Procter & Gamble Co.
5/26/32 (in): $29
5/24/96: $90.375
Performance: 30,222%
DJIA Performance: 11,428%
Procter & Gamble, founded by soap maker James Gamble and candle maker William Procter in 1837, stuck to candles, glycerine, soap and oils in its early years. In 1879, the Cincinnati company had its first hot seller in Ivory soap, which the company assured consumers was "99 44/100% pure." Its next big hit was another perennial sizzler: Crisco. Tide detergent, introduced in 1946, is America's top seller in its category.
National Steel Corp.
11/20/35 (in): $82
6/1/59 (out): $91.125
Performance: 2,123%
DJIA Performance: 339%
National Steel was incorporated in 1929, as a merger of Weirton Steel, Great Lakes Steel and Hanna Iron Ore Co. After a restructuring, National Steel became a subsidiary of National Intergroup Inc. in 1983. Soon after, employees led a buyout of the Weirton Steel division. In 1984, NKK Corp. of Japan bought a controlling stake in National Steel.
Aluminum Co. Of America
6/1/59 (in): $90.875
5/24/96: $62.75
Performance: 729%
DJIA Performance: 796%
Incorporated in 1888 as Pittsburgh Reduction Co., Alcoa adopted its present name in 1907. The company's first offering: an aluminum teakettle. Today, Alcoa, based in Pittsburgh, is the world's biggest aluminum maker, with operations in 28 countries. But it also makes many nonaluminum products, including plastic bottle caps and electrical distribution systems for cars.
Owens-Illinois Glass Co.
6/1/59 (in): $87.50
3/12/87 (out): $60.25
Performance: 451%
DJIA Performance: 252%
This maker of glass containers was incorporated in 1907 as Owens Bottle Machine Corp., later changing its name to Owens-Illinois Glass, then simply Owens-Illinois Inc. The Toledo, Ohio, company was bought out in 1987 by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. It was taken public again in December 1991, with KKR retaining a 30% interest, and now trades on the New York Stock Exchange.
Swift & Co.
6/1/59 (in): $42.375
6/29/79 (out): $26.875
Performance: 59%
DJIA Performance: 31%
The food and chemical maker was incorporated in 1885, and changed its name to Esmark in 1973. Esmark was acquired by Beatrice Co. in 1984; Beatrice, in turn, was bought by KKR in 1986. In 1990, KKR sold Swift's meat line to ConAgra Inc., now the nation's largest independent food concern.
Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co.
8/9/76 (in): $76
5/24/96: $70.375
Performance: 270%
DJIA Performance: 486%
The diversified manufacturer was formed in 1902 by five businessmen who wanted to mine raw materials for grinding wheels. The business was almost a flop: At one point, salaries were paid out of the directors' pockets. Edgar B. Ober, a railroad freight agent, and Lucius P. Ordway, a plumbing-supply executive, bailed out the company and took over. From that point, 3M boomed. In 1925, it produced its first major innovation, masking tape: Two-tone paint jobs were in vogue for automobiles, and auto shops needed an easy way to block off sections of the car that had already been painted when applying the second color. Later, the company would venture into audio and video tape, as well as data storage for computers. Nearly 80 years after its founding, the St. Paul, Minn., firm introduced another product that has become nearly ubiquitous: Post-it notes.
Merck & Co.
6/29/79 (in): $67.50
5/24/96: $64.50
Performance: 1,620%
DJIA Performance: 584%
The progenitor of this drug maker was E. Merck, a German company with roots stretching back to the 17th century. In the early 1890s, it decided the best way to deal with a nagging problem in its U.S. operations--its labels were being put on other companies' drugs--was to send George Merck to the U.S. to open a branch of the company. Thus, Merck & Co. was founded in New York in 1891. During World War I, Merck was forced to sever its ties to its German sibling, but weathered the crisis. After World War II, the company went global again, merging in 1953 with Sharp & Dohme, a pharmaceutical maker with extensive overseas distribution networks. Now based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., Merck has such discoveries to its credit as vitamin B-12, cortisone and streptomycin.
American Express Co.
8/30/82 (in): $46
5/24/96: $47.375
Performance: 369%
DJIA Performance: 545%
American Express Co. was founded in 1850 as a joint-stock association, when Henry Wells merged Wells & Co. with other express carriers, Livingston & Fargo and Butterfield, Wasson & Co. (Wells and Fargo would found the bank that bears their name two years later.) In 1891, Marcellus Berry, an employee of the company, created the American Express Travelers Cheque. The American Express Card was launched in 1958, and American Express Co. was incorporated in 1965. It was placed in the DJIA in 1982.
Philip Morris Cos.
