AutoNation is an American automotive retailer, which provides new and pre-owned vehicles and associated services in the United States.[3] The company was founded by Wayne Huizenga in 1996, and has more than 360 retail outlets.[4] Based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the company’s Chief Executive Officer is Cheryl Miller who abruptly replaced Carl Liebert III.[5] on July 23, 2019.

Avery Dennison Corporation is a global manufacturer and distributor of pressure-sensitive adhesive materials (such as self-adhesive labels), apparel branding labels and tags, RFID inlays, and specialty medical products. The company is a member of the Fortune 500 and is headquartered in Glendale, California.

Avnet, Inc. is one of the world’s largest distributors of electronic components and embedded solutions[buzzword] and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Although the corporation’s products have been an important part of computer networking, the corporate name is neither an acronym nor a coined word, and dates from nearly a century ago, when it was founded by Charles Avnet in 1921. After its start on Manhattan’s Radio Row, the company became incorporated in 1955 and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1961. On May 8, 2018 Avnet officially changed stock markets to Nasdaq,[4] trading under the same ticker, $AVT. Avnet currently ranks #128[5] on the Fortune 500 and #414[6] on the Fortune Global 500, reporting FY 2017 revenues of $22.87 billion.[7] Avnet has purchased a number of companies to broaden their reach in ecosystem services including Hackster.io, Dragon Innovation, and UK based Premier Farnell.

Baker Hughes Co. (BHGE) is an international industrial service company and one of the world’s largest oil field services companies. It operates in more than 120 countries, providing the oil and gas industry with products and services for oil drilling, formation evaluation, completion, production and reservoir consulting. Baker Hughes Co. is organized in Delaware and headquartered in Houston.[1] It is 38.4% owned by General Electric.

The Bank of America Corporation (abbreviated as BofA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina, with central hubs in New York City, London, Hong Kong, Minneapolis, and Toronto. Bank of America was formed through NationsBank’s acquisition of BankAmerica in 1998. It is the second largest banking institution in the United States, after JPMorgan Chase. As a part of the Big Four, it services approximately 10.73% of all American bank deposits, in direct competition with Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and JPMorgan Chase. Its primary financial services revolve around commercial banking, wealth management, and investment banking. One branch of its history stretches back to Bank of Italy, founded by Amadeo Pietro Giannini in 1904, which provided Italian immigrants who faced service discrimination various banking options.[3] Originally headquartered in San Francisco, California, Giannini acquired Banca d’America e d’Italia (Bank of America and Italy) in 1922. The passage of landmark federal banking legislation facilitated rapid growth in the 1950s, quickly establishing a prominent market share. After suffering a significant loss after the 1998 Russian bond default, BankAmerica, as it was then known, was acquired by the Charlotte-based NationsBank for US$62 billion. Following what was then the largest bank acquisition in history, the Bank of America Corporation was founded. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, it built upon its commercial banking business by establishing Merrill Lynch for wealth management and Bank of America Merrill Lynch for investment banking in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Since both divisions carry the “Merrill Lynch” signage, the former is often referred to as “Merrill Lynch Wealth Management” to differentiate itself from the latter.[4] Both Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management retain large market shares in their respective offerings. The investment bank is considered within the “Bulge Bracket” as the third largest investment bank in the world, as of 2018.[5] Its wealth management side manages US$1.081 trillion in assets under management (AUM) as the second largest wealth manager in the world, after UBS.[6] In commercial banking, Bank of America operates—but does not necessarily maintain retail branches—in all 50 states of the United States, the District of Columbia and more than 40 other countries.[7] Its commercial banking footprint encapsulates 46 million consumer and small business relationships at 4,600 banking centers and 15,900 automated teller machines (ATMs). The bank’s large market share, business activities, and economic impact has led to numerous lawsuits and investigations regarding both mortgages and financial disclosures dating back to the 2008 financial crisis. Its corporate practices of servicing the middle class and wider banking community has yielded a substantial market share since the early 20th century. As of August 2018, Bank of America has a $313.5 billion market capitalization, making it the 13th largest company in the world. As the sixth largest American public company, it garnered $102.98 billion in sales as of June 2018.[8] Bank of America was ranked #24 on the 2018 Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[9] Bank of America was named the “World’s Best Bank” by the Euromoney Institutional Investor in their 2018 Awards for Excellence.

