52.8 million, and CAT continued to grow throughout the Depression of the 1930s.
  After the companies merged, Caterpillar went through many changes, including the adoption of the diesel engine. Caterpillar products found fame with the US Navy "Seabees" who built airfields in the Pacific War

  Following World War II, the company grew at a rapid pace and launched its first venture outside the US in 1950, marking the beginning of Caterpillar's evelopment into a multinational corporation. Caterpillar products range from track-type tractors to hydraulic excavators, backhoe loaders, motor graders, off-highway trucks, wheel loaders, agricultural tractors, diesel and natural gas engines and gas turbines. They are used in construction, road-building, mining, forestry, energy, transportation and material-handling industries.

  Revenue: $44.958 billion (2007)

  Net Income: $3.541 billion (2007)

  Employees: 97,444 (2007).

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  DuPont.

  

  DuPont, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE ticker: DD) — american chemical company, one of the largest in the world.
  Web-Site: www.dupont.com

  Headquartered in Willmington, Delaver, USA and Geneva (Switzerland).

  President and CEO — Ellen J. Kullman

  DuPont was founded in 1802 by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, two years after he and his family left France to escape the French Revolution.
  The company began as a manufacturer of gunpowder, as he had noticed that the industry in North America was lagging behind Europe and saw a market for it.  The company grew quickly, and by the mid nineteenth century had become the largest supplier of gunpowder to the United States military.
  
  DuPont continued to expand, moving into the production of dynamite and smokeless powder. In 1902, DuPont's president, Eugene du Pont, died, and the surviving partners sold the company to three great-grandsons of the original founder.
  In 1914, Pierre S. du Pont, invested in the fledgling automobile industry, buying stock of General Motors (GM). The following year he was invited to sit
  on GM's board of directors and would eventually be appointed the company's chairman. The DuPont company would assist the struggling automobile company further with a $25 million purchase of GM stock. In 1920, Pierre S. du Pont was elected president of General Motors. Under du Pont's guidance, GM became the number one automobile company in the world. In the 1920s DuPont continued its emphasis on materials science, hiring Wallace Carothers to work on polymers in 1928. Carothers discovered neoprene, the first synthetic rubber, the first polyester superpolymer, and, in 1935, nylon. Discovery of Lucite and Teflon followed a few years later. Throughout this period, the company continued to be a major producer of war supplies in both World War I and World War II.
  
  After the war, DuPont continued its emphasis on new materials, developing Mylar, Dacron, Orlon and Lycra. DuPont materials were critical to
  the success of the Apollo Space program. In 1981, DuPont acquired Conoco Inc., a major American oil and gas producing company that gave it a secure source of petroleum feedstocks needed for the manufacturing of many of its fiber and plastics processes. The acquisition of Seagram Company Ltd. made DuPont one of the top ten U.S. based petroleum and natural gas producers and refiners.
  
  Today DuPont produces a wide range of chemical materials making innovative reasearch in this field. DuPont has also been significantly involved
  in the refrigerant industry, developing and producing the Freon (CFCs) series and later, more environmentally friendly refrigerants. In 2004 the company sold its textiles business to Koch Industries, losing some of its best-known brands such as Lycra (Spandex),
  Dacron polyester, Orlon acrylic, Antron nylon and Thermolite.

  .

  Revenue: $$31.836 Billion (2008)

  Net Income: $ $2.007 Billion (2008)

  Employees: 60,000 (2008).

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  The Walt Disney Company.

  

  The Walt Disney Company (NYSE ticker: DIS) — is the largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world. Web-site: www.disney.com.

  Disney's corporate headquarters and primary production facilities are located at The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California.

  President/CEO — Robert Iger

  Founded on October 16, 1923, by brothers Walt and Roy Disney as an animation studio, it has become one of the biggest Hollywood studios, and owner and licensor of eleven theme parks and several television networks, including ABC and ESPN.
  Untill 1955 the initial and sole business direction  of The Walt Disney Company was cinematograph. The Walt Disney Studios division includes cinema — and animations Disney studios, sound record lables and the series of the Broadway theater productions. Beginning from 2002 this division is headed by Dick Kuck.
  Besides the theme parks («Disneyland») and resorts this division includes the Disney Regional Entertainment (with the sport restaurants ESPN Zone), Walt Disney Imagineering and Walt Disney Creative Entertainment. Also the Walt Disney Company owns the number of the CATV networks including The Disney Channel, ABC Family, Toon Disney, ESPN and SOAPnet channels. Disney has a serious share fraction of the Lifetime Television (50 %), A&E Network (37.5 %), E! (40 %) and Jetix Europe N. V. (74 %).
  Via the american TV and radio broadcasting company (ABC) Disney controls 10 local TVstations, 26 localc Radio station, as well as ESPN Radio and Radio Disney. Buena Vista Television produces such TV shows as «Who Wants to Be a Millionaire», «Live with Regis and Kelly» and «Ebert & Roeper».
  Disney owns the publishing company Hyperion, and an internet-subdivision Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG), with the following web-sites
  Go.com, Disney.com, ESPN.com, ABCNews.com and Movies.com.

  Revenue: $ 37.843 billion (2008)

  Net Income: $ 4.427 billion (2008),

  Employees: 150,000 (2008).

   

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  General Electric.

  

  General Electric, (NYSE ticker: GE) — american corporation. Largest world producer of different equipment,including hybrid locomotives, desalination and water reuse solutions, and photovoltaic cells.
  Web-Site: www.ge.com.

  Headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, USA.
  
  CEO — Jeff Immelt.
  
  By 1890, Thomas Edison had formed Edison General Electric which brought together several of his business interests together under one corporation. General Electric was formed by the merger in 1892 of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Company.
  
  Today GE is a multinational conglomerate headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut. Its New York headquarters are located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza
  in Rockefeller Center, known as the GE Building for the prominent GE logo on the roof. Through its RCA subsidiary, it has been associated with the
  Center since its construction in the 1930s. The company describes itself as composed of a number of primary business units or "businesses." Each "business" is itself a vast enterprise, many of which would, even as a standalone company, rank in the Fortune 500. The list of GE businesses varies over time as the result of acquisitions, divestitures and reorganizations. General Electric's tax return is the largest return filed in the United States; the 2005 return was approximately 24,000 pages when printed out, and 237 megabytes when submitted electronically. In 2005 GE launched its "Ecomagination" initiative in an attempt to position itself as a "green" company. GE is currently one of the biggest players in the wind power industry, and it is also developing new environment-friendly products such as hybrid locomotives, desalination and water reuse solutions, and photovoltaic cells. The company has set goals for its subsidiaries to lower their greenhouse gas emissions.

  .

  Revenue: $ 182.515 billion (2008)

  Net Income: $17.410 billion (2008)

  Employees: 323 000 (2008).

  Subsidiaries: GE Commercial Finance, GE Industrial, GE Infrastructure, GE Money, GE Healthcare, NBC Universal.

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  General Motors.

  

  General Motors (NYSE ticker: GM) — global auto corporation, producing autos in 32 countriesand selling them in 192 countries.
  Web-Site: www.gm.com.

  Headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, USA.
  
  President and Board Chairman — Rick Wagoner.
  
  General Motors (GM) was founded on September 27, 1908, in Flint, Michigan, as a holding company for Buick, then controlled by William C. Durant.
  The Company is the world largest automaker since 1931.
            o General Motors trading marks:
            o Buick,
            o Cadillac,
            o Chevrolet,
            o GMC
            o Holden,
            o Hummer,
            o Oldsmobile,
            o Opel,
            o Pontiac,
            o Saturn,
            o Saab,
            o Vauxhall.
  
   It is the world's second-largest automaker after Toyota, ranked by 2008 global unit sales.
  
   Revenue: $ 148.979 billion (2008)
  
   Net Income: $ −30.860 billion (2008)
  
   Employees: 252,000 (2008)

  .

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  The Home Depot, Inc.

  

  The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE ticker: HD) — is an American retailer of home improvement and construction products and services.
  
  Web-Site:www.homedepot.com.
  The Home Depot is headquartered from the Atlanta Store Support Center in unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia, near Atlanta.
  
  President/CEO— Frank Blake.
  
  The Home Depot was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus, Arthur Blank, Ron Brill, and Pat Farrah. The Company grew rapidly and the sales volume amounted annual $1 bln by 1986. In 1997 Company began working in Chile and Argentina.
  Since the 1990s, its current headquarters is a complex of high-rise buildings on Paces Ferry Road, on the western edge of the Cumberland/Galleria edge city in unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia, across Interstate 285 from the town of Vinings, and served by mail from Atlanta. The tallest is approximately 85 metres (280 ft) high, the fourth-tallest in the Vinings area. Many of the company's employees refer to the headquarters as the "Taj Mahal" because of the luxurious look on the interior and exterior of the buildings
  The Home Depot is the largest home-improvement retailer in the United States, ahead of rival Lowe's, and the second-largest general retailer in
  the United States, behind only Wal-Mart.
  
  Revenue: $$84.740 billion (2008)
  
  Net Income: $$4.395 billion (2008)
  
  Employees: 331,000 (2008)

  .

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  Chevron Corporation
  

  

  Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) is the world's fourth largest non-government energy company.
  Web-Site: Chevron.com
  
  Headquartered in San Ramon, California, USA.
  The company celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2004, tracing its roots to an oil discovery in Pico Canyon (now the Pico Canyon Oilfield) north of
  Los Angeles. The discovery led to the formation, in 1879, of the Pacific Coast Oil Company, the oldest predecessor of Chevron Corporation. Another side of the genealogical chart points to the founding of The Texas Fuel Company in 1901, a modest enterprise that started out in three rooms of a corrugated iron building in Beaumont, Texas. This company would later become known as Texaco.
  On May 9, 2005, ChevronTexaco announced it would drop the Texaco moniker and return to the Chevron name. Texaco remains as a brand under the Chevron Corporation. On August 19, 2005, Chevron acquired the Unocal Corporation. Because of Unocal's large South East Asian geothermal operations, Chevron became the world's largest producer of geothermal energy.
  Chevron Corporation is active in more than 180 countries, it is engaged in every aspect of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production; refining, marketing and transport; chemicals manufacturing and sales; and power generation. Chevron is one of the world's six "supermajor" oil companies.
  
   Revenue: $ 220.904 billion (2007)
  
   Net Income: $ 18.688 billion (2007)
  
   Employees: 60,000 (2008)
  
  
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  Hewlett-Packard.

  

  Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE ticker: HPQ) — Large technoligy corporation. HP specializes in developing and manufacturing computing, storage, and networking hardware, software and services. Major product lines include personal computing devices, enterprise servers, related storage devices, as well as a diverse range of printers and other imaging products. Other product lines, including electronic test equipment and systems, medical electronic equipment, solid state components and instrumentation for chemical analysis were spun off as Agilent Technologies in 1999.
  
