Starbucks Corporation

Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee company and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 19,555 stores in 58 countries, including 12,811 in the United States, 1,248 in Canada, 965 in Japan, 766 in Great Britain, 580 in China and 420 in South Korea.Starbucks sells drip brewed coffee, espresso-based hot drinks, other hot and cold drinks, coffee beans, salads, hot and cold sandwiches and panini, sweet pastries, snacks, and items such as mugs and tumblers. Through the Starbucks Entertainment division and Hear Music brand, the company also markets books, music, and film. Many of the company's products are seasonal or specific to the locality of the store. Starbucks-brand ice cream and coffee are also offered at grocery stores.From Starbucks' founding in later forms in Seattle as a local coffee bean roaster and retailer, the company has expanded rapidly. In the 1990s, Starbucks was opening a new store every workday, a pace that continued into the 2000s. The first store outside the United States or Canada opened in the mid-1990s, and overseas stores now constitute almost one third of Starbucks' stores. The company planned to open a net of 900 new stores outside of the United States in 2009,but has announced 300 store closures in the United States since 2008.The first Starbucks opened in Seattle, Washington, on March 30, 1971 by three partners: English teacher Jerry Baldwin, history teacher Zev Siegl, and writer Gordon Bowker. The three were inspired by entrepreneur Alfred Peet (whom they knew personally) to sell high-quality coffee beans and equipment.The name is taken from Moby-Dick; after the name Pequod was rejected by the other co-founders. The company was instead named after the chief mate on the Pequod, Starbuck.From 1971–1976, the first Starbucks was at 2000 Western Avenue; it then was relocated to 1912 Pike Place, where it remains to this day. During their first year of operation, they purchased green coffee beans from Peet's, then began buying directly from growers.

Net income $ 945.6 million (2010)

Total assets $ 6.38 billion (2010)

Viacom

Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American global mass media company with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television. As of 2010, it is the world's fourth-largest media conglomerate, behind The Walt Disney Company, Time Warner and News Corporation. Viacom is owned in majority by National Amusements, Inc., a privately owned theater company based in Dedham, Massachusetts, USA. National Amusement holds another controlling stake in CBS Corporation.

The current Viacom was created on December 31, 2005 as a spinoff from CBS Corporation, which changed its name from Viacom to CBS at the same time. CBS, not Viacom, retains control of the over-the-air broadcasting, TV production, outdoor advertising, subscription pay television (Showtime) and publishing assets (Simon & Schuster) formerly owned by the larger company. However, Sumner Redstone through National Amusements, retains majority control of Viacom. Predecessor firms of Viacom include Gulf+Western, which later became Paramount Communications Inc., and Westinghouse Electric Corporation.

Comprising BET Networks, MTV Networks, and Paramount Pictures, Viacom connects with audiences through television, motion pictures, mobile platforms and online in more than 160 countries and territories. Viacom operates approximately 170 media networks reaching more than 600 million global subscribers and more than 500 branded digital media properties.

In March 2005, the prior Viacom announced plans of looking into splitting the company into two publicly traded companies. The company was not only dealing with a stagnating stock price, but also the rivalry between Leslie Moonves and Tom Freston, longtime heads of MTV Networks. In addition, the company was facing issues after MTV was banned from producing any more Super Bowl halftime shows after the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy in 2004.

After the departure of Mel Karmazin in 2004, Sumner Redstone, who served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, decided to split the offices of President and Chief Operating Officer between Moonves and Freston. Redstone was set to retire in the near future, and a split was seen as a creative solution to the matter of replacing him. It was also intended to provide alternative investments that would be more appealing to different investors – one a high cash flow, lower growth company that could afford to pay a substantial dividend and the other a growing company that would have greater investment opportunities and therefore would not be expected to pay a dividend.

A new company, the present Viacom, was created and was headed by Freston. It comprises BET Networks, MTV Networks, and Paramount Pictures Corporation.

Profit 2.136 billion (2011)

PNC Financial Services

PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. is a U.S.-based financial services corporation, with assets (as of December 31, 2011) of approximately $271.205 billion.PNC operations include a regional banking franchise operating primarily in nineteen states and the District of Columbia, specialized financial businesses serving companies and government entities, and leading Turnkey Asset Management Program and processing businesses.

PNC is currently the seventh largest bank by deposits in the United States, as well as the sixth largest by total assets, fifth in total branches,and is the third largest bank off-premise ATM provider.PNC is based in Pittsburgh.

PNC Financial Services traces its history to the Pittsburgh Trust and Savings Company which was founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1852. In 1858, the company located its corporate offices at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Wood Street in Pittsburgh where they remain to this day. The bank changed its name to First National Bank of Pittsburgh in 1863, after it became the first bank to receive a national charter as part of that year's National Banking Act.

By 1959, after a series of mergers, the bank had evolved into the Pittsburgh National Corporation. Another branch of the current bank, the Philadelphia based Provident National Corporation, dates back to the mid-19th century.

In 1982, Pittsburgh National Corporation and Provident National Corporation merged into a new entity named PNC Financial Corporation.Between 1991 and 1996, PNC purchased over ten smaller banks and financial institutions that broadened its market base from Kentucky to the Greater New York metropolitan area.In 2005, PNC acquired Washington, D.C. based Riggs Bank.PNC completed the acquisition of Maryland-based Mercantile Bankshares on March 2, 2007. On June 7, 2007, PNC announced the acquisition of Yardville National Bancorp, a small commercial bank centered in central New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. The transaction was completed in March 2008. On July 19, 2007, PNC announced the acquisition of Sterling Financial Corporation, a commercial and consumer bank with accounts and branches in central Pennsylvania, northeastern Maryland and Delaware. The transaction was also completed in 2008.

