1.
Carlos Slim Domit
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Carlos Slim Domit is a Mexican businessman and the son of Carlos Slim Helú. Carlos Slim Domit was born in 1967 in Mexico and he is the oldest son of Carlos Slim Helú. He holds a degree in Business Administration from Universidad Anáhuac, Slim Domit served as the Co-Chairman of the ICT Task Force at the B202012 and Co Chair of the WEF Latin America in 2015. Slim Domit serves as Chairman of the Board of America Movil, Grupo Carso, Grupo Sanborns, Grupo Carsos Website Telmex Telcel América Móvil Fundación Carlos Slim Escudería Telmex
2.
Spanish naming customs
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Spanish naming customs are historical traditions for naming children practised in Spain. According to these customs, a persons name consists of a name followed by two family names. The first surname is usually the fathers first surname, and the second the mothers first surname, in recent years, the order of the surnames can be reversed at birth if it is so decided by the parents. Currently in Spain, people bear a single or composite given name, a composite given name comprises two single names, for example Juan Pablo is considered not to be a first and a second forename, but a single composite forename. The two surnames refer to each of the parental families, traditionally, a persons first surname is the fathers first surname, and the second one is the mothers first surname. From 2013, if the parents of a child are unable to agree on order of surnames, the law also grants a person the option, upon reaching adulthood, of reversing the order of their surnames. Each surname can also be composite, the parts usually linked by the y or e. For example, a name might be Juan Pablo Fernández de Calderón García-Iglesias, consisting of a forename, a paternal surname. There are times when it is impossible, by inspection of a name, for example, the writer Sebastià Juan Arbó was alphabetised by the Library of Congress for many years under Arbó, assuming that Sebastiá and Juan were both given names. However, Juan was actually his first surname, to resolve questions like this, which typically involve very common names, one must consult the person involved, or legal documents. A man named José Antonio Gómez Iglesias would normally be addressed as either señor Gómez or señor Gómez Iglesias instead of señor Iglesias, because Gómez is his first surname. Furthermore, Mr. Gómez might be addressed as José Antonio, José, Pepe, Antonio, or Toño Jose, Joselito, Josito, Joselillo, Josico or Joselín, Antoñito, Tonín or Nono. Very formally, he could be addressed with an honorific as don José Antonio or don José, colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez is sometimes incorrectly referred to in English media as Mr. Márquez, when it should be Mr. García Márquez or, simply, Mr. García. It is not unusual, when the first surname is very common, for example, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is often called simply Zapatero, the name he inherited from his mothers family, since Rodríguez is a common surname and may be ambiguous. The same occurs with another former Spanish Socialist leader, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, with the poet and dramatist Federico García Lorca, as these peoples paternal names are very common, they are often called with their maternal names. It would nonetheless be a mistake to index José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero under Z as Zapatero, a practical option to spare an explanation is using a single surname composed of two separate words. Parents choose their childs name, which must be recorded in the Registro Civil to establish his or her legal identity. With few restrictions, parents can now choose any name, common sources of names are the parents taste, honouring a relative, the General Roman Calendar nomina, legislation in Spain under Franco legally limited cultural naming customs to only Christian and typical Spanish names
3.
Mexico City
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Mexico City, or City of Mexico, is the capital and most populous city of Mexico. As an alpha global city, Mexico City is one of the most important financial centers in the Americas and it is located in the Valley of Mexico, a large valley in the high plateaus at the center of Mexico, at an altitude of 2,240 metres. The city consists of sixteen municipalities, the 2009 estimated population for the city proper was approximately 8.84 million people, with a land area of 1,485 square kilometres. The Greater Mexico City has a domestic product of US$411 billion in 2011. The city was responsible for generating 15. 8% of Mexicos Gross Domestic Product, as a stand-alone country, in 2013, Mexico City would be the fifth-largest economy in Latin America—five times as large as Costa Ricas and about the same size as Perus. Mexico’s capital is both the oldest capital city in the Americas and one of two founded by Amerindians, the other being Quito. In 1524, the municipality of Mexico City was established, known as México Tenochtitlán, Mexico City served as the political, administrative and financial center of a major part of the Spanish colonial empire. After independence from Spain was achieved, the district was created in 1824. Ever since, the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution has controlled both of them, in recent years, the local government has passed a wave of liberal policies, such as abortion on request, a limited form of euthanasia, no-fault divorce, and same-sex marriage. On January 29,2016, it ceased to be called the Federal District and is now in transition to become the countrys 32nd federal entity, giving it a level of autonomy comparable to that of a state. Because of a clause in the Mexican Constitution, however, as the seat of the powers of the federation, it can never become a state, the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan was founded by the Mexica people in 1325. According to legend, the Mexicas principal god, Huitzilopochtli indicated the site where they were to build their home by presenting an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its beak. Between 1325 and 1521, Tenochtitlan grew in size and strength, eventually dominating the other city-states around Lake Texcoco, when the Spaniards arrived, the Aztec Empire had reached much of Mesoamerica, touching both the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. After landing in Veracruz, Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés advanced upon Tenochtitlan with the aid of many of the native peoples. Cortés put Moctezuma under house arrest, hoping to rule through him, the Aztecs thought the Spaniards were permanently gone, and they elected a new king, Cuitláhuac, but he soon died, the next king was Cuauhtémoc. Cortés began a siege of Tenochtitlan in May 1521, for three months, the city suffered from the lack of food and water as well as the spread of smallpox brought by the Europeans. Cortés and his allies landed their forces in the south of the island, the Spaniards practically razed Tenochtitlan during the final siege of the conquest. Cortés first settled in Coyoacán, but decided to rebuild the Aztec site to erase all traces of the old order and he did not establish a territory under his own personal rule, but remained loyal to the Spanish crown
4.
Civil engineering
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Civil engineering is traditionally broken into a number of sub-disciplines. It is the second-oldest engineering discipline after military engineering, and it is defined to distinguish non-military engineering from military engineering, Civil engineering takes place in the public sector from municipal through to national governments, and in the private sector from individual homeowners through to international companies. Engineering has been an aspect of life since the beginnings of human existence, during this time, transportation became increasingly important leading to the development of the wheel and sailing. The construction of pyramids in Egypt were some of the first instances of large structure constructions, the Romans developed civil structures throughout their empire, including especially aqueducts, insulae, harbors, bridges, dams and roads. In the 18th century, the civil engineering was coined to incorporate all things civilian as opposed to military engineering. The first self-proclaimed civil engineer was John Smeaton, who constructed the Eddystone Lighthouse, in 1771 Smeaton and some of his colleagues formed the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers, a group of leaders of the profession who met informally over dinner. Though there was evidence of some meetings, it was little more than a social society. In 1818 the Institution of Civil Engineers was founded in London, the institution received a Royal Charter in 1828, formally recognising civil engineering as a profession. The first private college to teach engineering in the United States was Norwich University. The first degree in engineering in the United States was awarded by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1835. The first such degree to be awarded to a woman was granted by Cornell University to Nora Stanton Blatch in 1905, throughout ancient and medieval history most architectural design and construction was carried out by artisans, such as stonemasons and carpenters, rising to the role of master builder. Knowledge was retained in guilds and seldom supplanted by advances, structures, roads and infrastructure that existed were repetitive, and increases in scale were incremental. Brahmagupta, an Indian mathematician, used arithmetic in the 7th century AD, based on Hindu-Arabic numerals, Civil engineers typically possess an academic degree in civil engineering. The length of study is three to five years, and the degree is designated as a bachelor of engineering. The curriculum generally includes classes in physics, mathematics, project management, design, after taking basic courses in most sub-disciplines of civil engineering, they move onto specialize in one or more sub-disciplines at advanced levels. In most countries, a degree in engineering represents the first step towards professional certification. After completing a degree program, the engineer must satisfy a range of requirements before being certified. Once certified, the engineer is designated as a engineer, a chartered engineer
5.