10/30/85 (in): $73.75
5/24/96: $103.50
Performance: 1,023%
DJIA Performance: 319%
Now among the world's largest consumer-product companies, Philip Morris started humbly in 1847 as a London tobacconist's shop owned by an entrepreneur of the same name. The firm made its first cigarettes in 1854; in 1901 it was appointed tobacconist for King Edward VII. A year later, the company acquired a sibling in the colonies: Gustav Eckmeyer, who had been Philip Morris's sole agent in the U.S. since 1872, formed Philip Morris & Co. in New York. In 1924, the company introduced one of its most famous brands, Marlboro cigarettes. Three decades later, the company acquired a large competitor, Benson & Hedges, and introduced the "snap-open" cigarette pack. Soon after, the company changed its name to Philip Morris Inc. In the 1980s, Philip Morris snapped up Kraft and General Foods, greatly broadening its consumer-product business. As part of a restructuring, Philip Morris Cos. became the holding company for its operations.
McDonald's Corp.
10/30/85 (in) $66.875
5/24/96: $49
Performance: 559%
DJIA Performance: 319%
In 1948, Dick and Mac McDonald started a drive-through hamburger shop in San Bernardino, Calif. Who knows how world culinary history might have been different if Ray Kroc, a milkshake-machine salesman, hadn't been impressed enough to buy franchise rights in 1954. Mr. Kroc opened his first McDonald's in 1955, in Des Plaines, Ill.--the site has since become a McDonald's museum--and bought out the brothers in 1961. In 1967, McDonald's invaded Canada; four years later, outlets appeared in Japan, Germany, Australia, Guam and the Netherlands. Today, McDonald's has 18,700 restaurants in 91 countries.
Boeing Co.
3/12/87 (in): $52.375
5/24/96: $83.875
Performance: 260%
DJIA Performance: 154%
See United Aircraft & Transport.
Caterpillar Inc.
5/6/91 (in): $49.75
5/24/96: $68.375
Performance: 175%
DJIA Performance: 96%
This heavy-equipment maker began as Caterpillar Tractor Co. in 1925, as a merger of C.L. Best Tractor Co. and Holt Manufacturing Co. Mr. Holt had introduced the "track" design for heavy-machinery wheels in 1904, and coined the name Caterpillar for his products. (His treads helped inspire the first tanks, used in World War I. Mr. Holt wasn't consulted on tank design, but did manufacture a good deal of equipment to haul artillery.) The company boomed during the Depression by selling tractors to the state farms of Russia, which were then embarking on a plan to mechanize agricultural production. Caterpillar also introduced its first diesel engines during that decade. The company, based in Peoria, Ill., is the largest maker of construction and earth-moving equipment in the world. Caterpillar dropped "Tractor" from its name in 1986, but continues to make agricultural tractors, as well as diesel and natural-gas engines.
Walt Disney Co.
5/6/91 (in): $122.25
5/24/96: $62.50
Performance: 104%
DJIA Performance: 96%
Founded as Disney Brothers Studio in 1923--by Walter E. and Roy O. Disney--the company was incorporated in 1938 as a consolidation of Walt Disney Productions, Walt Disney Enterprises, Disney Film Recording Co. and Liled Realty & Investment Co. Seventeen years later, after a string of hit films, the company opened Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif.; in 1971, Disney World opened near Orlando, Fla. The company embarked upon an extraordinary growth program under its new CEO, Michael Eisner, in 1984. In 1986, the company dropped "Productions" from its name and became simply Walt Disney Co. Disney reached a milestone in 1992: Its filmed-entertainment division became the first studio to earn over $500 million in a year. Earlier this year, the company acquired Capital Cities/ABC Inc. for $19 billion.
J.P. Morgan & Co.
5/6/91 (in): $54
5/24/96: $88.625
Performance: 64%
DJIA Performance: 96%
The roots of this investment firm stretch back to 1838 and George Peabody & Co., a London merchant bank that financed trade between Europe and the U.S. One of Mr. Peabody's partners was Junius Spencer Morgan, father of J.P. In 1861, J.P. founded J.P. Morgan & Co. in New York to act as an agent in bills of exchange for Peabody's firm. In 1935, banking laws forced the company to choose between commercial banking and securities underwriting; it opted for the former. Some employees, including three partners, withdrew from the company and formed an investment bank, Morgan Stanley & Co. J.P. Morgan & Co. incorporated in 1940, and in 1959 merged with Guaranty Trust Co. to form Morgan Guaranty Trust Co. A decade later, J.P. Morgan & Co. became the bank holding company for Morgan Guaranty, and in 1988, J.P. Morgan became the world-wide marketing name for all the Morgan companies, including Morgan Guaranty. |