Net income $ 3.071 billion (2011)

BlackRock

BlackRock Inc. is an American multinational investment management corporation and the world's largest asset manager.Headquartered in New York City, BlackRock is a leading provider of investment, advisory, and risk management solutions. The company acquired Barclays Global Investors in December 2009, solidifying its position as the largest investment manager in the world.As of June 2011, the company has over $3.65 trillion in assets under management. The name is officially spelled in CamelCase.Founded in 1988, initially offering fixed income products, BlackRock has become a financial powerhouse while remaining out of the public eye. According to Ralph Schlosstein, CEO of Evercore Partners, a NY-based investment bank: “BlackRock today is one of, if not the, most influential financial institutions in the world.BlackRock serves clients in 60 countries, maintaining a major presence in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. It has offices in San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Princeton, Wilmington, London, Zurich, Paris, Frankfurt, São Paulo, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing, Sydney, Dubai, and various other cities.BlackRock has approximately 10,100 employees, including more than 700 investment professionals worldwide.In 1988, Laurence Fink (or as he is called, Larry Fink) and Robert S. Kapito left First Boston to found a company that would provide clients with asset management services from a risk management perspective. Initially, BlackRock was under the umbrella of The Blackstone Group and called Blackstone Financial Management.Larry Fink joined Blackstone in 1988 as a partner, along with Ralph Schlosstein, former White House aide in the Carter administration, Robert S. Kapito, Bennett Golub, Barbara Novick, Susan Wagner, Keith Anderson and Hugh Frater. Before joining Blackstone, Fink, Kapito, Golub, and Novick worked together at First Boston. As Managing Director at First Boston, Fink and his team pioneered the mortgage-backed securities market in the United States. Larry Fink holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.The original founders of BlackRock were Laurence Fink, Ralph Schlosstein, Robert S. Kapito, Susan Wagner, Bennett Golub, Barbara Novick, Keith Anderson, and Hugh Frater. Blackstone Financial Management wound up changing its name to BlackRock Financial Management a few years later to reduce potential confusion with other Blackstone Group affiliates as well as to reduce the need for certain corporate governance restrictions that had been placed on it by The Blackstone Group.In 1992, Steve Schwarzman thought BlackRock had peaked at $100 billion in assets under management. He wanted to cash out.The BlackRock team spun out of Blackstone and became an independent financial services firm. Larry Fink cut a deal with the PNC Financial Services Group when they purchased 70% of BlackRock. Subsequently, PNC contributed a number of its other asset management subsidiaries into BlackRock which then consolidated the various entities into an integrated asset management firm. In 1999, with $165 billion in assets under management, the firm went public although PNC remained its dominant shareholder.BlackRock grew organically, through lift-outs  and their first acquisition was on January 28, 2005 when they purchased State Street Research Management, a mutual-fund business that had previously been owned by MetLife. This acquisition added a sizable equity business to BlackRock's funds. On September 29, 2006, BlackRock completed its merger with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM), halving PNC's ownership and giving Merrill Lynch a 49.5-percent stake in the company. On October 1, 2007, BlackRock acquired the fund-of-funds business of Quellos Capital Management. On April 30, 2009, BlackRock hired 43 employees from R3 Capital Management, LLC and took control of the $1.5 billion fund.BlackRock Financial Management Inc. has been retained by the New York Fed to manage and eventually liquidate the assets held in a newly formed Delaware limited liability company (LLC) to fund the purchase of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) from the securities lending portfolio of several regulated U.S. insurance subsidiaries of AIG. BlackRock fund is currently the largest shareholder of Apple Inc., owning 5.5%, valued at more than $15 billion.In December 2009, the company acquired Barclays Global Investors (BGI), giving it control of the iShares system. The division formerly branded BGI is headquartered in San Francisco, and also has research and portfolio management teams in London, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, and other cities, as well as client service offices in several additional major financial centres in Europe, North America, and Asia.After the close of trading, on Friday, April 1, 2011 BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) replaced Genzyme (NASDAQ:GENZ) on the S&P 500 index.

Net income  $ 2.337 billion (2011)

Aum $ 3.513 trillion (2011)

Henkel

Henkel is a multinational personal care company headquartered in Düsseldorf,North Rhine-Westphalia,Germany.The company operates in three business areas: Home Care (with household cleaning products such as laundry detergent and dishwashing liquid),Personal Care (with beauty and oral care products such as shampoo, toothpaste, hair colorants and shower products like Dial Soap and Right Guard), and Adhesives, Sealants & Surface Treatment for consumer and industrial purposes.With presence in 125 countries on five continents, Henkel engages in the majority of its business within Europe and North America.