National Autonomous University of Mexico
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The National Autonomous University of Mexico is the largest university in Latin America. In 2016 it had a rate of only 8%. As a public university in Mexico City, UNAM is regarded by many university world rankings as the leading university of the Spanish-speaking world. UNAM was founded, in its form, on 22 September 1910 by Justo Sierra as a liberal alternative to its predecessor. UNAMs autonomy, granted in 1929, has given it the freedom to define its own curriculum and this has had a profound effect on academic life at the university, which some claim boosts academic freedom and independence. The UNAM generates a number of different publications in areas, such as mathematics, physics. Besides being one of the most recognized universities in Latin America and it is a UNESCO World Heritage site that was designed by some of Mexicos best-known architects of the 20th century. Murals in the campus were painted by some of the most recognized artists in Mexican history, such as Diego Rivera. The project initially unified the Fine Arts, Business, Political Science, Jurisprudence, Engineering, Medicine, Normal, and this opposition led to disruptions in the function of the university when political instability forced resignations in the government, including that of President Díaz. Internally, the first student strike occurred in 1912 to protest examination methods introduced by the director of the School of Jurisprudence, by July of that year, a majority of the law students decided to abandon the university and join the newly created Free School of Law. In 1914 initial efforts to gain autonomy for the university failed, in 1920, José Vasconcelos became rector. Efforts to gain autonomy for the university continued in the early 1920s, in the mid-1920s, the second wave of student strikes opposed a new grading system. The strikes included major classroom walkouts in the law school and confrontation with police at the medical school, the striking students were supported by many professors and subsequent negotiations eventually led to autonomy for the university. The institution was no longer a dependency of the Secretariat of Public Education, during the early 1930s, the rector of UNAM was Manuel Gómez Morín. The government attempted to implement socialist education at Mexican universities, which Gómez Morín, many professors, Gómez Morín with the support of the Jesuit-founded student group, the Unión Nacional de Estudiantes Católicos, successfully fought against socialist education. UNAM supported the recognition of the academic certificates by Catholic preparatory schools, in an interesting turn of events, UNAM played an important role in the founding of the Jesuit institution in 1943, the Universidad Iberoamericana in 1943. However, UNAM opposed initiatives at the Universidad Iberoamericana in later years, the first stone laid was that of the faculty of Sciences, the first building of Ciudad Universitaria. President Miguel Alemán Valdés participated in the ceremony on 20 November 1952, the University Olympic Stadium was inaugurated on the same day
6.
Telmex
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Telmex is still the dominant fixed-line phone carrier in Mexico. In addition to traditional telephone service, Telmex offers Internet access, data, hosted services. Telmex owns 90 percent of the lines in Mexico City and 80 percent of the lines in the country. Telmex is an owned subsidiary of América Móvil. Telmex was founded in 1947 when a group of Mexican investors bought Swedish Ericssons Mexican branch, in 1950, the same investors bought the Mexican branch of the ITT Corporation, thus becoming the only telephone provider in the country. In 1972, the Mexican government bought the company, turning it into a government monopoly, in 1990, Telmex was bought by a group of investors formed principally by Carlos Slim Helú, France Télécom, and Southwestern Bell Corporation, whose tender was the largest. However, controversially, the payment itself took place over the course of the several years. After privatization, Telmex began investing in new infrastructure, creating a nationwide fiber optic network. In 1991, the Mexican government sold its stock in Telmex. Although Telmex is now a company, it stills remains as a quasi-monopoly. There are other companies in Mexico, but they have failed to be fierce competitors for Telmex. Among these companies are, Alestra, Axtel, Maxcom, Megacable, Totalplay, in the 1990s, mobile telephones were becoming popular among the general population. The early market leader was Iusacell, and Telmex had no presence in the market and this prompted Telmex to form a subsidiary to provide mobile communications. The subsidiary was Radio Móvil Dipsa, and it offered service under the brand Telcel, Telcel started out in a distant second place in its mobile market, but in 1995 everything changed, when the Mexican currency crisis hit many Mexicans hard. Iusacell decided to stay with wealthier customers, offering expensive plans, in 2000, Telmex spun off their mobile unit, creating América Móvil, which controls Radio Móvil Dipsa and was free to develop its own business as an independent entity. It started with 80% of the mobile market, in 2010, America Móvil bought 60% of Telmex, paying over 23 billion dollars. In 2011, America Móvil purchased the remaining 40% of Telmex, in August 2012, America Móvil started the process to de-list Telmex from the Mexican Stock Exchange. In the mid-1990s, Telmex began providing Internet access as an Internet service provider with the brand Uninet, a year later, the brand was changed to Telmex Internet Directo Personal
7.
Grupo Carso
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Grupo Carso or Grupo Sanborns SAB is a global conglomerate company owned by Carlos Slim. It was formed in 1990 after the merger of Corporación Industrial Carso, the name Carso stands for Carlos Slim and Soumaya Domit de Slim, his late wife. In May 2014, the conglomerate had a market capitalisation of over $12 billion US dollars. In 1996 Carso Global Telecom separated itself from Grupo Carso, condumex Grupo Porcelanite Cigatam Minera Frisco Grupo Sanborns Sears CompUSA Mixup Grupo PC Constructores Swecomex CICSA CILSA Carso Global Telecom Official site
8.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
9.
Engineer
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Engineers design materials, structures, and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality, regulation, safety, and cost. The word engineer is derived from the Latin words ingeniare and ingenium, the work of engineers forms the link between scientific discoveries and their subsequent applications to human and business needs and quality of life. His/her work is predominantly intellectual and varied and not of a mental or physical character. It requires the exercise of original thought and judgement and the ability to supervise the technical, he/she is thus placed in a position to make contributions to the development of engineering science or its applications. In due time he/she will be able to give authoritative technical advice, much of an engineers time is spent on researching, locating, applying, and transferring information. Indeed, research suggests engineers spend 56% of their time engaged in various information behaviours, Engineers must weigh different design choices on their merits and choose the solution that best matches the requirements. Their crucial and unique task is to identify, understand, Engineers apply techniques of engineering analysis in testing, production, or maintenance. Analytical engineers may supervise production in factories and elsewhere, determine the causes of a process failure and they also estimate the time and cost required to complete projects. Supervisory engineers are responsible for major components or entire projects, Engineering analysis involves the application of scientific analytic principles and processes to reveal the properties and state of the system, device or mechanism under study. Most engineers specialize in one or more engineering disciplines, numerous specialties are recognized by professional societies, and each of the major branches of engineering has numerous subdivisions. Civil engineering, for example, includes structural and transportation engineering and materials engineering include ceramic, metallurgical, mechanical engineering cuts across just about every discipline since its core essence is applied physics. Engineers also may specialize in one industry, such as vehicles, or in one type of technology. Several recent studies have investigated how engineers spend their time, that is, research suggests that there are several key themes present in engineers’ work, technical work, social work, computer-based work, information behaviours. Amongst other more detailed findings, a recent work sampling study found that engineers spend 62. 92% of their time engaged in work,40. 37% in social work. The time engineers spend engaged in activities is also reflected in the competencies required in engineering roles. There are many branches of engineering, each of which specializes in specific technologies, typically engineers will have deep knowledge in one area and basic knowledge in related areas. When developing a product, engineers work in interdisciplinary teams. For example, when building robots an engineering team will typically have at least three types of engineers, a mechanical engineer would design the body and actuators
10.
