Directory
Anderson-Prichard Oil
The Anderson-Prichard Oil Company was originally founded in the late 1910s in Oklahoma, and served a major role in the oil and gas industry for over the next fifty years. After successful early petroleum oil discoveries in Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas, the corporation expanded quickly, building a large refinery in Cyril, Oklahoma. The company later went public in the 1940s and acquired Kanotex Refining in 1953. By 1955, the corporation was listed as a Fortune 500 company. In 1960, the companys assets were broken up and sold off for over $123 million. The assets were bought by a few different groups, including Occidental and Seagram corporations. One portion which included included the Anderson-Prichard marketing and distribution units was incorporated in Delaware as a completely new organization, named APCO Oil Corporation. The initial, family-owned company ceased existence in 1960, and APCO Oil was a completely different company.
Anthem
Anthem, Inc., is a provider of health insurance in the United States. It is the largest for-profit managed health care company in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. As of 2018, the company had approximately 40 million members.[2] Anthem is ranked 33rd on the Fortune 500.[3] Prior to 2014, it was named WellPoint, Inc.[4][5] The company was formed by the 2004 merger of WellPoint, based in California, and Anthem, based in Indianapolis, after both companies acquired several health insurance companies. The company operates as Anthem Blue Cross in California, where it has about 800,000 customers and is the largest health insurer. It operates as Empire BlueCross BlueShield in New York State and as Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in 10 states.
APCO Oil
APCO Oil Company was incorporated in 1960 in Delaware, at a time when external investors bought a portion of the respectable Oklahoma company, Anderson-Prichard Oil, obtaining its product marketing and distribution divisions. The company maintained gas stations from Oklahoma through nearby states until its dismantling in the late seventies, and its familiar brand name may still be seen sometimes on independent gas stations in rural Oklahoma and elsewhere.
Apple
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, that designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online services. It is considered one of the Big Four tech companies along with Amazon, Google, and Facebook.[6][7] The company's hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, the iPad tablet computer, the Mac personal computer, the iPod portable media player, the Apple Watch smartwatch, the Apple TV digital media player, the AirPods wireless earbuds and the HomePod smart speaker. Apple's software includes the macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS operating systems, the iTunes media player, the Safari web browser, the Shazam acoustic fingerprint utility, and the iLife and iWork creativity and productivity suites, as well as professional applications like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Xcode. Its online services include the iTunes Store, the iOS App Store, Mac App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV+, iMessage, and iCloud. Other services include Apple Store, Genius Bar, AppleCare, Apple Pay, Apple Pay Cash, and Apple Card. Apple was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in April 1976 to develop and sell Wozniak's Apple I personal computer, though Wayne sold his share back within 12 days. It was incorporated as Apple Computer, Inc., in January 1977, and sales of its computers, including the Apple II, grew quickly. Within a few years, Jobs and Wozniak had hired a staff of computer designers and had a production line. Apple went public in 1980 to instant financial success. Over the next few years, Apple shipped new computers featuring innovative graphical user interfaces, such as the original Macintosh in 1984, and Apple's marketing advertisements for its products received widespread critical acclaim. However, the high price of its products and limited application library caused problems, as did power struggles between executives. In 1985, Wozniak departed Apple amicably and remained an honorary employee,[8] while Jobs and others resigned to found NeXT.[9] As the market for personal computers expanded and evolved through the 1990s, Apple lost market share to the lower-priced duopoly of Microsoft Windows on Intel PC clones. The board recruited CEO Gil Amelio to what would be a 500-day charge for him to rehabilitate the financially troubled companyreshaping it with layoffs, executive restructuring, and product focus. In 1997, he led Apple to buy NeXT, solving the desperately failed operating system strategy and bringing Jobs back. Jobs pensively regained leadership status, becoming CEO in 2000. Apple swiftly returned to profitability under the revitalizing Think different campaign, as he rebuilt Apple's status by launching the iMac in 1998, opening the retail chain of Apple Stores in 2001, and acquiring numerous companies to broaden the software portfolio. In January 2007, Jobs renamed the company Apple Inc., reflecting its shifted focus toward consumer electronics, and launched the iPhone to great critical acclaim and financial success. In August 2011, Jobs resigned as CEO due to health complications, and Tim Cook became the new CEO. Two months later, Jobs died, marking the end of an era for the company. Apple is well known for its size and revenues. Its worldwide annual revenue totaled $265 billion for the 2018 fiscal year. Apple is the world's largest technology company by revenue and one of the world's most valuable companies. It is also the world's third-largest mobile phone manufacturer after Samsung and Huawei.[10] In August 2018, Apple became the first public U.S. company to be valued at over $1 trillion.[11][12] The company employs 123,000 full-time employees[13] and maintains 504 retail stores in 24 countries as of 2018.[14] It operates the iTunes Store, which is the world's largest music retailer. As of January 2018, more than 1.3 billion Apple products are actively in use worldwide.[15] The company also has a high level of brand loyalty and is ranked as the world's most valuable brand. However, Apple receives significant criticism regarding the labor practices of its contractors, its environmental practices and unethical business practices, including anti-competitive behavior, as well as the origins of source materials.
Archer Daniels Midland
The Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) is an American global food processing and commodities trading corporation, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.[2][3][4] The company operates more than 270 plants and 420 crop procurement facilities worldwide, where cereal grains and oilseeds are processed into products used in food, beverage, nutraceutical, industrial, and animal feed markets worldwide. It was named the world's most-admired food-production company by Fortune magazine for three consecutive years: 2009, 2010 and 2011.[5] ADM ranked No. 48 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[6] The company also provides agricultural storage and transportation services. The American River Transportation Company along with ADM Trucking, Inc., are subsidiaries of ADM.
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas.[5] It is the world's largest telecommunications company, the largest provider of mobile telephone services, and the largest provider of fixed telephone services in the United States through AT&T Communications. Since June 14, 2018, it is also the parent company of mass media conglomerate WarnerMedia, making it the world's largest media and entertainment company in terms of revenue.[6] As of 2018, AT&T is ranked #9 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[7] AT&T began its history as Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, a subsidiary of the Bell Telephone Company, founded by Alexander Graham Bell in 1877. The Bell Telephone Company evolved into American Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1885, which later rebranded as AT&T Corporation. The 1982 United States v. AT&T antitrust lawsuit resulted in the divestiture of AT&T Corporation's ("Ma Bell") subsidiaries or Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), commonly referred to as "Baby Bells", resulting in several independent companies, including Southwestern Bell Corporation; the latter changed its name to SBC Communications Inc. in 1995. In 2005, SBC purchased its former parent AT&T Corporation and took on its branding, with the merged entity naming itself AT&T Inc. and using its iconic logo and stock-trading symbol. In 2006, AT&T Inc. acquired BellSouth, the last independent Baby Bell company, making their formerly joint venture Cingular Wireless (which had acquired AT&T Wireless in 2004) wholly owned and rebranding it as AT&T Mobility. The current AT&T reconstitutes much of the former Bell System, and includes ten of the original 22 Bell Operating Companies along with the original long distance division.
Au Bon Pain
Au Bon Pain is a fast casual restaurant, bakery, and café chain operating 175 locations in the U.S., and Thailand. The company is currently owned by AMPEX Brands. Au Bon Pain serves baked goods such as bread, pastries, croissants, and bagels as well as tea, coffee and espresso beverages, breakfast foods such as egg sandwiches, and lunch items such as soup, salads, and sandwiches. The company also offers catering services.