History

The company was founded in 1876 in Aachen as Henkel & Cieby Fritz Henkel (a 28 year-old merchant who was interested in science) and two more partners. They marketed his first product, "Universalwaschmittel", a universal detergent based on silicate.In 1878, to take advantage of the better transport links and sales opportunities, Henkel relocated his company to Düsseldorf on the Rhine (its present site). Düsseldorf was the gateway to the Ruhr region, which became the most important industrial area of the German Empire from the 19th century onward. That year, the first German brand-name detergent appeared: Henkel's Bleich-Soda [Bleaching Soda], an affordably-priced product supplied in sturdy paper bags. Made from water-glass and soda, it was the result of Fritz Henkel's own research. The soda was obtained from Matthes & Weber in Duisburg (Henkel bought this company in 1917 and sold it in 1994).In 1879 Fritz Henkel was entered as the sole owner in the register of companies. Sales of Henkel's Bleaching Soda increased so rapidly that within just one year the rented factory on the Schützenstraße in Düsseldorf was unable to meet the demand. Fritz Henkel decided to build his own factory with a railway link.In 1883 to improve liquidity and make better use of the Company's travelling sales staff, Fritz Henkel decided to sell merchandise in addition to his detergents. Sales started in 1884. The range included the colorant ultramarine [laundry bluing agent], gloss starch, a liquid cleaning agent, a pomade for cleaning, beef extract, and a hair pomade. Very soon Henkel developed its international presence—in 1886, Henkel opened its first international sales office in Austria. Carl Pathe had gone to Vienna as a representative the year before. In 1893 Henkel established its first business links with England and Italy.In 1903, Schwarzkopf founded by Hans Schwarzkopf (1874–1921) launched a powder shampoo. Persil came in 1907 as the first “self-acting laundry detergent”.Henkel has been a family-run business since the beginning. In 1893, Fritz Henkel, Jr. (1875–1930) joined the firm as an apprentice. After receiving commercial training he became his father's right-hand man in commercial matters. He put Henkel's brand-name product business on a sound footing, developed its already successful advertising still further and was responsible for the Company's field service. On July 25, 1904, he became a partner in Henkel, which was transformed into a general commercial partnership. By this time, 110 people were employed at the Holthausen site. On April 25, 1905 Dr. Hugo Henkel (1881–1952), the youngest son of Fritz Henkel, Sr., joined the Company as a chemist. He was in charge of Chemical Products and Technology. Over the years, he laid the foundations of systematic research and introduced advanced technologies and new raw materials. In 1908, he became a personally liable partner in the Company.In 1912 total production in Düsseldorf-Holthausen rose to 49,890 tons. At 19,750 tons, Persil laundry detergent accounted for 40 percent of this, just five years after its market launch. The number of employees increased by 89 relative to the previous year, resulting in a total workforce of 1,024. Around half were female. A first-aid center was set up in the plant and a full-time nurse was employed. In the previous year Henkel had installed ball fields and play areas to encourage exercise during break times. Female employees could attend the plant's own housekeeping school during the lunch break.On January 11, 1923, troops from France and Belgium occupied the Rhineland. The occupation made delivery of adhesives from suppliers used for the packaging of Persil unreliable. The disruption caused Henkel to internally manufacture adhesives for its own needs. Henkel found there was a demand for adhesives on the market, and on June 22, 1923, the first adhesive shipment left the plant.During World War II, foreign civilians and prisoners of war were working for the company. Henkel was part of a large-scale restitution settlement.On April 16, 1945 American troops occupied Henkel's Düsseldorf site. On June 5, the British military command in Düsseldorf took over from the Americans. From July 20, the British military government gradually granted permission for the production of adhesives, P3 and water-glass by Henkel, and for soaps and detergents as well as shoe polish by Thompson. In February, 1946, Matthes & Weber in Duisburg was given permission to process available raw materials into soda. On September 20, 1945, five members of the Henkel family and another seven members of the Management Board and the Supervisory Board were interned.In 1949 the launch of Schauma shampoo by Schwarzkopf marked the start of the most successful German shampoos.In 1954, Henkel-subsidiary Dreiring launched Fa soap, a new type of toilet soap. From 1970 onward it was joined by a series of Fa deodorants, shower gels and bubble baths, making Fa one of the best known umbrella brands in the toiletry sector.Pritt, the world's first glue stick, made its debut in 1969. Over the years, other products were introduced under this brand, underlining Henkel's importance in theoffice and stationery supplies sector. Exports of Pritt began in the same year, eventually making this Henkel's most widespread global brand. Vernel fabric softener and enzyme-based bioactive Persil 70 appeared.

Net income $ 1.118 billion (2010)

Android

Android is a Linux-based operating system for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. It is developed by the Open Handset Alliance, led by Google, and other companies.Google purchased the initial developer of the software, Android Inc., in 2005. The unveiling of the Android distribution in 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 86 hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices.

 Google releases the Android code as open-source, under the Apache License.The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is tasked with the maintenance and further development of Android.Android has a large community of developers writing applications ("apps") that extend the functionality of the devices. Developers write primarily in a customized version of Java. Apps can be downloaded from third-party sites or through online stores such as Google Play (formerly Android Market), the app store run by Google. In October 2011, there were more than 500,000 apps available for Android, and the estimated number of applications downloaded from the Android Market as of December 2011 exceeded 10 billion.

Android was listed as the best-selling smartphone platform worldwide in Q4 2010 by Canalyswith over 300 million Android devices in use by February 2012.According to Google's Andy Rubin, as of December 2011, there were over 700,000 Android devices activated every day.Android, Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California, United States in October, 2003 by Andy Rubin (co-founder of Danger), Rich Miner (co-founder of Wildfire Communications, Inc.),Nick Sears (once VP at T-Mobile),and Chris White (headed design and interface development at WebTV)to develop, in Rubin's words "...smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its owner's location and preferences".Despite the obvious past accomplishments of the founders and early employees, Android Inc. operated secretly, revealing only that it was working on software for mobile phones.That same year, Rubin ran out of money. Steve Perlman, a close friend of Rubin, brought him $10,000 in cash in an envelope and refused a stake in the company

Motorola

Motorola, Inc.  was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009.Motorola Solutions is generally considered to be the direct successor to Motorola, Inc., as the reorganization was structured with Motorola Mobility being spun off.