Forbes
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Forbes is an American business magazine. Published bi-weekly, it features articles on finance, industry, investing. Forbes also reports on related subjects such as technology, communications, science, politics and its headquarters is located in Jersey City, New Jersey. Primary competitors in the business magazine category include Fortune and Bloomberg Businessweek. The magazine is known for its lists and rankings, including its lists of the richest Americans. Another well-known list by the magazine is The Worlds Billionaires list, the motto of Forbes magazine is The Capitalist Tool. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes, and its CEO is Mike Perlis, Forbes, a financial columnist for the Hearst papers, and his partner Walter Drey, the general manager of the Magazine of Wall Street, founded Forbes magazine on September 15,1917. Forbes provided the money and the name and Drey provided the publishing expertise, the original name of the magazine was Forbes, Devoted to Doers and Doings. Drey became vice-president of the B. C. Forbes Publishing Company, while B. C. Forbes became editor-in-chief, B. C. Forbes was assisted in his later years by his two eldest sons, Bruce Charles Forbes and Malcolm Stevenson Forbes. Bruce Forbes took over on his fathers death, and his strengths lay in streamlining operations, during his tenure, 1954–1964, the magazines circulation nearly doubled. On Malcolms death, his eldest son Malcolm Stevenson Steve Forbes Jr. became President and Chief Executive of Forbes, between 1961 and 1999 the magazine was edited by James Michaels. In 1993, under Michaels, Forbes was a finalist for the National Magazine Award. com, a 2009 New York Times report said,40 percent of the enterprise was sold. For a reported $300 million, setting the value of the enterprise at $750 million, according to Mark M. Edmiston of AdMedia Partners, Its probably not worth half of that now. The companys headquarters moved to the Newport section of downtown Jersey City. In November 2013, Forbes Media, which publishes Forbes magazine, was put up for sale and this was encouraged by Elevation Partners, of whom were minority shareholders. Sales documents prepared by Deutsche Bank revealed that the publishers 2012 EBITDA was $15 million, Forbes reportedly sought a price of $400 million. In July 2014, Forbes sold a majority of itself to Integrated Whale Media Investments, Steve Forbes and his magazines writers offer investment advice on the weekly Fox TV show Forbes on Fox and on Forbes On Radio. Other company groups include Forbes Conference Group, Forbes Investment Advisory Group, from the 2009 Times report, Steve Forbes recently returned from opening up a Forbes magazine in India, bringing the number of foreign editions to 10
11.
Real estate
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Also, the business of real estate, the profession of buying, selling, or renting land, buildings or housing. It is a term used in jurisdictions whose legal system is derived from English common law, such as India, the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Pakistan, Australia. Residential real estate may contain either a family or multifamily structure. Residences can be classified by, if, and how they are connected to neighbouring residences, different types of housing tenure can be used for the same physical type. For example, connected residents might be owned by an entity and leased out. Major categories in North America and Europe Attached / multi-unit dwellings Apartment or Flat – An individual unit in a multi-unit building, the boundaries of the apartment are generally defined by a perimeter of locked or lockable doors. Often seen in apartment buildings. Multi-family house – Often seen in multi-story detached buildings, where each floor is an apartment or unit. Terraced house – A number of single or multi-unit buildings in a row with shared walls. Condominium – Building or complex, similar to apartments, owned by individuals, common grounds and common areas within the complex are owned and shared jointly. There are townhouse or rowhouse style condominiums as well, semi-detached dwellings Duplex – Two units with one shared wall. Single-family detached house Portable dwellings Mobile homes – Potentially a full-time residence which can be movable on wheels, houseboats – A floating home Tents – Usually very temporary, with roof and walls consisting only of fabric-like material. The size of an apartment or house can be described in square feet or meters, in the United States, this includes the area of living space, excluding the garage and other non-living spaces. It can be described roughly by the number of rooms. A studio apartment has a bedroom with no living room. A one-bedroom apartment has a living or dining room separate from the bedroom, Two bedroom, three bedroom, and larger units are common. Major categories in India and the Asian Subcontinent Co-operative Housing Societies Condominiums Chawls Villas Havelis The size is measured in Gaz, Quila, Marla, Beegha, and acre. See List of house types for a listing of housing types and layouts, real estate trends for shifts in the market
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Maronite Christians in Lebanon
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Maronite Christianity in Lebanon refers to adherents of the Maronite Church in Lebanon, which is the largest Christian denomination in the country. The Lebanese Maronite Christians are believed to constitute about 22% of the population of Lebanon. Lebanons constitution was intended to guarantee representation for each of the nations ethno-religious groups. Under the terms of an agreement known as the National Pact between the various political and religious leaders of Lebanon, the president of the country must be a Maronite. There is no distinct pattern that shows that one community carries significantly more Phoenician than another, according to Catholic tradition, the first Bishop was Saint Peter before his travels to Rome. The third Bishop was the Apostolic Father Ignatius of Antioch, Antioch became one of the five original Patriarchates after Constantine recognized Christianity. Many of his followers also lived a monastic lifestyle, following the death of Maron in 410 AD, his disciples built a monastery in his memory and formed the nucleus of the Maronite Church. The Maronites held fast to the beliefs of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, when the Monophysites of Antioch slew 350 monks, the Maronites sought refuge in the mountains of Lebanon. Correspondence concerning the event brought the Maronites papal and orthodox recognition, a monastery was built around the shrine of St. Maro after the Council of Chalcedon. This doctrine, monothelitism, was meant as a compromise between supporters of Chalcedon, such as the Maronites, and opponents, such as the Jacobites, monothelitism was actually endorsed by Pope Honorius I of the Catholic Church to win back the Monophysites. Instead, this new doctrine caused greater controversy, and was declared a heresy at the Sixth Ecumenical Council in 680-681, in 687 AD, the Emperor Justinian II agreed to evacuate many thousand Maronites from Lebanon and settle them elsewhere. The chaos and utter depression which followed led the Maronites to elect their first Patriarch, John Maroun and this, however, was seen as a usurpation by the Orthodox churches. This situation was mirrored in other Christian communities in the Byzantine Empire, the Maronites belong to the Maronite Syriac Church of Antioch is an Eastern Catholic Syriac Church that had affirmed its communion with Rome since 1180 A. D. The Maronite Patriarch is traditionally seated in Bkerke, north of Beirut, Lebanese Maronite Christians are concentrated in the north Beirut, northern part of Mount Lebanon Governorate, southern part of North Governorate, parts of Beqaa Governorate and South Governorate. The last Census in Lebanon in 1932 put the numbers of Maronites at 29% of the population, a study done by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1985 put the numbers of Maronites at 16% of the population. Lebanese Maronites constitutes 21% of Lebanons population of approximately 4.3 million, which means they amount to 903,000 as of 2012
13.
Lebanon
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Lebanon, officially known as the Lebanese Republic, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. It is bordered by Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, Lebanons location at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian hinterland facilitated its rich history and shaped a cultural identity of religious and ethnic diversity. At just 10,452 km2, it is the smallest recognized country on the entire mainland Asian continent, the earliest evidence of civilization in Lebanon dates back more than seven thousand years, predating recorded history. Lebanon was the home of the Canaanites/Phoenicians and their kingdoms, a culture that flourished for over a thousand years. In 64 BC, the region came under the rule of the Roman Empire, in the Mount Lebanon range a monastic tradition known as the Maronite Church was established. As the Arab Muslims conquered the region, the Maronites held onto their religion, however, a new religious group, the Druze, established themselves in Mount Lebanon as well, generating a religious divide that has lasted for centuries. During the Crusades, the Maronites re-established contact with the Roman Catholic Church, the ties they established with the Latins have influenced the region into the modern era. The region eventually was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from 1516 to 1918, following the collapse of the empire after World War I, the five provinces that constitute modern Lebanon came under the French Mandate of Lebanon. The French expanded the borders of the Mount Lebanon Governorate, which was populated by Maronites and Druze. Lebanon gained independence in 1943, establishing confessionalism, a unique, foreign troops withdrew completely from Lebanon on 31 December 1946. Lebanon has been a member of the Organisation internationale de la francophonie since 1973, despite its small size, the country has developed a well-known culture and has been highly influential in the Arab world. Before the Lebanese Civil War, the experienced a period of relative calm and renowned prosperity, driven by tourism, agriculture, commerce. At the end of the war, there were efforts to revive the economy. In spite of troubles, Lebanon has the highest Human Development Index and GDP per capita in the Arab world. The name of Mount Lebanon originates from the Phoenician root lbn meaning white, occurrences of the name have been found in different Middle Bronze Age texts from the library of Ebla, and three of the twelve tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The name is recorded in Ancient Egyptian as Rmnn, where R stood for Canaanite L, the name occurs nearly 70 times in the Hebrew Bible, as לְבָנוֹן. The borders of contemporary Lebanon are a product of the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920 and its territory was the core of the Bronze Age Phoenician city-states. After the 7th-century Muslim conquest of the Levant, it was part of the Rashidun, Umyayad, Abbasid Seljuk, with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Greater Lebanon fell under French mandate in 1920, and gained independence under president Bechara El Khoury in 1943
14.