Baxter International Inc. is an American health care company with headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois. The company primarily focuses on medical products for treating hemophilia, kidney disease, immune disorders and other chronic and acute medical conditions. The company had 2017 sales of $10.6 billion, across two businesses: BioScience and Medical Products. Baxter’s BioScience business produces recombinant and blood plasma proteins to treat hemophilia and other bleeding disorders; plasma-based therapies to treat immune deficiencies and other chronic and acute blood-related conditions; products for regenerative medicine, and vaccines. Baxter’s Medical Products business produces intravenous products and other products used in the delivery of fluids and drugs to patients; inhalational anaesthetics; contract manufacturing services; and products to treat end-stage renal disease, or irreversible kidney failure, including products for peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) is an American medical technology company that manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems, and reagents. BD also provides consulting and analytics services in certain geographies. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, BD employs nearly 76,000 people in more than 50 countries throughout the world.[2] In the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, 60% of BD sales were generated from non-U.S. markets. The company’s customers include health care institutions, science researchers, clinical laboratories, the pharmaceutical industry, and the general public. BD was one of the first companies to sell U.S.-made glass syringes. It was also a pioneer in the production of hypodermic needles. Today, BD is divided into two segments: BD Medical and BD Life Sciences.[3] BD is ranked #251 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list.[4] The firm in October 2014 agreed to acquire CareFusion for a price of $12.2 billion in cash and stock.[5] In April 2017 Becton Dickinson agreed to acquire C. R. Bard for $24 billion.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. The company wholly owns GEICO, Duracell, Dairy Queen, BNSF, Lubrizol, Fruit of the Loom, Helzberg Diamonds, Long & Foster, FlightSafety International, Pampered Chef, and NetJets, and also owns 38.6% of Pilot Flying J;[3] 26.7% of the Kraft Heinz Company, and significant minority holdings in American Express (17.6%), Wells Fargo (9.9%), The Coca-Cola Company (9.4%), Bank of America (6.8%), and Apple (5.22%).[4] Since 2016, the company has acquired large holdings in the major US airline carriers, and is currently the largest shareholder in United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, and a top three shareholder in Southwest Airlines and American Airlines.[5] Berkshire Hathaway has averaged an annual growth in book value of 19.0% to its shareholders since 1965 (compared to 9.7% from the S&P 500 with dividends included for the same period), while employing large amounts of capital, and minimal debt.[6] The company is known for its control and leadership by Warren Buffett, who serves as chairman and chief executive, and Charlie Munger, the company’s vice-chairman. In the early part of his career at Berkshire, Buffett focused on long-term investments in publicly traded companies, but more recently he has more frequently bought whole companies. Berkshire now owns a diverse range of businesses including confectionery, retail, railroads, home furnishings, encyclopedias, manufacturers of vacuum cleaners, jewelry sales, newspaper publishing, manufacture and distribution of uniforms, and several regional electric and gas utilities. According to the Forbes Global 2000 list and formula, Berkshire Hathaway is the third largest public company in the world, the tenth largest conglomerate by revenue and the largest financial services company by revenue in the world.[7][8][9] As of February 2019, Berkshire is the fifth-largest company in the S&P 500 Index by market capitalization and is famous for having the most expensive share price in history with Class A shares costing around $300,000 each. This is because there has never been a stock split in its Class A shares[10] and Buffett stated in a 1984 letter to shareholders that he does not intend to split the stock.

Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. It was originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966[2] as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music. In 1983, it was re-branded under its current name with an emphasis placed on consumer electronics. Best Buy operates internationally in Canada and Mexico, and formerly operated in China until February 2011 (when the faction was merged with Five Star). The company also operated in Europe until 2012.[3] Its subsidiaries include Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, and Pacific Sales. Best Buy also operates the Best Buy Mobile and Insignia brands in North America, plus Five Star in China.[3] Best Buy sells cellular phones from Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, Sprint Corporation[4] in the United States. In Canada, carriers include Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless, Telus Mobility, their fighter brands, and competing smaller carriers, such as SaskTel. Best Buy was named “Company of the Year” by Forbes magazine in 2004,[5] “Specialty Retailer of the Decade” by Discount Store News in 2001,[6] ranked in the Top 10 of “America’s Most Generous Corporations” by Forbes in 2005 (based on 2004 giving),[7] made Fortune magazine’s list of “Most Admired Companies” in 2006.[8] and “The Most Sustainable Company in the United States” by Barron’s in 2019.[9] Hubert Joly is executive chairman of Best Buy, having been succeeded as CEO by Corie Barry in June 2019.[10][11][12] According to Yahoo! Finance, Best Buy is the largest specialty retailer in the United States consumer electronics retail industry.[13] The company ranked No. 72 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.

Biogen Inc. (previously known as Biogen Idec) is an American multinational biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializing in the discovery, development, and delivery of therapies for the treatment of neurodegenerative, hematologic, and autoimmune diseases to patients worldwide.