Motorola designed and sold wireless network infrastructure equipment such as cellular transmission base stations and signal amplifiers. Motorola's home and broadcast network products included set-top boxes, digital video recorders, and network equipment used to enable video broadcasting, computer telephony, and high-definition television. Its business and government customers consisted mainly of wireless voice and broadband systems (used to build private networks), and, public safety communications systems like Astro and Dimetra. These businesses (except for set-top boxes and cable modems) are now part of Motorola Solutions.

Motorola's wireless telephone handset division was a pioneer in cellular telephones. Known as the Personal Communication Sector (PCS) prior to 2004, it pioneered the "flip phone" with the MicroTAC—and, the "clam phone" with the StarTAC -- in the mid-1990s. It had staged an enormously successful resurgence by the mid-2000s with the RAZR; but, lost significant market share in the second half of that decade. Lately, it has focused on smartphones using Google's open-source Android mobile operating system. The first phone to use the newest version of Google's open source OS, Android 2.0, was released on November 2, 2009 as the Motorola Droid (the GSM version launched a month later, in Europe, as the Motorola Milestone). The handset division, (along with cable set-top boxes and cable modems) has since then been spun off into the independent Motorola Mobility. On May 22, 2012, Google CEO Larry Page announced that Google closed on its deal to acquire Motorola Mobility.

Visa Inc

Visa Inc.  is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered on 595 Market Street,Financial District in San Francisco, California, United States, although much of the company's staff is based in Foster City, California. It facilitateselectronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded credit card and debit cards. Visa does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers; rather, Visa provides financial institutions with Visa-branded payment products that they then use to offer credit, debit, prepaid and cash-access programs to their customers. In 2008, according to The Nilson Report, Visa held a 38.3% market share of the credit card marketplace and 60.7% of the debit card marketplace in the United States. In 2009, Visa’s global network (known as VisaNet) processed 62 billion transactions with a total volume of $4.4 trillion.

Visa has operations across Asia-Pacific, North America, Central and South America, Caribbean, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and Middle East. Visa Europe is a separate membership entity that is an exclusive licensee of Visa Inc.'s trademarks and technology in the European region, issuing cards such as Visa Debit.

In mid-September 1958, Bank of America (BofA) launched its pioneering BankAmericard credit card program in Fresno, California, with an initial mailing of 60,000 unsolicited credit cards.The original idea was the brainchild of BofA's in-house product development think tank, the Customer Services Research Group, and its leader, Joseph P. Williams. Williams convinced senior BofA executives in 1956 to let him pursue what became the world's first successful credit card "drop", or mass mailing of unsolicited credit cards (that is actual working cards, not mere applications) to a large population.

Williams' accomplishment was in the successful implementation of the all-purpose credit card, not in coming up with the idea. By the mid-1950s, the typical middle-class American already maintained revolving credit accounts with several different merchants, which was clearly inefficient and inconvenient due to the need to carry so many cards and pay so many separate bills each month. The need for a unified financial instrument was already palpably obvious to the American financial services industry, but no one could figure out how to do it. There were already charge cards like Diners Club (which had to be paid in full at the end of each billing cycle), and "by the mid-1950s, there had been at least a dozen attempts to create an all-purpose credit card."However, these prior attempts had been carried out by small banks which lacked the resources to make them work. Williams and his team studied these failures carefully and believed they could avoid replicating those banks' mistakes; they also studied existing revolving credit operations at Sears and Mobil Oil to learn why they were successful.Fresno was selected for its population of 250,000 (big enough to make a credit card work, small enough to control initial startup cost), BofA's market share of that population (45%), and relative isolation, to control public relations damage in case the project failed.

The 1958 test at first went smoothly, but then BofA panicked when it confirmed rumors that another bank was about to initiate its own drop in San Francisco, BofA's home market.By March 1959, drops began in San Francisco and Sacramento; by June, BofA was dropping cards in Los Angeles; by October, the entire state had been saturated with over 2 million credit cards, and BankAmericard was being accepted by 20,000 merchants.However, the program was riddled with problems, as Williams (who had never worked in a bank's loan department) had been too earnest and trusting in his belief in the basic goodness of the bank's customers, and he resigned in December 1959. Twenty-two percent of accounts were delinquent, not the 4% expected, and police departments around the state were confronted by numerous incidents of the brand new crime of credit card fraud.Both politicians and journalists joined the general uproar against Bank of America and its newfangled credit card, especially when it was pointed out that the cardholder agreement held customers liable for all charges, even those resulting from fraud.BofA officially lost over $8.8 million on the launch of BankAmericard, but when the full cost of advertising and overhead was included, the bank's actual loss was probably around $20 million.

Net income 2.996 billion (2010)

Total assets 33.408 billion (2010)

Lamborghini

Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. commonly referred to as Lamborghini , is an Italian car manufacturer. The company was founded by manufacturing magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini in 1963, with the objective of producing a refined grand touring car to compete with established offerings from marques such as Ferrari.

The company's first models were released in the mid-1960s, and were noted for their refinement, power and comfort. Lamborghini gained wide acclaim in 1966 for the Miura sports coupé, which established mid-engine design as the standard layout for high-performance cars of the era. After a decade of rapid growth, hard times befell the company in the mid-1970s, as sales plunged in the wake of the 1973 world financial downturn and oil crisis. After going through bankruptcy and three changes in ownership, Lamborghini came under the corporate umbrella of the Chrysler Corporation in 1987. The American company failed to return the automaker to profitability and sold it to Indonesian interests in 1994. Lamborghini's lack of success continued through the 1990s, until the company was sold in 1998 to Audi, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group (a German automotive concern). Audi's ownership marked the beginning of a period of stability and increased productivity for Lamborghini, with sales increasing nearly tenfold over the course of the 2000s, peaking in record sales in 2007 and 2008. The world financial crisis in the late 2000s negatively affected luxury car makers worldwide, and saw Lamborghini's sales drop back to pre-2006 levels.