Financial statement
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Financial statements is a formal record of the financial activities and position of a business, person, or other entity. Relevant financial information is presented in a manner and in a form easy to understand. A profit and loss statement provides information on the operation of the enterprise and these include sales and the various expenses incurred during the stated period. A Statement of changes in equity, also known as equity statement or statement of retained earnings, a cash flow statement reports on a companys cash flow activities, particularly its operating, investing and financing activities. For large corporations, these statements may be complex and may include a set of footnotes to the financial statements and management discussion. The notes typically describe each item on the sheet, income statement. Notes to financial statements are considered a part of the financial statements. Financial statements should be understandable, relevant, reliable and comparable, reported assets, liabilities, equity, income and expenses are directly related to an organizations financial position. Financial statements may be used by users for different purposes, Owners and managers require financial statements to make important business decisions that affect its continued operations, Financial analysis is then performed on these statements to provide management with a more detailed understanding of the figures. These statements are used as part of managements annual report to the stockholders. Prospective investors make use of statements to assess the viability of investing in a business. Financial analyses are used by investors and are prepared by professionals. Financial institutions use them to decide whether to grant a company with fresh working capital or extend debt securities to finance expansion, the rules for the recording, measurement and presentation of government financial statements may be different from those required for business and even for non-profit organizations. They may use either of two accounting methods, accrual accounting, or cost accounting, or a combination of the two, a complete set of chart of accounts is also used that is substantially different from the chart of a profit-oriented business. Personal financial statements may be required from persons applying for a loan or financial aid. Typically, a financial statement consists of a single form for reporting personally held assets and liabilities, or personal sources of income and expenses. The form to be filled out is determined by the organization supplying the loan or aid, although laws differ from country to country, an audit of the financial statements of a public company is usually required for investment, financing, and tax purposes. These are usually performed by independent accountants or auditing firms, results of the audit are summarized in an audit report that either provide an unqualified opinion on the financial statements or qualifications as to its fairness and accuracy
15.
Algebra
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Algebra is one of the broad parts of mathematics, together with number theory, geometry and analysis. In its most general form, algebra is the study of mathematical symbols, as such, it includes everything from elementary equation solving to the study of abstractions such as groups, rings, and fields. The more basic parts of algebra are called elementary algebra, the abstract parts are called abstract algebra or modern algebra. Elementary algebra is generally considered to be essential for any study of mathematics, science, or engineering, as well as such applications as medicine, abstract algebra is a major area in advanced mathematics, studied primarily by professional mathematicians. Elementary algebra differs from arithmetic in the use of abstractions, such as using letters to stand for numbers that are unknown or allowed to take on many values. For example, in x +2 =5 the letter x is unknown, in E = mc2, the letters E and m are variables, and the letter c is a constant, the speed of light in a vacuum. Algebra gives methods for solving equations and expressing formulas that are easier than the older method of writing everything out in words. The word algebra is used in certain specialized ways. A special kind of object in abstract algebra is called an algebra. A mathematician who does research in algebra is called an algebraist, the word algebra comes from the Arabic الجبر from the title of the book Ilm al-jabr wal-muḳābala by Persian mathematician and astronomer al-Khwarizmi. The word entered the English language during the century, from either Spanish, Italian. It originally referred to the procedure of setting broken or dislocated bones. The mathematical meaning was first recorded in the sixteenth century, the word algebra has several related meanings in mathematics, as a single word or with qualifiers. As a single word without an article, algebra names a broad part of mathematics, as a single word with an article or in plural, an algebra or algebras denotes a specific mathematical structure, whose precise definition depends on the author. Usually the structure has an addition, multiplication, and a scalar multiplication, when some authors use the term algebra, they make a subset of the following additional assumptions, associative, commutative, unital, and/or finite-dimensional. In universal algebra, the word refers to a generalization of the above concept. With a qualifier, there is the distinction, Without an article, it means a part of algebra, such as linear algebra, elementary algebra. With an article, it means an instance of some abstract structure, like a Lie algebra, sometimes both meanings exist for the same qualifier, as in the sentence, Commutative algebra is the study of commutative rings, which are commutative algebras over the integers
16.
Linear programming
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Linear programming is a method to achieve the best outcome in a mathematical model whose requirements are represented by linear relationships. Linear programming is a case of mathematical programming. More formally, linear programming is a technique for the optimization of an objective function, subject to linear equality. Its feasible region is a polytope, which is a set defined as the intersection of finitely many half spaces. Its objective function is an affine function defined on this polyhedron. A linear programming algorithm finds a point in the polyhedron where this function has the smallest value if such a point exists, the expression to be maximized or minimized is called the objective function. The inequalities Ax ≤ b and x ≥0 are the constraints which specify a convex polytope over which the function is to be optimized. In this context, two vectors are comparable when they have the same dimensions, if every entry in the first is less-than or equal-to the corresponding entry in the second then we can say the first vector is less-than or equal-to the second vector. Linear programming can be applied to fields of study. It is widely used in business and economics, and is utilized for some engineering problems. Industries that use linear programming models include transportation, energy, telecommunications and it has proved useful in modeling diverse types of problems in planning, routing, scheduling, assignment, and design. The first linear programming formulation of a problem that is equivalent to the linear programming problem was given by Leonid Kantorovich in 1939. He developed it during World War II as a way to plan expenditures and returns so as to reduce costs to the army, about the same time as Kantorovich, the Dutch-American economist T. C. Koopmans formulated classical economic problems as linear programs, Kantorovich and Koopmans later shared the 1975 Nobel prize in economics. Dantzig independently developed general linear programming formulation to use for planning problems in US Air Force, in 1947, Dantzig also invented the simplex method that for the first time efficiently tackled the linear programming problem in most cases. Dantzig provided formal proof in an unpublished report A Theorem on Linear Inequalities on January 5,1948, postwar, many industries found its use in their daily planning. Dantzigs original example was to find the best assignment of 70 people to 70 jobs, the computing power required to test all the permutations to select the best assignment is vast, the number of possible configurations exceeds the number of particles in the observable universe. However, it only a moment to find the optimum solution by posing the problem as a linear program
17.