  HP markets its products to households, small to medium size businesses and enterprises both directly, via online distribution, consumer-electronics
  and office-supply retailers, software partners and major technology vendors.
        
  Web-Site: www.hp.com.
  
  Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA.
  
  The chief Executing officers: William Hewlett Co-founder, David Packard Co-founder.
  President and CEO — Mark V. Hurd
  
  William (Bill) Hewlett and David (Dave) Packard both graduated in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 1935.
  The company originated in a garage in nearby Palo Alto during a fellowship they had with a past professor, Frederick Terman at Stanford during
  the Great Depression. Terman was considered a mentor to them in forming Hewlett-Packard. Of the many projects they worked on, their very first financially successful product was a precision audio oscillator, the Model HP200A. Their innovation was the use of a small light bulb as a temperature dependent resistor in a critical portion of the circuit. This allowed them to sell the Model 200A for $54.40 when competitors were selling less stable oscillators for over $200. Hewlett and Packard tossed a coin to decide whether the company they founded would be called Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.
  Packard won the coin toss but named their electronics manufacturing enterprise the "Hewlett-Packard Company". One of the company's earliest customers was The Walt Disney Company, which bought eight Model 200B oscillators (at $71.50 each) for use in certifying the Fantasound surround sound systems installed in theaters for the movie Fantasia.
  HP is identified by Wired magazine as the producer of the world's first marketed, mass-produced personal computer, the Hewlett-Packard 9100A,
  introduced in 1968. The company earned global respect for a variety of products. They introduced the world's first handheld scientific electronic
  calculator in 1972 (the HP-35), the first handheld programmable in 1974 (the HP-65), the first alphanumeric, programmable, expandable in 1979 (the HP-41C),  and the first symbolic and graphing calculator, the HP-28C. Like their scientific and business calculators, their oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and other measurement instruments have a reputation for sturdiness and usability (the latter products are now part of spin-off Agilent's product line).
  
  HP has successful lines of printers, scanners, digital cameras, calculators, PDAs, servers, workstation computers, and computers for home and small
  business use computers; many of the computers came from the 2002 merger with Compaq. HP today promotes itself as supplying not just hardware and software, but also a full range of services to design, implement and support IT infrastructure.
  
  Revenue: $ 118.364 billion (2008)
  
  Net Income: $10.473 billion (2008)
  
  Employees: 321 000 (2008)

  .

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  International Business Machines Corporation. IBM.

  

  International Business Machines Corporation. IBM (International Business Machines) (NYSE ticker: IBM) — world largest multinational computer
  technology and IT consulting corporation.
        
  Web-Site: www.ibm.com.
  
  Headquartered in Armonk, New York, USA.
  
  President and CEO — Samuel J. Palmisano.
  
  The company which became IBM was founded in 1896 as the Tabulating Machine Company[8] by Herman Hollerith, in Broome County, New York
  (Endicott, New York or Binghamton, New York), where it still maintains very limited operations. It was incorporated as Computing Tabulating
  Recording Corporation (CTR) on June 16, 1911, and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1916.
  Big Blue is a nickname for IBM; several theories exist regarding its origin. One theory, substantiated by people who worked for IBM at the time, is that IBM field reps coined the term in the 1960s, referring to the color of the mainframes IBM installed in the 1960s and early 1970s.
  "All blue" was a term used to describe a loyal IBM customer, and business writers later picked up the term. Another theory suggests that Big Blue
  simply refers to the Company's logo. A third theory suggests that Big Blue refers to a former company dress code that required many IBM employees
  to wear only white shirts and many wore blue suits.[20][22] In any event, IBM keyboards, typewriters, and some other manufactured devices, have
  played on the "Big Blue" concept, using the color for enter keys and carriage returns.
  
  Revenue: $ 103.6 billion (2008)
  
  Net Income: $ 12.3 billion (2008)
  
  Employees: 398,455 (2008)
  

   

• Read Close 15

  Intel Corporation.

  

  Intel Corporation (NASDAQ ticker: INTC) — is the world's largest semiconductor company and the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most personal computers. Intel also makes motherboard chipsets, network cards and ICs, flash memory, graphic chips, embedded processors, and other devices related to communications and computing.
  
  Web-Site: www.intel.com.
  
  Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA
  
  President — Paul Otellini,
  CEO — Craig Barrett
  
  
  Intel was founded in 1968 by Gordon E. Moore (a chemist and physicist) and Robert Noyce (a physicist and co-inventor of the integrated circuit)
  when they left Fairchild Semiconductor. A number of other Fairchild employees also went on to participate in other Silicon Valley companies.
  Intel's third employee was Andy Grove, a chemical engineer, who ran the company through much of the 1980s and the high-growth 1990s.
  Grove is now remembered as the company's key business and strategic leader. By the end of the 1990s, Intel was one of the largest and most
  successful businesses in the world.
  At its founding, Gordon Moore and Robert Noyce wanted to name their new company Moore Noyce. The name, however, sounded remarkably similar
  to more noise — an ill-suited name for an electronics company, since noise is typically associated with bad interference. They then used the name NM Electronics for almost a year, before deciding to call their company INTegrated ELectronics or Intel for short. However, Intel was already trademarked by a hotel chain, so they had to buy the rights for that name at the beginning.
  