Assembly of Lamborghini cars continues to take place at the automaker's ancestral home in Sant'Agata Bolognese, where engine and automobile production lines run side-by-side at the company's single factory. The company produces only two models, the V10-powered Gallardo and the V12-powered Aventador, in a variety of body styles, trim levels, and limited-production editions. Fewer than 3,000 cars roll off the production line each year.

Automobili Lamborghini was founded by Ferruccio Lamborghini, the child of viticulturists from the comune (township) of Renazzo di Cento, Province of Ferrara, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. After serving as a mechanic in the Regia Aeronautica during World War II, Lamborghini went into business building tractors out of leftover military hardware from the war effort. By the mid-1950s, Lamborghini's tractor company, Lamborghini Trattori S.p.A., had become one of the largest agricultural equipment manufacturers in the country.He was also the owner of a successful gas heater and air conditioning manufacturer.

Lamborghini's wealth allowed him to cultivate a childhood interest in cars, owning a number of luxury automobiles including Alfa Romeos, Lancias,Maseratis, and a Mercedes Benz.He purchased his first Ferrari, a 250GT, in 1958, and went on to own several more. Lamborghini was fond of the Ferraris, but considered them too noisy and rough to be proper road cars, likening them to repurposed track cars.When Lamborghini discovered that his clutch on the Ferrari was broken, and actually was the same clutch that he used on his tractors, Lamborghini went to Ferrari and asked for a better replacement. Ferrari responded, saying that he was just a little tractor maker, and could not know anything about sports cars.Lamborghini decided to pursue an automobile manufacturing venture with the goal of bringing to life his vision of a perfect grand tourer.

Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc.  is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States,that designs, manufactures, and sells networking equipment. The stock was added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average on June 8, 2009, and is also included in the S&P 500 Index, the Russell 1000 Index, NASDAQ 100 Index and the Russell 1000 Growth Stock Index.
History
Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner, a married couple who worked as computer operations staff members at Stanford University, later joined by Erich Drafahl, founded Cisco Systems in 1984. Lerner briefly moved on to direct computer services at Schlumberger, but returned full time to Cisco in 1987. The name "Cisco" was derived from the city name, San Francisco, which is why the company's engineers insisted on using the lower case "cisco" in the early days. For Cisco's first product, Bosack adapted multiple-protocol router software originally written some years before by William Yeager, another Stanford employee who later joined Sun Microsystems. The company's first CEO was Bill Graves, who held the position from 1987 to 1988. In 1988,John Morgridge was appointed CEO.

On February 16, 1990, Cisco Systems went public (with a market capitalization of $224 million) and was listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. On August 28, 1990, Lerner was fired; upon hearing the news, her husband Bosack resigned in protest. The couple walked away from Cisco with $170 million, 70% of which was committed to their own charity.

Although Cisco was not the first company to develop and sell dedicated network nodes,it was one of the first to sell commercially successful routers supporting multiple network protocols.Classical, CPU-based architecture of early Cisco devices coupled with flexibility of operating system IOS allowed for keeping up with evolving technology needs by means of frequent software upgrades. Some popular models of that time (such as Cisco 2500) managed to stay in production for almost a decade virtually unchanged - a rare sight in high-tech industry. Although Cisco was strongly rooted in the enterprise environment, the company was quick to capture the emerging service provider environment, entering SP market with new, high-capacity product lines such as Cisco 7000 and Cisco 7500.

Between 1992 and 1994, Cisco also acquired several companies in Ethernet switching, most notably Kalpana, Grand Junction and Crescendo Communications which together formed the Catalyst business unit. At the time, the company envisioned layer 3 routing and layer 2 (Ethernet, Token Ring) switching as complementary functions of different intelligence and architecture – the former was slow and complex, the latter was fast but simple. This philosophy dominated the company's product lines throughout 1990s.

In 1995, John Morgridge was succeeded by John Chambers.

Net income $ 7.1 billion (2011)

Total assets 87.09 billion (2011)

Philip Morris International

Philip Morris International  is an international cigarette and tobacco company, with products sold in over 160 countries with 15.6% of the international cigarette market outside the United States. Because tobacco, the main constituent of cigarettes, is considered the single greatest cause of preventable death globally and is considered addictive, the company's operations (and its competitors) are highly controversial and are increasingly the subject of litigation and restrictive legislation from governments concerned about the health impacts of its products.

Until a spin-off in March 2008, Philip Morris International was an operating company of Altria Group. Altria explained the spin-off, arguing PMI would have more "freedom" outside the constraints of US corporate ownership in terms of potential litigation and legislative restrictions to "pursue sales growth in emerging markets."The shareholders in Altria at the time were given shares in PMI, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange and other markets.

The company is headquartered in New York City, but operates through its operational headquarters in Switzerland and does not operate in the United States, with Philip Morris brands there still owned by PMI's former owner Altria.

Operating income $ 11.200 billion (2010)

Swarovski

Swarovski is the brand name for a range of cut crystal and related luxury products produced by Swarovski AG of Wattens, Austria. The company is split into two major industry areas, the Swarovski Kristall business unit that primarily works with luxury items and design crystals and the Tyrolit Schleifmittel business unit that manufactures related tooling and machinery.