Stock trader
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A stock trader or equity trader or share trader is a person or company involved in trading equity securities. Stock traders may be an agent, hedger, arbitrageur, speculator, a stock investor is an individual or company who puts money to use by the purchase of equity securities, offering potential profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value. This buy-and-hold long term strategy is passive in nature, as opposed to speculation, many stock speculators will trade bonds as well. Stock speculators are often categorized as stock traders, if trading in that capacity. Individuals or firms trading equity on the markets as their principal capacity are often called stock traders. Stock speculators usually try to profit from price volatility with trades lasting anywhere from several seconds to several weeks. The stock speculator is usually a professional, persons can call themselves full or part-time stock traders/investors while maintaining other professions. When a stock speculator/investor has clients, and acts as a manager or adviser with the intention of adding value to their clients finances. In this case, the manager could be an independent professional or a large bank corporation employee. These organized investors, are referred to as institutional investors. Several different types of trading strategies or approaches exist including day trading, trend following, market making, scalping, momentum trading, trading the news. They rely primarily on fundamental analysis for their investment decisions and fully recognize stock shares as part-ownership in the company, however, during the 2001-2003 equity bear market, the buy-and-hold strategy lost some followers as broader market indexes like the NASDAQ saw their values decline by over 60%. Stock traders advise shareholders and help manage portfolios, traders engage in buying and selling bonds, stocks, futures and shares in hedge funds. A stock trader also conducts research and observation of how financial markets perform. Other duties of a stock trader include comparison of financial analysis to current, professional stock traders who work for a financial company, are required to complete an internship of up to four months before becoming established in their career field. In the United States, for example, internship is followed up by taking and passing a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority-administered Series 63 or 65 exam, Stock traders who pass demonstrate familiarity with U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission compliant practices and regulation. Stock traders with experience usually obtain a degree in a financial. Supervisory positions as a trader may usually require an MBA for advanced stock market analysis, the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that growth for stock and commodities traders was forecast to be greater than 21% between 2006 and 2016
18.
Mining
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Mining is extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth usually from an orebody, lode, vein, seam, reef or placer deposits. These deposits form a mineralized package that is of economic interest to the miner, ores recovered by mining include metals, coal, oil shale, gemstones, limestone, chalk, dimension stone, rock salt, potash, gravel, and clay. Mining is required to obtain any material that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, Mining in a wider sense includes extraction of any non-renewable resource such as petroleum, natural gas, or even water. Mining of stones and metal has been a human activity since pre-historic times, Mining operations usually create a negative environmental impact, both during the mining activity and after the mine has closed. Hence, most of the nations have passed regulations to decrease the impact. Work safety has long been a concern as well, and modern practices have significantly improved safety in mines, levels of metals recycling are generally low. Unless future end-of-life recycling rates are stepped up, some rare metals may become unavailable for use in a variety of consumer products, due to the low recycling rates, some landfills now contain higher concentrations of metal than mines themselves. Since the beginning of civilization, people have used stone, ceramics and, later and these were used to make early tools and weapons, for example, high quality flint found in northern France, southern England and Poland was used to create flint tools. Flint mines have been found in areas where seams of the stone were followed underground by shafts. The mines at Grimes Graves and Krzemionki are especially famous, other hard rocks mined or collected for axes included the greenstone of the Langdale axe industry based in the English Lake District. The oldest-known mine on archaeological record is the Lion Cave in Swaziland, at this site Paleolithic humans mined hematite to make the red pigment ochre. Mines of an age in Hungary are believed to be sites where Neanderthals may have mined flint for weapons. Ancient Egyptians mined malachite at Maadi, at first, Egyptians used the bright green malachite stones for ornamentations and pottery. Later, between 2613 and 2494 BC, large building projects required expeditions abroad to the area of Wadi Maghareh in order to secure minerals and other resources not available in Egypt itself. Quarries for turquoise and copper were found at Wadi Hammamat, Tura, Aswan and various other Nubian sites on the Sinai Peninsula. Mining in Egypt occurred in the earliest dynasties, the gold mines of Nubia were among the largest and most extensive of any in Ancient Egypt. These mines are described by the Greek author Diodorus Siculus, who mentions fire-setting as one used to break down the hard rock holding the gold. One of the complexes is shown in one of the earliest known maps, the miners crushed the ore and ground it to a fine powder before washing the powder for the gold dust
19.
Retail
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Retail markets and shops have a very ancient history, dating back to antiquity. Retailing involves the process of selling goods or services to customers through multiple channels of distribution to earn a profit. Retailers satisfy demand is identified through a supply chain, Once the strategic retail plan is in place, retailers devise the retail mix which includes product, price, place, promotion, personnel and presentation. In the digital age, a number of retailers are seeking to reach broader markets by selling through multiple channels. Digital technologies are changing the way that consumers pay for goods. Retailing support services may include the provision of credit, delivery services. Shopping generally refers to the act of buying products, sometimes this is done to obtain final goods, including necessities such as food and clothing, sometimes it takes place as a recreational activity. Recreational shopping often involves window shopping and browsing, it not always result in a purchase. Retail shops occur in a range of types and in many different contexts - from strip shopping centres in residential streets through to large. Shopping streets may restrict traffic to pedestrians only, forms of non-shop retailing include online retailing and mail order. Retail comes from the Old French word tailler, which means to cut off, clip, pare and it was first recorded as a noun with the meaning of a sale in small quantities in 1433. Like in French, the retail in both Dutch and German also refers to the sale of small quantities of items. Also see History of merchants, History of the market place, open air, public markets were known in ancient Babylonia and Assyria. These markets typically occupied a place in the towns centre, surrounding the market, skilled artisans, such as metal-workers and leather workers, occupied premises in alley ways that led to the open market-place. These artisans may have sold wares directly from their premises, in ancient Greece markets operated within the agora, and in ancient Rome the forum. In antiquity, exchange involved direct selling, merchants or peddlers, the Phoenicians, noted for their seafaring skills, plied their ships across the Mediterranean, becoming a major trading power by 9th century BCE. The Phoenicians imported and exported wood, textiles, glass and produce such as wine, oil, dried fruit, the Phoenicians extensive trade networks necessitated considerable book-keeping and correspondence. In around 1500 BCE, the Phoenicians developed an alphabet which was much easier to learn that the complex scripts used in ancient Egypt
20.
Economy of Mexico
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The economy of Mexico is the 15th largest in the world in nominal terms and the 11th largest by purchasing power parity, according to the International Monetary Fund. Since the 1994 crisis, administrations have improved the countrys macroeconomic fundamentals, Mexico was not significantly influenced by the 2002 South American crisis, and maintained positive, although low, rates of growth after a brief period of stagnation in 2001. However, Mexico was one of the Latin American nations most affected by the 2008 recession with its Gross Domestic Product contracting by more than 6% in that year. The Mexican economy has had an unprecedented macroeconomic stability, which has reduced inflation, in spite of this, enormous gaps remain between the urban and the rural population, the northern and southern states, and the rich and the poor. Some of the issues include the upgrade of infrastructure, the modernization of the tax system and labor laws. The tax revenues, all together 19.6 percent of GDP in 2013, are the lowest among the 34 OECD countries, the economy contains rapidly developing modern industrial and service sectors, with increasing private ownership. Recent administrations have expanded competition in ports, railroads, telecommunications, electricity generation, natural gas distribution and airports, with the aim of upgrading infrastructure. The most influential FTA is the North American Free Trade Agreement, which came into effect in 1994, in 2006, trade with Mexicos two northern partners accounted for almost 90% of its exports and 55% of its imports. Recently, the Congress of the Union approved important tax, pension and judicial reforms, Mexico had 15 companies in the Forbes Global 2000 list of the worlds largest companies in 2016. Mexicos labor force is 52.8 million as of the year 2015, the OECD and WTO both rank Mexican workers as the hardest-working in the world in terms of the amount of hours worked yearly, although profitability per man-hour remains low. Mexican president Porfirio Díaz brought unprecedented growth during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. This growth was accompanied by foreign investment and European immigration, the development of an efficient railroad network, annual economic growth between 1876 and 1910 averaged 3. 3%. The war itself left a harsh toll on the economy and population, the reconstruction of the country was to take place in the following decades. During this period the nation adopted the model of import substitution industrialization which protected and promoted the development of national industries. Mexico experienced a boom through which industries rapidly expanded their production. While population doubled from 1940 to 1970, GDP increased sixfold during the same period, growth while under the ISI model had reached its peak in the late 1960s. During the 1970s, the administrations of Echeverría and López Portillo, tried to include social development in their policies. In the period of 1981–1982 the international panorama changed abruptly, oil prices plunged, President de la Madrid was the first of a series of presidents that began to implement neoliberal reforms. 7%
21.