  Intel has grown through several distinct phases. At its founding, Intel was distinguished simply by its ability to make semiconductors, and its primary products were static random access memory (SRAM) chips. Intel's business grew during the 1970s as it expanded and improved its manufacturing processes and produced a wider range of products, still dominated by various memory devices.
  
  While Intel created the first microprocessor (Intel 4004) in 1971 and one of the first microcomputers in 1972, by the early 1980s its
  business was dominated by dynamic random access memory chipsх.
  
  Revenue: $37.6 billion (2008)
  
  Net Income: $5.3 billion (2008),
  
  Employees: 83,900 (2008)

   

• Read Close 16

  Johnson & Johnson.

  

  Johnson & Johnson (NYSE ticker: JNJ) — is a global American pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturer.
  Web-Site: www.jnj.com.
  
  Headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
  
  President, CEO — William C. Weldon
  
  Robert Wood Johnson, inspired by a speech by antisepsis advocate Joseph Lister, joined brothers James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson
  to create a line of ready-to-use surgical dressings in 1885. The company produced its first products in 1886 and incorporated in 1887.
  Robert Wood Johnson served as the first president of the company. He worked to improve sanitation practices in the nineteenth century, and lent
  his name to a hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Upon his death in 1910, he was succeeded in the presidency by his brother James Wood Johnson until 1932, and then by his son, Robert Wood Johnson II.
  
  Its consumer division is located in Skillman, New Jersey. The corporation includes some 250 subsidiary companies with operations in over
  57 countries. Its products are sold in over 175 countries. Johnson & Johnson's brands include numerous household names of medications and first
  aid supplies. Among its well-known consumer products are the Band-Aid Brand line of bandages, Tylenol medications, Johnson's baby products,
  Neutrogena skin and beauty products, Clean & Clear facial wash and Acuvue contact lenses.
  
  Revenue: $61.095 Billion (2007)
  
  Net Income: $10.576 Billion (2007)
  
  Employees: 119,200 (2008).

   

• Read Close 17

  JPMorgan Chase & Co.

  

  JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE ticker: JPM) — is one of the oldest financial services firms in the world. The Company profile is mainly the
  investment bank and financial services, funds and private equity management.
   Web-Site: www.jpmorganchase.com. www.jpmorgan.com.
  
   Headquartered in New York City, New York
  
   President, CEO — Jamie Dimon.
  
   Founded in 1799. It is a leader in financial services with assets of $2.3 trillion.[4], and the largest market capitalization and deposit base of any U.S. banking institution. The hedge fund unit of JPMorgan Chase is the largest hedge fund in the United States with $34 billion in assets as of 2007. Formed in 2000 when Chase Manhattan Corporation acquired J.P. Morgan & Co., the firm serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world's most prominent corporate, institutional and governmental clients. JPMorgan Chase, as it exists since 2008, is the result of the combination of several large U.S. banking companies over the last decade including Chase Manhattan Bank, J.P. Morgan & Co., Bank One, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual. Going back further, its predecessors include major banking firms among which are Chemical Bank, Manufacturers Hanover, First Chicago Bank, National Bank of Detroit, Texas Commerce Bank, Providian Financial and Great Western Bank.
  
  Revenue: $ 116.35 billion (2007)
  
  Net Income: $ 15.36 billion (2007)
  
  Operation Income: $46.13 billion (2007)
  
  Employees: 228,452 (2008)

   

• Read Close 18

  Coca-Cola Company.

  

  The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE ticker: KO) — is the largest manufacturer, distributor and marketer of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates
  and syrups in the world. It is best known for its flagship product, Coca-Cola, and is one of the largest corporations in the United States.
  
  Web-Site: www.thecoca-colacompany.com.
  
   Headquarter — Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  
   President — E. Neville Isdell.
  
  Columbus, Georgia druggist John Stith Pemberton invented a cocawine called Pemberton's French Wine Coca in 1884. He was inspired by the
  formidable success of French Angelo Mariani's cocawine, Vin Mariani. The following year, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed Prohibition legislation, Pemberton began to develop a non-alcoholic version of the French Wine Coca. He named it Coca-Cola, because it included the stimulant coca leaves from South America and was flavored using kola nuts, a source of caffeine.
  
  In 1887, while suffering from an ongoing addiction to morphine, Pemberton sold a stake in his company to Asa Griggs Candler, who incorporated
  it as the Coca Cola Corporation in 1888. In the same year, Pemberton sold the rights a second time to three more businessmen: J.C. Mayfield, A.O.
  Murphey, and E.H. Bloodworth. Meanwhile, Pemberton's alcoholic son Charley Pemberton began selling his own version of the product. Three versions of Coca-Cola — sold by three separate businesses — were on the market.
  
  In the 1930s, Robert W. Woodruff became president of the Coca-Cola Company, presiding over the drink and its destiny until his death in 1985.
  
  Since 2004 CEO & Chairman of Coca Cola Company is E. Neville Isdell.
  
  According to the 2005 Annual Report, the company sells beverage products in more than 200 countries. In general the Coca-Cola Company (TCCC)
  only produces syrup concentrate which is then sold to various bottlers throughout the world who hold a Coca-Cola franchise. Besides its namesake
  Coca-Cola beverage, Coca-Cola currently offers nearly 400 brands in over 200 countries or territories and serves 1.5 billion servings each day.
  
  Revenue: $28.857 Billion (2007),
  
  Net Income: $ 5.981 Billion (2007),
  
  Employees: 90,500 (September 2008)

   

• Read Close 19

  McDonald's Corporation.