History

Daniel Swarovski (October 24, 1862 – January 23, 1956), formerly Daniel Swartz, was born in northern Bohemia (now the Czech Republic).His father was a glass cutter who owned a small glass factory. It was there that a young Swarovski served an apprenticeship, becoming skilled in the art of glass-cutting. In 1892 he patented an electric cutting machine that facilitated the production of crystal glass.In 1895, Swarovski financier Armand Kosman and Franz Weis founded the Swarovski company, originally known as A. Kosmann, Daniel Swartz & Co., which was later shortened to K.S. & Co.The company established a crystal cutting factory in Wattens, Tyrol (Austria), to take advantage of local hydroelectricity for the energy-intensive grinding processes Daniel Swarovski patented.

Products

The Swarovski Crystal range includes crystal glass sculptures and miniatures, jewelry and couture, home decor, and chandeliers.All sculptures are marked with a logo. The original Swarovski logo was an edelweiss flower, which was replaced by an S.A.L. logo, which was finally replaced with the current swan logo in 1988.To create crystal glass that lets light refract in a rainbow spectrum, Swarovski coats some of its products with special metallic chemical coatings. Aurora Borealis, or "AB", is one of the most popular coatings, and gives the surface a rainbow appearance.Other coatings are named by the company, Crystal Transmission, Volcano, Aurum, and Dorado. Coatings may be applied to only part of an object; others are coated twice, and thus are designated AB 2X, Dorado 2X etc.In 2004 Swarovski released Xilion, a copyrighted cut designed to optimise the brilliance of Roses (components with flat backs) and Chatons (diamond cut).The Swarovski Group also includes Tyrolit (makers of abrasive and cutting tools); Swareflex (reflective and luminous road markings); Signity (synthetic and natural gemstones); and Swarovski Optik (optical instruments such as binoculars and rifle scopes).The company runs a crystal-themed indoor theme park, Swarovski Kristallwelten (Crystal Worlds) at its original Wattens site (near Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria). The Crystal Worlds centre is fronted by a glass-covered head, the mouth of which is a fountain. The glass-covered Crystal Worlds houses exhibitions related to, or inspired by, the crystals – but do not include explanations of how the famous designs are made, produced or finished.

Playboy Enterprises

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Piraeus Bank

Piraeus Bank Group is a Greek bank founded in 1916 that went through a period of state ownership and management (1975–1991) before it was privatised in December 1991. Since then, it has continuously grown in size and activities. The Piraeus Bank group of companies engages in financial and banking activities not only in Greece, but also in Southeastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as the financial centres of London and New York.Piraeus Bank Group engages in retail banking, the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), capital markets, investment banking, leasing, real estate and financing of the shipping sector.Piraeus Bank Group has a constantly expanding network with more than 300 branches in Greece, 14 branches in New York, 1 in the UK, 180 branches in Romania, 72 in Bulgaria, 38 in Albania, 38 in Serbia and 40 in Egypt. Piraeus Bank Group acquired a Ukrainian bank, International Commercial Bank, in 2007. In addition, Piraeus Bank operates a representative office in Moscow.Additionally, Piraeus Bank offers a line of online banking services under the brand "winbank".

Net income € 1.8 million  (2011)

URS Corporation

URS Corporation is an engineering, design and construction firm and a U.S. federal government contractor. Headquartered in San Francisko, California, URS is a full-service, global organization with offices located in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific.As of March 2012, the firm had more than 46,000 employees worldwide, in nearly 50 countries.With the acquisition of Washington Group International, URS was able to obtain Fortune 500 status for the first time in 2008 with a rank of 449, up from 505 the previous year.Since appearing on the Fortune 500 list URS has continued to climb, in 2009 URS climbed 185 places to 264, and to 252 in 2010.

In 1996, URS acquired Greiner Engineering for $73.5 million.Greiner Engineering had been established in 1908 by John E. Greiner. Greiner was a former engineer for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and worked at one time for Gustav Lindenthal, including on the Seventh Street Bridge.The Woodward-Clyde Group joined URS in 1997, bringing additional environmental capabilities and a broader international presence to the organization.When Dames & Moore Group joined in 1999, URS further strengthened its program and construction management expertise and added to its FORTUNE 500 client base.

In 2002, URS acquired EG&G Technical Services, positioning the company as a leading U.S. federal services contractor.

In November 2007, URS acquired Washington Group International for $3.1B and currently operates it as the "Energy and Construction Division".

On June 12, 2009, URS Chief Executive Officer Martin Koffel indicated the company is still on the hunt for "transformative acquisitions". An analyst with Gabelli & Co. stated that KBR, Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, and Foster Wheeler AG may be possible takeover targets.

On September 10, 2010, URS completed its acquisition of the British engineering firm Scott Wilson Group.

On June 2, 2011, URS completed its acquisition of Apptis Holdings, Inc. for a purchase price of $260 million in cash.

URS announced its acquisition of Flint Energy Services, a provider of construction services in the oil and gas industry, based in Calgary, Alberta, on February 20, 2012.

Net income  $ 400 million (2012)

Operating income 600 million (2012)

Total assets $ 7.04 billion (2012)

BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas S.A. is a global banking group, headquartered in Paris,with its second global headquarters in London. In October 2010, BNP Paribas was ranked by Bloomberg and Forbes as the largest bank and largest company in the world by assets with over US$3.1 trillion.It was formed through the merger of Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) and Paribas in 2000. In April 2009, BNP Paribas purchased a 75 percent stake in Fortis Bank, the Belgian banking business, making BNP the eurozone's largest bank by deposits held.In 2011, BNP Paribas is the world’s biggest bank, as measured by total assets of US$2.670 trillion.