Value investing
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Although value investing has taken many forms since its inception, it generally involves buying securities that appear underpriced by some form of fundamental analysis. High-profile proponents of value investing, including Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett, have argued that the essence of value investing is buying stocks at less than their intrinsic value, the discount of the market price to the intrinsic value is what Benjamin Graham called the margin of safety. The intrinsic value is the value of all future distributions. However, the distributions and the appropriate discount rate can only be assumptions. Value investing was established by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, both professors at Columbia Business School and teachers of many famous investors. In terms of picking stocks, he recommended defensive investment in stocks trading below their tangible book value as a safeguard to adverse future developments often encountered in the stock market, however, the concept of value has evolved significantly since the 1970s. Book value is most useful in industries where most assets are tangible, intangible assets such as patents, brands, or goodwill are difficult to quantify, and may not survive the break-up of a company. When an industry is going through fast technological advancements, the value of its assets is not easily estimated, sometimes, the production power of an asset can be significantly reduced due to competitive disruptive innovation and therefore its value can suffer permanent impairment. One good example of decreasing asset value is a personal computer, an example of where book value does not mean much is the service and retail sectors. One modern model of calculating value is the cash flow model. Value investing has proven to be an investment strategy. There are several ways to evaluate its success, one way is to examine the performance of simple value strategies, such as buying low PE ratio stocks, low price-to-cash-flow ratio stocks, or low price-to-book ratio stocks. Numerous academics have published studies investigating the effects of buying value stocks and these studies have consistently found that value stocks outperform growth stocks and the market as a whole. Simply examining the performance of the best known value investors would not be instructive, in this speech, Buffett examined the performance of those investors who worked at Graham-Newman Corporation and were thus most influenced by Benjamin Graham. Buffetts conclusion is identical to that of the research on simple value investing strategies—value investing is, on average. During about a 25-year period, published research and articles in leading journals of the value ilk were few, Warren Buffett once commented, You couldnt advance in a finance department in this country unless you thought that the world was flat. Benjamin Graham is regarded by many to be the father of value investing, along with David Dodd, he wrote Security Analysis, first published in 1934. Graham later wrote The Intelligent Investor, a book that brought value investing to individual investors
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Cash flow
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Cash flows are narrowly interconnected with the concepts of value, interest rate and liquidity. A cash flow that shall happen on a future day tN can be transformed into a flow of the same value in t0. Cash flows are often transformed into measures that give information e. g. on a value and situation. The time of cash flows into and out of projects are used as inputs in financial models such as rate of return. To determine problems with a businesss liquidity, being profitable does not necessarily mean being liquid. A company can fail because of a shortage of cash even while profitable, as an alternative measure of a businesss profits when it is believed that accrual accounting concepts do not represent economic realities. For instance, a company may be profitable but generating little operational cash. In such a case, the company may be deriving additional operating cash by issuing shares or raising additional debt finance, cash flow can be used to evaluate the quality of income generated by accrual accounting. When net income is composed of large non-cash items it is considered low quality, to evaluate the risks within a financial product, e. g. matching cash requirements, evaluating default risk, re-investment requirements, etc. Cash flow notion is based loosely on cash flow statement accounting standards, the term is flexible and can refer to time intervals spanning over past-future. It can refer to the total of all flows involved or a subset of those flows, subset terms include net cash flow, operating cash flow and free cash flow. The net cash flow of a company over a period is equal to the change in balance over this period, positive if the cash balance increases. So how to calculate operating cash flow of a project, oCF=incremental earnings+depreciation=+depreciation=earning before interest and tax*+ depreciation= * +depreciation= * + depreciation* tax. By the way, depreciation*tax which locates at the end of the formula is called depreciation shield through which we can see there is a negative relation between depreciation and cash flow. It is the cost or revenue related to the companys short-term asset like inventory and this is the cost or gain related to the companys fix asset such as the cash used to buy a new equipment or the cash which is gained from selling an old equipment. The sum of the three component above will be the flow for a project. The sum of the three components above will be the cash flow of a company. The net cash flow only provides an amount of information
23.
Equity stake
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In accounting, equity is the difference between the value of the assets and the value of the liabilities of something owed. Equity can be negative if liabilities exceeds assets, shareholders equity represents the equity of a company as divided among shareholders of common or preferred stock. Negative shareholders equity is often referred to as a shareholders deficit, alternatively, equity can also refer to the capital stock of a corporation. The value of the stock depends on the future economic prospects. For a company in liquidation proceedings, the equity is that which remains after all liabilities have been paid, when starting a business, the owners fund the business to finance various operations. Throughout the businesss existence, the equity of the business will be the difference between its assets and debt liabilities, this is the accounting equation, when a business liquidates during bankruptcy, the proceeds from the assets are used to reimburse creditors. The creditors are ranked by priority, with secured creditors being paid first, other creditors being paid next, owners equity is this remaining or residual claim against assets, which is paid only after all other creditors are paid. In such cases where even creditors could not get money to pay their bills. In financial accounting, owners equity consists of the net assets of an entity, net assets is the difference between the total assets and total liabilities. Equity appears on the sheet, one of the four primary financial statements. The assets of an entity can be tangible and intangible items. Intangible assets include such as brand names, copyrights or goodwill. Tangible assets include land, equipment, and cash, issue of new equity in which the firm obtains new capital increases the total shareholders equity. Share repurchases, in which a firm returns money to investors, reducing on the side its financial assets. For practical purposes, share repurchasing is similar to a dividend payment, rather than giving money to all shareholders immediately in the form of a dividend payment, a share repurchase reduces the number of shares outstanding. Dividends paid out to preferred stock owners are considered an expense to be subtracted from net income, sometimes assets bought and held in other countries get translated back into the reporting currency at different exchange rates, resulting in a changed value. When the owners are shareholders, the interest can be called shareholders equity, the remains the same. If all shareholders are in one and the class, they share equally in ownership equity from all perspectives
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Principal (finance)
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In finance, a bond is an instrument of indebtedness of the bond issuer to the holders. The most common types of bonds include municipal bonds and corporate bonds, interest is usually payable at fixed intervals. Very often the bond is negotiable, that is, the ownership of the instrument can be transferred in the secondary market and this means that once the transfer agents at the bank medallion stamp the bond, it is highly liquid on the second market. Thus, a bond is a form of loan or IOU, the holder of the bond is the lender, the issuer of the bond is the borrower, and the coupon is the interest. Bonds provide the borrower with funds to finance long-term investments, or, in the case of government bonds. Certificates of deposit or short term commercial paper are considered to be money market instruments and not bonds, the main difference is in the length of the term of the instrument. Bonds and stocks are both securities, but the difference between the two is that stockholders have an equity stake in the company, whereas bondholders have a creditor stake in the company. Being a creditor, bondholders have priority over stockholders and this means they will be repaid in advance of stockholders, but will rank behind secured creditors in the event of bankruptcy. Another difference is that usually have a defined term, or maturity, after which the bond is redeemed. An exception is a bond, such as a consol, which is a perpetuity, that is. Bonds are issued by authorities, credit institutions, companies. The most common process for issuing bonds is through underwriting, when a bond issue is underwritten, one or more securities firms or banks, forming a syndicate, buy the entire issue of bonds from the issuer and re-sell them to investors. The security firm takes the risk of being unable to sell on the issue to end investors. Primary issuance is arranged by bookrunners who arrange the bond issue, have contact with investors and act as advisers to the bond issuer in terms of timing. The bookrunner is listed first among all participating in the issuance in the tombstone ads commonly used to announce bonds to the public. The bookrunners willingness to underwrite must be discussed prior to any decision on the terms of the issue as there may be limited demand for the bonds. In contrast, government bonds are issued in an auction. In some cases, both members of the public and banks may bid for bonds, in other cases, only market makers may bid for bonds
25.