  

  McDonald's Corporation (NYSE ticker: MCD) — is the world's largest chain of fast food restaurants.
        
  Web-Site: www.mcdonalds.com.
  
  Headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois, USA.
  
  Key Persons: Ray Kroc — founder, Jim Skinner — Board Chairman, Ralph Alvarez — President and operation Director, Ronald McDonald — Press-service official agent.
  
  The business began in 1940, with a restaurant opened by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald in San Bernardino, California. Their introduction of the "Speedee Service System" in 1948 established the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant. The original mascot of McDonald's was a man with
  a chef's hat on top of a hamburger shaped head whose name was "Speedee." Speedee was eventually replaced with Ronald McDonald in 1963.
  McDonald's primarily sells hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken products, french fries, breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes, and desserts.
  More recently, it has begun to offer salads, wraps and fruit. Many McDonald's restaurants have included a playground for children and advertising
  geared toward children, and some have been redesigned in a more 'natural' style, with a particular emphasis on comfort: introducing lounge areas and fireplaces, and eliminating hard plastic chairs and tables.
  
  To accommodate the current trend for high quality coffee and the popularity of coffee shops in general, McDonald's introduced McCafé.
  The McCafé concept is a café-style accompaniment to McDonald's restaurants in the style of Starbucks.
  
  Revenue: $22.79 billion (2007)
  
  Net Income: $2.359 billion (2007)
  
  Employees: 400,000 (2008)

   

• Read Close 20

  3M Company.

  

  3M Company, /Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company; formerly Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company until 2002/.
  (NYSE ticker: MMM) — american chemical innovative manufacturer.
   Web-site Сайт: 3M. com.
  
   Headquartered in Maplewood, Minnesota, USA.
  
   George W. Buckley — Chairman, President and CEO.
  
   Founded in 1902 in Minnesota, USA. Before 2002 it was named Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company.
  
  Twelve years after being founded, 3M was able to develop its first exclusive product: 3M Three-M-ite cloth. Other innovations around this
  time by 3M included waterproof sandpaper and masking tape. After this point, the famous Scotch brand tape was “born.” .
  In 1947 the company created the first sound record tape, and in 1968 — the first colour copying machine. The Post-it stickers used by
  employees all over the world were invented by «3M» in 1980.
  
  Today the 3M produces thousands of products, including: adhesives, abrasives, laminates, passive fire protection, dental products,
  electrical materials, electronic circuits and optical films.[1] 3M has operations in more than 60 countries – 29 international companies
  with manufacturing operations, and 35 with laboratories. 3M products are available for purchase through distributors and retailers in more
  than 200 countries, and many 3M products are available online directly from the company.
  
  Revenue: $22.79 billion (2007).
  
  Net Income — $2.359 billion (2007)
  
  Total Empployees — 400,000 (2008)

   

• Read Close 21

  Bank of America Corporation.

  

  Bank of America Corporation (NYSE ticker: BAC) — is the largest financial services company in the world, largest bank by assets, second largest commercial bank by deposits, and (previously) third largest by market capitalization in the United States.
  Web-Site: www.Bankofamerica.com

  Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina
  
  William Barnet III, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.
  
  The Bank of Italy was founded in San Francisco by Amadeo Giannini in 1904, based on catering to immigrants. Amadeo was raised by the
  Fava/Stanghellini family when his father was shot while trying to collect on a $10.00 debt. When the 1906 San Francisco earthquake struck,
  Giannini was able to get all of the deposits out of the bank building and away from the fires.
  
  In 1922, Giannini established Bank of America and Italy in Italy by buying Banca dell'Italia Meridionale, itself only established in 191.
  
  In the late 1920s, Giannini approached Orra E. Monnette, President and founder of Bank of America, Los Angeles, about a merger between the two entities. The Los Angeles based bank had exhibited strong growth throughout the 1920s, due in part to its success in developing an advanced branch banking system. The merger was completed in early 1929 and took the name Bank of America. The combined company was headed by Giannini with Monnette serving as co-Chair.
  
  Bank of America serves clients in more than 150 countries and has a relationship with 99 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and 83 percent of the Fortune Global 500. The company is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
  
  The Bank, at one point considered one of the winners and healthiest survivors of the 2007 credit crisis, plunged in market value due to massive loses caused by its purchase of Merrill Lynch. It's Q1 2009 profit was 4.2 billion with 3.7 billion having come from Merrill Lynch.
  
   Revenue     US$124.32 billion (Jan '07)
  
    Net Income: US$14.98 billion (Dec '07),
  
    Employees: 171,587 (February 2009)

   

• Read Close 22

  Merck & Co Inc.

  

  Merck & Co Inc. (NYSE ticker: MRK) — also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the USA and Canada, is one of the
  largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
  Web-Site: www.merck.com.
  
  Headquartered in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey
  
  President, CEO — Richard T. Clark
  
  Merck & Co. traces its origins to Friedrich Jacob Merck who purchased a drug store in Darmstadt, Germany in 1668; and Emanuel Merck who took over the store several generations later, in 1816. Emanuel and his successors gradually built up a chemical-pharmaceutical factory that produced — in addition to raw materials for pharmaceutical preparations — a multitude of other chemicals.
  In 1891, George Merck established his roots in the United States and set up Merck & Co. in NY as the US arm of the family partnership, E. Merck (named for Emanuel Merck), which is now Merck KGaA. Merck & Co. was confiscated in 1917 during World War I and set up as an independent
  company in the United States. Between the wars and during World War II, the company was led by George W. Merck, who oversaw America's germ-warfare research at Fort Detrick. Today, the US company has about 56,700 employees in 120 countries and 31 factories worldwide. It is one of the top 7 pharmaceutical companies worldwide, much larger than its German ancestor, which currently employs around 28,600 people in 54 countries.
  
