Bwordopedia.com

Agence France-Presse   • Founder: Charles-Louis Havas.  • Distinction: The world’s oldest international news agency.  • Primary products: Words, photos, and graphics for client media worldwide.  • Annual sales: $227.7 million.  • Number of employees: 1,998.  • Major competitors: Associated Press, Reuters, United Press International.  • President and CEO: Eric Giuily; Deputy Chief Executive/Managing Editor: Denis Brulet.  • Headquarters: Paris, France.  • Year founded: 1835.  • Web site: www.afp.com.   Agence France-Presse:- For most of the past 150 years, Agence France-Presse has been more accustomed to reporting news than making it. The oldest media agency in the world, it was first to announce the deaths of Joseph Stalin, Pope John Paul I, and Indira Gandhi. It broke the story when Israeli athletes were massacred at the 1972 Munich Olympics. It snag ged the first inter view with Mikhail Gorbachev when he survived an attempted coup...

The Coca-Cola Company • Founder: Dr. John Stith Pemberton. • Distinction: Made soft drinks a global obsession. • Primary products: Coca-Cola Classic, Diet Coke, Sprite, Minute Maid. • Annual sales: $19.805 billion. • Number of employees: 37,400. • Major competitors: Cadbury Schweppes, PepsiCo, Quaker Oats. • Chairman and CEO: Douglas N. Daft • Headquarters: Atlanta, Ga. • Year founded: 1886. • Web site: www.cocacola.com. It’s odd to think of a company like Coca-Cola as being in need of an overhaul. Its products, after all, are sold in every corner of the globe and have dominated the soft-drink industry for more than a century. But even companies that change the world can take missteps and stumble, and Coke is no exception. Forget all the mesmerizing slogans and heartwarming ads; the distinctively shaped bottles and nostalgic memorabilia; the high-profile presence everywhere from sports arenas and fast-food restaurants. Coke may be “the real thing,” as first procl...

Netscape Communications • Founders: James H. Clark and Marc Andreessen. • Distinction: Rewrote rules for Net navigation and initial public offerings. • Primary Products: Internet browser, Web portal, online development tools. • Annual Sales: $447.8 million. • Number of Employees: 2,936. • Major Competitors: Lycos, Microsoft, Yahoo! • Senior Vice President & General Manager, Netscape Netcenter: Jim Martin; Senior Vice President, Netscape Enterprise Group: Steve Savignano. • Headquarters: Mountain View, Calif. • Year Founded: 1994. • Web site: www.netscape.com. In the beginning, a trip into cyberspace was no piece of cake. Your modem crawled along. You needed expertise in mysterious electronic procedures, such as FTP and TelNet. Your connections failed constantly, and when they didn’t, your computer crashed. The early Net was undeniably great, but it also was not ready for prime time. It didn’t get there until 1994, when Tim Berners-Lee and researchers at the Uni...

Standard Oil Company • Founders: John D. Rockefeller, Samuel Andrews, and Henry M. Flagler • Distinction: World’s largest oil refiner before dismantling by Supreme Court. • Primary products: Kerosene, fuel, lubricant, other petroleum by-products. • Founder and president: John D. Rockefeller. • Founding location: Cleveland, Ohio. • Market balue before dissolution: $100 million. • Major competitors: None. • Years in Existence: 1870-1911.

Hewlett-Packard Co. • Founders: Bill Hewlett and David Packard. • Distinction: Leader in technology, and the business world that produces it. • Primary products: Computers, printing and imaging products, related services. • Annual sales: $42.370 billion. • Number of employees: 84,400. • Major competitors: Compaq, IBM, Xerox. • Chairman, CEO and President: Carleton S. “Carly” Fiorina. • Headquarters: Palo Alto, Calif. • Year founded: 1939. • Web site: www.hp.com. As the 21st century approached, the Hewlett-Packard Company faced a significant dilemma. Justifiably acknowledged as Silicon Valley’s original startup, it literally began in a garage and unequivocally grew into one of the world’s top computer companies. Ever since its audio oscillator was picked up by Walt Disney Studios in 1939 for use in the original Fantasia, HP had consistently produced state-of-the-art electronic gear that was the envy of its industry. From that first product through calculators,...

The Boeing Company • Founder: William E. Boeing.  • Distinction: Evolved with aviation industry from biplanes to Lunar Orbiters.  • Primary products: Commercial and military aircrafts, rockets, satellites.  • Annual sales: $57.993 billion.  • Number of employees: 197,000.  • Major competitors: Airbus Industries, EADS, Lockheed Martin.  • Chairman and CEO: Philip M. Condit; president and COO: Harry C. Stonecipher.  • Headquarters: Seattle, Wash.  • Year founded: 1916.  • Web site: www.boeing.com. The Boeing Company For as long as there has been an aviation business, the Boeing name has been part of it. Just a few years after the Wright brothers made their first flight at Kitty Hawk, William Boeing attended the first American air show in Los Angeles. He immediately saw the possibilities, and over the next several years explored various facets of the exciting new industry. He rode a biplane from atop a wing, took...

Cable News Network • Founder: Ted Turner. • Distinction: World’s first live, round-the-clock, all-news television network. • Primary products: TV, radio, and Internet news programs. • Annual sales: Unavailable. • Number of employees: 4,000. • Major competitors: CNBC, MSNBC, Fox News Channel. • Chairman, President and CEO: W. Thomas Johnson. • Headquarters: Atlanta, Ga. • Year founded: 1980. • Web site: www.cnn.com  Cable News Network Many Americans tuned into Cable News Network for the very first time when former Beatle John Lennon was gunned down in New York, exactly six months after the station’s 1980 debut. Stunned fans—at least those in the 1.7 million homes then capable of receiving the all-news channel—found they could get updates on the riveting story whenever they wanted. For those accustomed to obtaining news on TV only when the major networks and their affiliates decided to broadcast it, this proved to be both exhilarating and addictive. It was not y...