GREATEST ENTREPRENEURS OF ALL TIME HENRY FORD

GREATEST ENTREPRENEURS OF ALL TIME

HENRY FORD 1863 -1947 • Founder of Ford Motor Company • Father of modern assembly lines • Introduced the Model T automobile – produced in only the color black for years) • He created a franchise system that put a Ford dealership in every city in North America, and in major cities on six continents.

John D. Rockefeller 1839 -1937 • Single most important figure in the foundation of the oil industry. • Founded Standard Oil Company & controlled 90% of the country’s refined oil by the 1890 s. • Became richest man in the world. • Split company into 38 companies two which became Exxon & Mobil.

Charles Swab 1937 • Discount brokerage business • Introduced ecommerce investing – allowing clients to execute, buy and sell orders online

J. P. MORGAN 1837 -1913 • Reorganized public utilities & steel industries • He recognized the importance of strong character & reputation in business • Regarded as the most important banker to ever live

AMADEO GIANNINI 1870 -1949 • Started a bank catering to the needs of working families • Bank of Italy introduced branch banking, home mortgages, automotive loans. • Bank of Italy later became known as Bank of America.

CHARLES MERRILL 1885 -1956 • Founded Merrill Lynch in 1939 • Taught middle-class Americans about the stock market • Held seminars nationwide for couples

MARTHA STEWART 1941 • Author, caterer, publisher, & TV personality.

DAVID SARNOFF 1891 -1971 • Created the National Broadcasting Company (NBC)

OPRAH WINFREY 1954 • CNN calls her the world’s most powerful woman • Time magazine calls her one of the most influential persons of the 20 th century. • HARPO production company • 1 st woman billionaire

GEORGE EASTMAN 1854 -1932 • Created the film roll • Created the Eastman’s Kodak Brownie & sold it for $1 • Made possible for average people to create their own Kodak moments

STEVE JOBS 1955 • CEO of Apple • Sold more than 110 million i. Pods and 4 billion songs from its i. Tunes online store. • Entered the cell phone market with the new i. Phone. • Also founded Pixar Animation Studios which he later sold to Disney

THOMAS EDISON 1847 -1931 • Light bulb • Phonograph • Motion picture projector

BILL GATES 1955 • Ranked by Forbes magazine as the richest person in the world for 13 years • Net worth of $60 billion • Microsoft

ESTEE LAUDER 1908 -2004 • Started with skin creams • Sold them at Saks Fifth Avenue • Created cosmetics • Give gift bags to customers full of samples (free gift still done today)

ASA CANDLER 1851 -1929 • Created Coca-Cola • Example of what works in marketing

W. K. KELLOGG 1860 -1951 • Created the first toasted wheat flake cereal • Differentiated his product with a clever slogan “Beware of Imitations. None Genuine Without This Signature. W. K. Kellogg. ”

MILTON HERSHEY 1857 - 1945 • Hershey milk chocolate candy bar • He built a town around his factory which included schools, public transportation, parks and recreation. • The town is named Hershey, Pennsylvania.

EBERHARD ANHEUSER & ADOLPHUS BUSCH • First American brewery to introduce pasteurization, allowing beer to be bottled & shipped to new markets for consumption. • Responsible for about half of U. S. beer sales

RAY KROC • Largest chain of fast-food restaurants, serving more than 54 million customers daily. • Perfected processes & imposed such discipline that food purchased in any of his restaurants would taste exactly the same as the food purchased at any of the other locations.

HARLAND SANDERS • Set about selling his secret-recipe chicken door-to-door to restaurant owners. • KFC became an international franchise.

JUAN TRIPPE • Founded Pan American • Believed international airline travel was something to be enjoyed by everyone, not just the rich. • Introduced “tourist class” fare from New York to London.

HERB KELLEHER • Pioneering low-cost, no-frills airline. • Airline known for campy antics- flight attendants singing, pilots telling jokes. • He believed happy employees make better employees.

WILLIAM HARLEY & ARTHUR DAVIDSON • The only U. S. made motorcycle today • $6. 14 billion sales in 2007.

FRED W. SMITH 1944 • Purchased planes so that packages could be delivered faster. • Fed. Ex moves 6 million packages worldwide every day & has expanded into print and copy services with the acquisition of Kinkos.

SAM WALTON 1918 -1992 • Wal-mart • “Low-prices every day” • Walmart netted sales of $348. 6 billion in 2007 • Largest retailer in the world.

RALPH LAUREN 1939 • Instead of selling just clothes, he sold a lifestyle. • He sold the romanticized lives of the people who wear the clothes – the look of success. • Offered luxury at all price points.

LEVI STRAUSS 1829 -1902 • Most recognized product all over the world – Levis. • World’s first jeans. • Spawned an entirely new fashion movement.

PHIL KNIGHT 1938 • Founder of Nike • Made athletic shoes sexy with slick advertising campaigns & celebrityathlete endoresements. • “You can’t explain much in 60 seconds, but when you show Michael Jordan, you don’t have to. ”

P. T. BARNUM 1810 -1891 • Produced the “Greatest Show on Earth” • His entrepreneurial talents was in attracting publicity with handbills & billboards.

LOUIS B. MAYER 1885 -1957 • Created Metro. Goldwyn-Mayer studios. • Built MGM studios into one of the most financially successful studios in the world.

WALT DISNEY 1901 -1966 • Despite many failures, kept his nearly obsessive focus on building his growing movie studio, making quality animated films and ultimately creating “the happiest place on earth” – Disneyland in California.

GEORGE LUCAS 1944 • Understood the potential value of merchandising & sequel rights • $13. 5 billion in Star Wars memorabilia sales since 1977.

WILLIAM BECKER & PAUL GREENE • Affordable family lodging • $6 a night no matter the location

J. W. MARRIOTT JR 1932 • International hotel chain • Expanded into other brands ranging from limited-service to fullservice luxury hotels & resorts.

CONRAD HILTON SR. 1887 -1979 • Founded the first coast-to-coast hotel chain in 1943. • First international hotel brand in 1949. • Billion-dollar international empire.

JEFF BEZOS 1964 • Began as an online bookstore. • Founder of Amazon. com • Customers can purchase almost anything- books, music, clothing, jewelry, and, most recently, wine.

PIERRE OMIDYAR 1967 • Founder of Ebay • Made the Internet personal again by connecting buyers with sellers of collectable items.

LARRY PAGE & SERGEY BRIN 1973 • Stanford graduates – they set out to create a better way to search the Web. • Formed Google in 1998. • Google is on the top of Fortune magazines top places to work. • Brin & Page are among the wealthiest men alive.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 1706 -1790 • America’s original entrepreneur • Pennsylvania Gazette & Poor Richard’s Almanac the most successful publications in the country. • His printing operations were so successful he franchised printing in other cities. • He set up a wholesale paper business.

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