  In 2005, CEO Raymond Gilmartin retired at the age of 64 following Merck's voluntary worldwide withdrawal of Vioxx. Former president of manufacturing Richard Clark was named CEO and President of the company.
  
  As of March 2009, Merck has proposed to merge with Schering-Plough in a 41 billion dollar deal. This combined corporation would be the 2nd largest
  pharmaceutical company in the world. The proposed deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2009.
  
  It is currently one of the seven largest pharmaceutical companies in the world both by market capitalization and revenue.
  
  Revenue: $22,012 bln(2005)
  
   Net Income: $4,631 bln(2005)
  
   Employees: 61,500 (2005)

   

• Read Close 23

  Microsoft Corporation.

  

  Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ ticker: MSFT) — is an American-based multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices.
  Web-Site: www.microsoft.com.
  
  Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA
  
  Key People: Bill Gates, Allen Paul, Steve Ballmer.
  
  Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, students at that time. The name of the Company is an english abbreviation of MICROcomputer SOFTware.
  Its most profitable products are the Microsoft Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software. Originally
  founded to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800, Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Windows line of operating systems. Its products have all achieved near-ubiquity in the desktop computer market.
  Microsoft's original mission was "a computer on every desk and in every home, running Microsoft software." Microsoft possesses footholds in other markets, with assets such as the MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia. The company also markets both computer hardware products such as the Microsoft mouse as well as home entertainment products such as the Xbox, Xbox 360, Zune and MSN TV.[8] The company's initial public stock offering (IPO) was in 1986; the ensuing rise of the company's stock price has made four billionaires and an estimated 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees.
  
  Revenue: $60.420 billion (2008)
  
  Net Income: $17.681 bln (2008)
  
  Employees: 89,809 (2008)

   

• Read Close 24

  Pfizer, Inc.

  

  Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE ticker: PFE) — is a major pharmaceutical company, ranking number one in sales in the world.
  Web-Site: www.pfizer.com.
  
  Headquartered in New York City, USA.
  
  The chief executive officer  — Jeff Kindler.
  
  Pfizer is named after German-American cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhardt (they were originally from Ludwigsburg, Germany) who launched their chemicals business Charles Pfizer and Company from a building at the intersection of Harrison Avenue and Bartlett Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1849.
  
  It produces the number-one selling drug Lipitor (atorvastatin, used to lower blood cholesterol); the neuropathic pain/fibromyalgia drug Lyrica (pregabalin); the oral antifungal medication Diflucan (fluconazole), the long-acting antibiotic Zithromax (azithromycin), the well-known erectile dysfunction drug Viagra (sildenafil citrate), and the anti inflammatory Celebrex (celecoxib) (also known as Celebra in some countries outside
  USA and Canada, mainly in South America).
  
  Pfizer's shares were made a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on April 8, 2004.
  
  On January 26, 2009, Pfizer agreed to buy pharmaceutical giant Wyeth for US$68 billion, a deal financed with cash, shares and loans.
  
  
  Revenue: $48.418 billion (2007)
  
  Net income: $8.144 billion (2007)
  
  Employees     86,600 (2008)

   

• Read Close 25

  Procter & Gamble Co.

  

  Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE ticker: PG) — s a Fortune 500, American multinational corporation that manufactures a wide range of consumer goods.
  Web-Site: www.pg.com.
  
  Headquartered in One Procter & Gamble Plaza, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA 45202.
  
  Board Chairman - Allan Lafley.
  
  William Procter, a candlemaker, and James Gamble, a soapmaker, immigrants from England and Ireland, respectively, who had settled earlier
  in Cincinnati, who met as they both married sisters, Olivia and Elizabeth Norris,[6] formed the company initially. Alexander Norris, their father-in law, called a meeting in which he persuaded his new sons-in-law to become business partners. On October 31, 1837, as a result of the suggestion, Procter & Gamble was born. In 1859, sales reached one million dollars. By this point, approximately eighty employees worked for Procter & Gamble. During the American Civil War, the company won contracts to supply the Union Army with soap and candles. In addition to the increased profits experienced during the war, the military contracts introduced soldiers from all over the country to Procter & Gamble's products.
  
  Procter & Gamble has dramatically expanded throughout its history, but its headquarters still remains in Cincinnati. In January 2005 P&G announced
  an acquisition of Gillette, forming the largest consumer goods company and placing Unilever into second place. This added brands such as Gillette razors, Duracell, Braun, and Oral-B to their stable.
  
  Main company's brands: Tide, Ariel, «Myth», Ace, Mr. Clean, Lenor, Comet, Fairy, Pampers, Always, Alldays, Tampax, Discreet, Wash & Go, Head & Shoulders, Pantene, Shamtu, Herbal Essense, Wella, Camay, Safeguard, Secret, Old Spice, Olay, Hugo Boss, Blend-a-Med, Oral-B, Crest, Cover Girl, Max Factor, Pringles, Gillette, Venus, Duracell.
  
  Revenue: $US$83.503 bln.(2008)
  
  Net Income: $12.075 bln (2008)
  
  Employees: 138,000

   

• Read Close 26

  AT&T.