BNP Paribas escaped the 2007–09 credit crisis relatively unscathed reporting a €3 billion net profit for the year of 2008, and €5.8 billion for 2009, both years boosted by profits from trading in its CIB (Corporate and Investment Banking) division.BNP Paribas has one of the highest credit ratings in its peer group with the long term debt of the group currently ranked AA- by S&P, Aa3 by Moody's and A+ by Fitch.

The firm is a universal bank split into three strategic business units: Retail Banking, Corporate & Investment Banking and Investment Solutions (which includes Asset Management, custodial banking, and real estate services).

BNP Paribas's four domestic markets are France, Italy, Belgium, and Luxembourg. It also has significant retail operations in the United States, Poland, Turkey, Ukraine, and North Africa, as well as large-scale investment banking operations in New York, London, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

BNP Paribas est un groupe bancaire français, né le 23 mai 2000 de la fusion de la Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) et de Paribas. Elle est cotée au Premier Marché d 'Euronext Paris et fait partie de l'indice CAC 40. Le groupe acquiert peu à peu une nouvelle dimension avec l'acquisition au cours de la dernière décennie de BNL et de Fortis. BNP Paribas dégage en 2010 un bénéfice net (part du groupe) de 7 843 millions d'euros, en progression de 34,5 % par rapport à 2009

Operating income 12.59 billion €

Total assets  3.1 trillion €

Intel Corporation

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) is an American multinational semiconductor chip maker corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California, United States and the world's largest and highest valued semiconductor chip maker, based on revenue. It is the inventor of the x86 series of microprocessors, the processors found in most personal computers. Intel Corporation, founded on July 18, 1968, is a portmanteau of IntegratedElectronics (though a common misconception is that "Intel" is from the word intelligence). Intel also makes motherboard chipsets, network interface controllers and integrated circuits, flash memory, graphic chips, embedded processors and other devices related to communications and computing. Founded by semiconductor pioneers Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore and widely associated with the executive leadership and vision of Andrew Grove, Intel combines advanced chip design capability with a leading-edge manufacturing capability. Though Intel was originally known primarily to engineers and technologists, its "Intel Inside" advertising campaign of the 1990s made it and its Pentium processor household names.

Intel was an early developer of SRAM and DRAM memory chips, and this represented the majority of its business until 1981. Although Intel created the world's first commercial microprocessor chip in 1971, it was not until the success of the personal computer (PC) that this became its primary business. During the 1990s, Intel invested heavily in new microprocessor designs fostering the rapid growth of the computer industry. During this period Intel became the dominant supplier of microprocessors for PCs, and was known for aggressive and sometimes illegal tactics in defense of its market position, particularly against Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), as well as a struggle with Microsoft for control over the direction of the PC industry.The 2011 rankings of the world's 100 most valuable brands published by Millward Brown Optimor showed the company's brand value at number 58.

Intel has also begun research in electrical transmission and generation.Intel has recently introduced a 3-D transistor that may improve performance and energy efficiency.Intel will be mass producing this 3-D transistor, called Tri-Gate transistors, with their upcoming 22 nm process in the near future.In 2011, SpectraWatt Inc., a solar cell spinoff of Intel, filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11.

Net income $ 12.9 billion(2011)

Total assets $71.119 billion (2011)

Adobe Systems

Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: ADBE)  is an American multinational computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States. The company has historically focused upon the creation of multimedia and creativity software products, with a more-recent foray towards rich Internet application software development.

Adobe was founded in December 1982 by John Warnock and Charles Geschke, who established the company after leaving Xerox PARC in order to develop and sell the PostScript page description language. In 1985, Apple Computer licensed PostScript for use in its Laser Writer printers, which helped spark the desktop publishing revolution. The company name Adobe comes from Adobe Creek in Los Altos, California, which ran behind the houses of both of the company's founders.Adobe acquired its former competitor, Macromedia, in December 2005, which added newer software products and platforms such as Coldfusion, Dreamweaver, Flash and Flex to its product portfolio.

As of 2010, Adobe Systems has 9,117 employees,about 40% of whom work in San Jose. Adobe also has major development operations in Orlando; Seattle; San Francisco; Orem, Utah; Minneapolis; Waltham, Massachusetts; and San Luis Obispo, California in the United States; Ottawa, Canada; Hamburg, Germany;Noida and Bangalore, India; Bucharest, Romania; Basel, Switzerland; and Beijing, China.

Adobe's corporate logo was designed by Marva Warnock, wife of John Warnock, who is also a graphic designer.[3]

Adobe's first products after PostScript were digital fonts, which they released in a proprietary format called Type 1. Apple subsequently developed a competing standard, TrueType, which provided full scalability and precise control of the pixel pattern created by the font's outlines, and licensed it to Microsoft. Adobe responded by publishing the Type 1 specification and releasing Adobe Type Manager, software that allowed WYSIWYG scaling of Type 1 fonts on screen, like TrueType, although without the precise pixel-level control. But these moves were too late to stop the rise of TrueType. Although Type 1 remained the standard in the graphics/publishing market, TrueType became the standard for business and the average Windows user. In 1996, Adobe and Microsoft announced the OpenType font format, and in 2003 Adobe completed converting its Type 1 font library to OpenType.

In the mid-1980s, Adobe entered the consumer software market with Adobe Illustrator, a vector-based drawing program for the Apple Macintosh. Illustrator, which grew from the firm's in-house font-development software, helped popularize PostScript-enabled laser printers. Unlike MacDraw, then the standard Macintosh vector drawing program, Illustrator described shapes with more flexible Bézier curves, providing unprecedented accuracy. Font rendering in Illustrator, however, was left to the Macintosh's QuickDraw libraries and would not be superseded by a PostScript-like approach until Adobe released Adobe Type Manager.

