Directory
Bank of America
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 operatesbut does not necessarily maintain retail branchesin 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.
Berkshire Hathaway
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
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.