  

  AT&T Inc (NYSE ticker: T) — is the largest provider of both local and long distance telephone services in the United States, and also serves digital subscriber line Internet access.
  Web-Site: www.att.com.
  
   Headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, USA
  
   Randall L. Stephenson — Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
  
   The current AT&T Inc., was formed in 1983 as Southwestern Bell Corporation; it was one of the seven regional Bell operating companies
  (also known as "Baby Bells" or "RBOCs") that were formed by AT&T Corporation in 1983 and spun off from on the first day of 1984 as part of
  the Bell System divestiture. Upon divestiture, AT&T Corporation stock also split and spun off new stocks for each Baby Bell; Southwestern
  Bell Corporation traded on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol SBC. This newly-created SBC originally owned only one telephone
  company: Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, founded in 1882. On January 31, 2005, SBC announced that it would purchase AT&T Corp. for more than $16 billion. The announcement came almost 8 years after SBC and AT&T called off their first merger talks and nearly a year after initial
  merger talks between AT&T Corp. and BellSouth fell apart. AT&T stockholders, meeting in Denver, approved the merger on June 30, 2005.
  The U.S. Department of Justice cleared the merger on October 27, 2005, and the Federal Communications Commission approved it on October 31, 2005.
  The merger was finalized on November 18, 2005.[5] Upon the completion of the merger, SBC Communications adopted the AT&T branding, and changed its corporate name to AT&T Inc. to differentiate the company from the former AT&T Corporation. On December 1, 2005, the merged company's New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol changed from "SBC" to the traditional "T" used by AT&T.
  
  The new AT&T updated the former AT&T's graphic logo; however the existing AT&T sound trademark (voiced by Pat Fleet) continues to be used.
  
  On Friday December 29, 2006, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the new AT&T's acquisition of regional Bell operating
  company BellSouth, valued at approximately $86 billion.
  
  The company was honored at the 2008 Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for development of coaxial cable technology as well as for staying
  true to its promise of "connecting people.
  
   Revenue: $119.3 Billion (2008)
  
   Net Income: $$10.463 Billion (2008)
  
   Employees: 303,530 (2008).
  
  

   

• Read Close 27

  United Technologies Corporation.

  

  United Technologies Corporation (NYSE ticker: UTX) — is an American multinational conglomerate.
  Web-Site: www.utc.com.
  
  Headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, USA.
  
  George David — CEO & Chairman.
  
  The core group of United Technologies companies was founded in 1929 as United Aircraft and Transport Corporation, by the merger of
  the Boeing Airplane Company, Boeing Air Transport, Chance Vought, Hamilton Standard, Pratt & Whitney, and Sikorsky Aircraft.n.
  The UTC comprises the following business units:
  
      * Carrier: A maker of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration systems.
      * Hamilton Sundstrand: Designs and manufactures aerospace systems for commercial, regional, corporate and military aircraft;
  a major supplier for international space programs. Provides industrial products for the hydrocarbon, chemical, and food processing
  industries, construction and mining companies.
      * Otis: Manufacturer, installer, and servicer of elevators, escalators, and moving walkways.
      * Pratt & Whitney: Designs and builds aircraft engines, gas turbines, and rockets.
            o Pratt & Whitney Canada
            o Rocketdyne
      * Sikorsky Aircraft: Maker of helicopters for commercial, industrial, and military uses.
            o PZL-Mielec
            o Schweizer Aircraft
      * UTC Fire & Security: Makes fire detection and suppression systems, access control systems, and security alarm systems; provides security system integration and monitoring services.
      * UTC Power: Manufacturer of distributed power generation systems and fuel cells for commercial, transportation, and space and defense applications.
      * United Technologies Research Center (UTRC): A centralized research facility that supports all UTC business units in developing new technologies and processes.
  
  United Technologies' headquarters operations are located in the United Technologies Building in Hartford, Connecticut. The United Technologies
  Building is known locally as the "Gold Building" due to its gold-tinted glass-mirror exterior.
  
  Revenue: $54.759 billion USD (2007).
  
  Net income: $4.224 billion USD (2007).
  
  Employees: 210 000.

   

• Read Close 28

  Verizon Communications, Inc.

  

  Verizon Communications, Inc. (NYSE ticker: VZ) — is an American broadband and telecommunications company.
  Web-Site: www.verizon.com.
  
   Headquartered in New York, New York, USA.
  
   Ivan Seidenberg, — CEO & Chairman. Dennis Strigl — President & Vice-Chairman.
  
  It was formed in 2000 when Bell Atlantic, one of the Regional Bell Operating Companies, merged with GTE. Bell Atlantic acquired GTE on June 30, 2000 and changed its name to Verizon Communications Inc. It was among the largest mergers in United States business history.
  In 2006 January it acquired  the MCI Company, serving the IP-protocol. Verizon, with MCI, was the largest telecommunications company in the
  United States.
  
  Verizon provides several different types of land line services - standard POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) service as well as VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) and optical fiber line services. In addition, Verizon offers long distance services. Verizon also offers a product that is a joint venture with Microsoft called "Verizon Web Calling", a type of VoIP service used within Windows Live Messenger.
  
   Revenue: $93.78 billion USD (2007)
   Net income: $5.52 billion USD (2007)
   Employees: 239,000 (as of 2007).

   

• Read Close 29

  Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

  

  Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE ticker: WMT) — is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large, discount department stores.
  Web-Site: www.walmart.com.
  
  Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, USA.
  
  Board Chairman S. Robson Walton. Executing officer H. Lee Scott.
        