In 1989, Adobe introduced what was to become its flagship product, a graphics editing program for the Macintosh called Photoshop. Stable and full-featured, Photoshop 1.0 was ably marketed by Adobe and soon dominated the market.

In 1993, Adobe introduced PDF, the Portable Document Format, and its Adobe Acrobat and Reader software. PDF is now an International Standard: ISO 32000-1:2008. The technology is adopted worldwide as a common medium for electronic documents.

Arguably, one of Adobe's few missteps on the Macintosh platform was their failure to develop their own desktop publishing (DTP) program. Instead, Aldus with PageMaker in 1985 and Quark with QuarkXPress in 1987 gained early leads in the DTP market. Adobe was also slow to address the emerging Windows DTP market. However, Adobe made great strides in that market with the release of InDesign and its bundled Creative Suite offering. In a failure to predict the direction of computing, Adobe released a complete version of Illustrator for Steve Jobs' ill-fated NeXT system, but a poorly produced version for Windows.

Despite these missteps, licensing fees from the PostScript interpreter allowed Adobe to outlast or acquire many of its rivals in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In December 1991, Adobe released Adobe Premiere, which Adobe rebranded to Adobe Premiere Pro in 2003. In 1994, Adobe acquired Aldus and added Adobe PageMaker and Adobe After Effects to its production line later in the year; it also controls the TIFF file format. In 1995, Adobe added Adobe FrameMaker, the long-document DTP application, to its production line after Adobe acquired Frame Technology Corp. In 1999, Adobe introduced Adobe InCopy as a direct competitor to QuarkCopyDesk.

Net income  $ 835 million

Total assets  $8.9 billion 

Deutsche Bank AG

Die Deutsche Bank AG ist das nach Bilanzsumme und Mitarbeiterzahl größte Kreditinstitut Deutschlands. Das Unternehmen mit Sitz in Frankfurt am Main ist als Universalbank tätig und unterhält bedeutende Niederlassungen in London, New York City, Singapur und Sydney. Es gilt mit einem Marktanteil von 21 Prozent als größter Devisenhändler der Welt.Besonderes Gewicht legt die Bank auf das Investmentbanking mit der Emission von Aktien, Anleihen und Zertifikaten. Im Bereich der Kapitalanlagegesellschaften hält sie mit ihrer Tochtergesellschaft DWS Investments einen Marktanteil von über 20 Prozent in Deutschland.Im deutschen Privatkundengeschäft liegt ihr Marktanteil einschließlich der Postbank bei rund 15 Prozent.Die Aktie der Deutschen Bank ist an der Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse sowie an der New York Stock Exchange gelistet. Sie ist Bestandteil verschiedener Indizes, unter anderem des DAX und des Euro Stoxx 50.Die 1870 gegründete Bank entwickelte sich im 20. Jahrhundert unter anderem durch Übernahmen und Fusionen zur Großbank. Höhepunkte waren die Fusion mit der Disconto-Gesellschaft (1929) und die Übernahmen von Morgan Grenfell (1992) sowie von Bankers Trust (1999). In der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus war die Bank an „Arisierungen“ beteiligt. Es gibt Nachweise, dass die Bank an der Finanzierung des KZ Auschwitz mitwirkte und an den Goldtransaktionen der Nationalsozialisten verdiente. Seit 1961 besteht ein „Historisches Archiv“ der Bank, über dessen Zugriff später Wissenschaftler die Geschichte der Bank systematisch aufarbeiteten.Zu den wichtigsten Erweiterungen des Unternehmens in den letzten Jahren zählte der Kauf des Versicherungsunternehmens Abbey Life (2007) sowie die Übernahme von Sal. Oppenheim (2009) und der Aktienmehrheit an der Deutschen Postbank. Während der Finanzkrise ab 2007 konnte die Bank ohne direkte staatliche Unterstützung weiterbestehen. Ein US-Ermittlungsverfahren gegen die Deutsche Bank wegen Beihilfe zur Steuerhinterziehung wurde Ende 2010 gegen eine Strafzahlung beigelegt.Die Bank ist eine der 29 Großbanken, die vom Financial Stability Board (FSB) als „systemically important financial institution“ (systemisch bedeutsames Finanzinstitut) eingestuft wurden.Sie unterliegt damit einer besonderen Überwachung und strengeren Anforderungen an die Ausstattung mit Eigenkapital.Die Deutsche Bank nimmt sowohl im Investment Banking als auch im Privatkundengeschäft international eine führende Position ein. Zur Führung des Geschäftes ist die Bank in mehreren Stufen nach Geschäftsfeldern und nach Regionen strukturiert. Die Führung des Unternehmens erfolgt aus der Zentrale in Frankfurt. Einzelne Geschäftsfelder im Investment Banking haben ihren Sitz in London oder New York. Die Bank unterscheidet nach institutionellen Kunden im Anleihe und Wertpapiergeschäft. Diese werden im Bereich Global Markets betreut. Für Sonderfinanzierungen im Firmenkundengeschäft (Unternehmenserwerbe, Börsengänge) gibt es den BereichCorporate Finance. Zur Abwicklung des laufenden, auch internationalen Geschäfts der Kunden stellt der BereichTransaction Banking die entsprechenden Systeme zur Verfügung. Im Privatkundengeschäft unterscheidet die Bank nach besonders vermögenden Kunden, denen sie im Asset & Wealth Management eine besondere individuelle Betreuung bietet. Für das Standardgeschäft sowohl mit der Großzahl der Privatkunden als auch mit kleineren und mittleren Unternehmen hat sie den Bereich Private & Business Clients gebildet.

Total assets € 2.164 trillion (2011)