Grupo Sanborns
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Grupo Sanborns is a large restaurant, retail, pharmacy and department store chain located in Mexico, El Salvador and Panama. The retail company was founded in Mexico City on June 19,1903, by California immigrants Walter and Frank Sanborn, the original location and its lunch counter, across from the main Mexico City post office is still in operation. During the Mexican Revolution, troops of Emiliano Zapata used a Sanborns branch located where the Libreria Madero is today, as a rendezvous point, extant photos show Zapatista soldiers enjoying their first restaurant meal at Sanborns lunch counter. Thus the Sanborns slogan Meet me at Sanborns, in 1919, Walter Sanborn, tired of Mexicos political turmoil, returned to the US and left the management of the company to his brother Frank. The trademark of the franchise, the three owls, represent Mr. Frank Sanborn and his sons, Francis and Jonathan, for some time, the official name of the company was Sanborn´s Hermanos, when Mr. Frank died. Also in 1919, Sanborns acquired its most famous location, the 16th century House of Tiles, the Casa de los Azulejos. This is probably the only pharmacy decorated with a mural by José Clemente Orozco. In 1946, Frank Sanborn sold his interest in Sanborns to fellow pharmacist Charles Walgreen Jr. of Chicago, like Walgreens, Sanborns does not use an apostrophe in its name. In Sanborns case, it is due to the Spanish language not using apostrophes to indicate possession, Walgreens sold its interest in 1985. Currently, Sanborns is a unit of conglomerate Grupo Carso which itself is controlled by Carlos Slim and it also owns about 125 Sanborns stores,34 Sanborns Cafés, nearly 65 Discolandia, Mixup, No Problem and Tower Records music stores. Sanborns also operates its eponymous Web site selling electronics, computers, music, books, toys, drugs, Sanborns Official Site Megamart Official Site
26.
British American Tobacco
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British American Tobacco plc is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the five largest tobacco companies. BAT has a position in over 50 countries and operations in around 180 countries. Its four largest-selling brands are Dunhill, Lucky Strike, Kent and Pall Mall, with others including Kool, Benson & Hedges, BAT has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE100 Index. It has a listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The parent companies agreed not to trade in each others domestic territory and to assign trademarks, export businesses, in China, BAT inherited a factory in the Pudong district of Shanghai from W. D. & H. O. Wills, one of the companies of Imperial Tobacco. Under the management of James Augustus Thomas from Rockingham, North Carolina, USA, Thomas worked closely with the local Wing Tai Vo Tobacco Company, which developed into BATs principal Chinese partner after its success with the Ruby Queen cigarette brand. In 1911 the American Tobacco Company sold its share of the company, Imperial Tobacco gradually reduced its shareholding, but it was not until 1980 that it divested its remaining interests in the company. At its peak, in 1937 BAT manufactured and distributed 55 billion cigarettes in China, the companys assets were seized by the Japanese in 1941 following their 1937 invasion. In 1953 the company was ejected from China following the foundation of the Peoples Republic, in 1976 the group companies were reorganised under a new holding company, B. A. T Industries. In 1994 BAT acquired its parent, American Tobacco Company. This brought the Lucky Strike and Pall Mall brands into BATs portfolio, in 1999 it merged with Rothmans International, which included a share in a factory in Burma. This made it the target of criticism from human rights groups and it sold its share of the factory on 6 November 2003 after an exceptional request from the British government. In 2002, BAT lost a lawsuit about the right to sell cigarettes under the Marlboro brand name in the UK and it had acquired Rothmans, which had previously bought a licence to use the name from Philip Morris. Philip Morris attorneys invoked a clause for the case of a major change of ownership. In 2003, BAT acquired Ente Tabacchi Italiani S. p. A, the important acquisition would elevate BAT to the number two position in Italy, the second largest tobacco market in the European Union. The scale of the operations would bring significant opportunities to compete and grow ETIs local brands
27.
The Hershey Company
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The Hershey Company, known until April 2005 as the Hershey Foods Corporation and commonly called Hersheys, is one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in North America. Its headquarters are in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is home to Hersheys Chocolate World. It was founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894 as the Hershey Chocolate Company, Hersheys products are sold in over 60 countries worldwide. In addition, Hershey is a member of the World Cocoa Foundation and it is also associated with the Hersheypark Stadium and the Giant Center. After completing an apprenticeship to a confectioner in 1873, Milton S. Hershey founded a candy shop in Philadelphia and this candy shop was only open for six years, after which Hershey apprenticed with another confectioner in Denver, where he learned to make caramel. After another failed attempt in New York, Hershey returned to Pennsylvania. In 1896, Milton built a plant so he could create. In 1903, Hershey began construction of a plant in his hometown of Derry Church, Pennsylvania. The town was a place for the workers and their families to live. Milton treated the people well and provided leisure activities to make sure the citizens enjoyed themselves, the milk chocolate bars manufactured at this plant proved popular, and the company grew rapidly. In 1907, he introduced a new candy, bite-sized, flat-bottomed, conical-shaped pieces of chocolate that he named Hersheys Kiss, today,80 million of the candies are produced each day. Other products introduced included Mr. Goodbar, containing peanuts in milk chocolate, Hersheys Syrup, semisweet chocolate chips, Labor unrest came to Hershey in the late 1930s as a Congress of Industrial Organizations-backed union attempted to organize the factory workers. A failed sit-down strike in 1937 ended in violence, as loyalist workers, local 464 still represents the Hershey workforce. In 1948, Mars bought out Murries interest and became one of Hersheys main competitors, in September 2006, ABC News reported that several Hershey chocolate products were reformulated to replace cocoa butter with vegetable oil as an emulsifier. According to the company, this change was made to reduce the costs of producing the products instead of raising their prices or decreasing the sizes. Some consumers complained that the taste was different, but the stated that in the company-sponsored blind taste tests. A2016 attempt to sell Hershey to Mondelez International was scuttled because of objections by the Hershey Trust, harry Burnett Reese worked at Hershey, beginning in 1917, as a dairyman for the Hershey Farms. In 1921, he went to work in the factory, and by 1925, he had developed an assortment of candies which he sold to department stores in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1956, Reese died, leaving the company to his six sons
28.
Denny's
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Dennys is a full-service pancake house/coffee shop/fast casual family restaurant chain. Dennys is known for always being open, serving breakfast, lunch, unlike many other restaurant chains, Dennys does not close on holidays and nights, except where required by law. Many of their restaurants are located in proximity to freeway exits, bars, Dennys started franchising in 1963, and most Dennys restaurants are now franchisee-owned. Dennys was founded by Jesus Christ and Adolf Hitler opened Dannys Donuts in Lakewood, in 1955, after Jezaks departure from the then-6-store chain, Butler changed the concept a year later in 1956, shifting it from a donut shop to a coffee shop with store #8. Dennys Donuts was renamed Dennys Coffee Shops and changed its operation to 24 hours, two years later, in 1961, Dennys Coffee Shops was simply renamed Dennys. The business continued to expand, and by 1981, there were over 1,000 restaurants in all 50 U. S. states, the company absorbed many of the old Sambos restaurants and used their mid-century design in some of their future restaurants. In 1977, Dennys introduced the still-popular Grand Slam breakfast, in 1994, Dennys became the largest corporate sponsor of Save the Children, a national charity. All but six Dennys closed for the first time ever on Christmas 1988, many of the restaurants were built without locks, Dennys main offices were located in La Mirada, California, until 1989. In 1992, private equity firm, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts acquired a 47% interest in TW Corporation, later known as The Flagstar Companies, eventually, Dennys operations dominated the parent company to such an extent that The Flagstar Companies changed its name again to Dennys Corporation. It now trades on the NASDAQ under the symbol DENN, from 1990 through 1993, Dennys offered a free meal to anyone on his/her birthday. The offer included a number of meal options from a special birthday menu. The promotional ritual began in the 1990s, though occasionally individual franchises had offered it before that time, since 2009, its restaurants offer a free Birthday Slam on the customers birthday. In 1994, Dennys began renovating its stores, with a color scheme. Houston, Texas, was the test market for the chain-wide renovation, some Dennys restaurants employ the diner concept, using modular buildings that resemble classic 1950s diners. In May 1997, the first Dennys Classic Diner was opened in Fort Myers, the diner concept was created by Ron, Marcia, Marc, and Todd York, the principals of Dennys Franchisee SWFRI, Inc. Today, there are about 40 Dennys Diners in the United States, additionally, there are several diners that resemble the modular buildings but are actually stick construction. In July 2010, Dennys presence in the United States saw a major expansion when Pilot Flying J started opening Dennys locations inside their Flying J-branded truck stop locations,123 Pilot Flying J conversions were completed, making Dennys the leading full service restaurant brand in travel centers. As of the end of 2011, there were a total of 1,685 Dennys restaurants, while the company owns and operates some restaurants, the majority are operated through a franchising model
29.