  Founded in 1962 в городе Роджерс (штат Арканзас) Сэмом Уолтоном.
  
  Wal-Mart — is the world largest retailer with more than 6000 shops (including Hypermarkets and supermarkets), located in different places of the world. Wal-mart is the largest private employer in the world[citation needed] and the largest grocery retailer in the United States, with an estimated 20% of the retail grocery and consumables business. It also owns and operates the North American company, Sam's Club.
  
   As Wal-Mart grew rapidly into the world's largest corporation, many critics worried about the effect of its stores on local communities, particularly small towns with many "mom and pop" stores. There have been several studies on the economic impact of Wal-Mart on small towns and local businesses, jobs, and taxpayers. In one, Kenneth Stone, a Professor of Economics at Iowa State University, found that some small towns can
  lose almost half of their retail trade within ten years of a Wal-Mart store opening. However, in another study, he compared the changes to what
  small town shops had faced in the past — including the development of the railroads, the advent of the Sears Roebuck catalog, as well as the arrival
  of shopping malls — and concluded that shop owners who adapt to changes in the retail market can thrive after Wal-Mart arrives. A later study in
  collaboration with Mississippi State University showed that there are "both positive and negative impacts on existing stores in the area where the
  new supercenter locates."
  
  In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, Wal-Mart was able to use its logistical efficiency in organizing a rapid response to
  the disaster, donating $20 million in cash, 1,500 truckloads of free merchandise, food for 100,000 meals, as well as the promise of a job for every
  one of its displaced workers. An independent study by Steven Horwitz of St. Lawrence University found that Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Lowe's,
  made use of their local knowledge about supply chains, infrastructure, decision makers and other resources to provide emergency supplies and
  reopen stores well before FEMA began its response. While the company was overall lauded for its quick response – amidst the criticisms of the
  Federal Emergency Management Agency – several critics were nonetheless quick to point out that there still remain issues with the company's
  labor relations issues.
  
  Revenue: US$ 404.16 Bln .(2009)
  
  Net income: US$ 13.59 Billion (2009),
  
  Employees: approx. 2,100,000 (2008)

  .

• Read Close 30

  ExxonMobil.

  

  ExxonMobil Corporation. (NYSE ticker: XOM) — is an American oil and gas corporation.
  Web-Site: www.exxonmobil.com.
  
  Headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA.
  
  Board Chairman and chief executive officer - Rex W. Tillerson.
  
  Exxon Mobil Corporation was formed in 1999 by the merger of two major oil companies, Exxon and Mobil. Both Exxon and Mobil were descendants
  of the John D. Rockefeller corporation, Standard Oil which was established in 1870. The reputation of Standard Oil in the public eye suffered badly
  after publication of Ida M. Tarbell's classic exposé The History of the Standard Oil Company in 1904, leading to a growing outcry for the government
  to take action against the company.
  ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3 percent of the world's oil and about 2
  percent of the world's energy.
  
  ExxonMobil is the world's largest publicly traded company when measured by either revenue or market capitalization. Exxon Mobil's reserves
  were 72 billion oil-equivalent barrels at the end of 2007 and, at current rates of production, are expected to last over 14 years. The company
  has 38 oil refineries in 21 countries constituting a combined daily refining capacity of 6.3 million barrels.
  
  While it is the largest of the six oil supermajors[8] with daily production of 3.921 million BOE (barrels of oil equivalent) in 2008,[1] this is
  nly approximately 3% of world production and ExxonMobil's daily production is surpassed by several of the largest state-owned petroleum companies.
  When ranked by oil and gas reserves it is 14th in the world with less than 1% of the total.
  
  ExxonMobil has been accused by major scientific organizations of waging a misinformation campaign aiming to create uncertainty on the issue of global warming.
  
  Revenue: US$ 477.359 billion (2008)
  
  Net income: US$ 45.220 billion.
       
  Employees: 107,100 - December 31, 2007

   

• Read Close 31

  Eastman Kodak Company.

  

  Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE ticker: EK) — is a multinational American corporation which produces imaging and photographic materials
  and equipment.
  Web-Site: www.kodak.com.
  
  Headquartered in 343 State Street, Rochester, NY, USA.
  
  President and CEO — William C. Weldon
  
  Board: Richard S. Braddock, Martha Layne Collins, Timothy M. Donahue, Michael Hawley, William H. Hernandez, Durk I. Jager, Debra L.
  Lee, Delano E. Lewis, Paul H. O?Neill, Antonio M. Perez, Hector De J. Ruiz, Laura D?Andrea Tyson.
  
  Kodak's origins rest with Eastman Dry Plate Company, and the General Aristo Company, founded by inventor George Eastman and businessman
  Henry Strong in Rochester, and Jamestown New York. The General Aristo Company was formed in 1899 in Jamestown New York, with George Eastman as treasurer, and this company purchased the stock of American Aristotype Company. The Kodak company attained its name from the first simple roll film cameras produced by Eastman Dry Plate Company, known as the "Kodak" in its product line. The cameras proved such an enormous success that the word Kodak was incorporated into the company name. George Eastman registered the trademark Kodak on September 4, 1888. The Eastman Kodak Company was founded in 1892
  
  The company is incorporated in New Jersey but has its offices in Rochester, New York.[3] George Eastman, Kodak's founder, coined the advertising slogan, "You press the button, we do the rest.
  
       
    Net Income: US$ 676 Million (2007)
  
    Now the Company's stocks are not included into the DJIA