Two of Rupert Murdoch’s many problems are that nobody knows who will take over News Corp when he’s called down by the dark lord and that his daughter runs a media company that he doesn’t own.
In an attempt to solve both problems at one time, News Corp is in the final stages of talks to acquire Elisabeth Murdoch’s European television company Shine Group for somewhere around $700M. Elisabeth is reported to have the kind of drive that the old man is looking for. His other kids are getting passed over, though something tells me they can still live comfortably.
Visa – 60,000 cards were mailed by Bank of America to people in Fresno, CA. Visa allowed other banks to issue cards and eventually turned over control in 1970 to a consortium. In 2008 Visa was the largest IPO in US history ($17.9 billion).
UPS – UPS started as small delivery service and grew to be a package delivery company in Seattle when shoppers at Nordstrom and The Bon Marché wanted an easier way to get their purchases home.
Starbucks – You all know they got their start in a small store at the Pike Place market in Seattle. It was just a couple people who thought coffee desered better than the swill that the WWII vets were used to. And those better beans originally came from the Berkeley, CA coffee copmnay Peet’s Coffee and Tea. Peet is still pissed.
Williams-Sonoma – It was started by Charles Williams in Sonoma, CA. I’m still now sure how they got their name though.