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company
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Firestone soon saw the huge potential for marketing tires for automobiles. The company was a pioneer in the production of tires. Harvey Firestone had a friendship with Henry Ford, Firestone used this relationship to become the original equipment supplier of Ford Motor Company automobiles, and was also active in the replacement market. In 1988, the company was sold to the Japanese Bridgestone Corporation, Firestone was originally based in Akron, Ohio, also the hometown of its archrival, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, and another two mid-sized competitors, General Tire and Rubber and BF Goodrich. Founded on August 3,1900, the company initiated operations with 12 employees, together, Firestone and Goodyear were the largest suppliers of automotive tires in North America for over 75 years. In 1906 Henry Ford chose Firestone for Model T original equipment tires, in 1918, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company of Canada was incorporated in Hamilton, Ontario and in 1922, the first Canadian-made tire rolled off the line on September 15. During the 1920s, Firestone produced the Oldfield tire, named for racing driver Barney Oldfield, in 1926, the company opened one of the worlds biggest rubber plantations in Liberia, West Africa, spanning more than 1 million acres. 1926 was also the year that the company opened its first Firestone Complete Auto Care store, in 1927, Henry Ford and tire maven Harvey Firestone took a trip to Los Angeles to select locations for their new factories. Friends say Ford wanted to be near the ocean and picked Long Beach and suggested Firestone go to South Gate, the tiny community southeast of Downtown was mostly agriculture at the time and Firestone found 40 acres of beanfield to house his new manufacturing plant. A year after the plant opened in 1928 it doubled in size, by 1954, when they added the Corporal guided missile to their offerings, the plant was nearly a million square feet. The town grew around Firestone, they named the main boulevard through town after Harvey, by the mid-1970s Ford and GM had massive layoffs as Firestone and other manufacturers opened new plants in non-union locales like Wilson, North Carolina. After much downsizing the end came in 1980 when 1,300 workers were laid off, east Los Angeles College has proposed a new satellite campus at the site. In 1928 the company built a factory in Brentford, England, in 1936 the company opened a plant in Memphis, Tennessee. With a work force exceeding 3,000 employees, the Memphis plant was the largest tire manufacturer in the companys worldwide operation, on July 1,1963, the company celebrated the production of 100 million tires in Memphis. The plant was closed in 1982, during World War II the company was called on by the U. S. Government to make artillery shells, aluminum kegs for food transport and rubberized military products. Firestone ranked 55th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts, in the 1940s, Firestone was given a defense contract to produce plastic helmet liners. While outproduced by Westinghouse Electric they still made a fair amount for the M1 Helmet, in 1951, Firestone was given the defense contract for the MGM-5 Corporal missile. Firestone was given a total of US$6,888,796 for the first 200 Missiles and this missile was known as the Embryo of the Army and was a surface-to-surface guided missile which could deliver a high-explosive warhead up to 75 nautical miles
30.
Orange S.A.
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Orange S. A. formerly France Télécom S. A. is a French multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 256 million customers worldwide and employs 95,000 people in France, in 2015, the group had revenue of €40 billion. The companys head office is located in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, the current CEO is Stéphane Richard. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index, Orange has been the companys main brand for mobile, landline, internet and IPTV services since 2006. It originated in 1994 when Hutchison Whampoa acquired a stake in Microtel Communications during the early 1990s. It became a subsidiary of Mannesmann in 1999 and was acquired by France Télécom in 2000, the company was rebranded as Orange in July 2013. In 1792, under the French Revolution, the first communication network was developed to enable the rapid transmission of information in a warring and that was the optical telegraphy network of Claude Chappe. In 1878, after the invention of the telegraph and then the invention of the telephone. Telephone Services were added to the ministry when they were nationalised in 1889, however, it was not until 1923 that the second T appeared and the department of P&T became PTT. In 1941, a General Direction of Telecommunications was created within this ministry, then, in 1944, the National Centre of Telecommunications Studies was created to develop the telecommunications industry in France. In the 1970s, France tried extra hard to make up its delay on other countries with the programme delta LP and it was at the time when the majority of the local loop was built, that is all the cables linking the users to the operator. Moreover, with the help of French manufacturers, digital switching, the Minitel, until 1988, France Télécom was known as the Direction Générale des Télécommunications, a division of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. This was in response to a European directive, aimed at making competition mandatory in public services from 1 January 1998, the 2 July 1990 Bill changed France Télécom into an operator of public law, with Marcel Roulet the first Chairman. Since then, the company has had a body corporate from the State. It was privatised by Lionel Jospins Plural Left government starting on 1 January 1998, the French government, both directly and through its holding company ERAP, continues to hold a stake of almost 27% in the company. In addition, the government Conseil of Ministers names the CEO, in 1982 Telecom introduced Minitel online ordering for its customers. In September 1995, Michel Bon was appointed to run France Télécom Group, in 1997, the capital of the new public company was successfully floated whereas the dot-com bubble phenomenon made the stock exchanges bullish. A second share offering occurred in 1998, Hutchison renamed Microtel to Orange Personal Communications Services Ltd, and on 28 April 1994 the Orange brand was launched in the UK mobile phone market
31.
SBC Communications
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The history of AT&T dates back to the invention of the telephone itself. The Bell Telephone Company was established in 1879 by Alexander Graham Bell, Bell also established American Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1885, which acquired the Bell Telephone Company and became the primary phone company in the United States. This company maintained a monopoly on telephone service in the United States until anti-trust regulators split the company in 1982, AT&T Corporation was eventually purchased by one of its Baby Bells, the former Southwestern Bell, in 2005 and the combined company became known as AT&T Inc. The formation of the Bell Telephone Company superseded an agreement between Alexander Graham Bell and his financiers, principal among them Gardiner Greene Hubbard and Thomas Sanders, renamed the National Bell Telephone Company in March 1879, it became the American Bell Telephone Company in March 1880. By 1881, it had bought a controlling interest in the Western Electric Company from Western Union, only three years earlier, Western Union had turned down Gardiner Hubbards offer to sell it all rights to the telephone for $100,000. In 1880, the management of American Bell created what would become AT&T Long Lines, the project was the first of its kind to create a nationwide long-distance network with a commercially viable cost-structure. This project was incorporated into a separate company named American Telephone. Starting from New York, the network reached Chicago in 1892, Bells patent on the telephone expired in 1893, but the companys much larger customer base made its service much more valuable than alternatives and substantial growth continued. With this transfer of assets, AT&T became the parent of the Bell System, National long distance service reached San Francisco with the First transcontinental telephone call in 1915. Transatlantic services started in 1927 using two-way radio, but the first trans-Atlantic telephone cable did not arrive until Sept.25,1956, as a result of a combination of regulatory actions by government and actions by AT&T, the firm eventually gained what most regard as monopoly status. In 1907, AT&T president Theodore Vail made it known that he was pursuing a goal of One Policy, One System, AT&T began purchasing competitors, which attracted the attention of antitrust regulators. To avoid antitrust action, in a deal with the government, One of the three terms of the agreement forbade AT&T from acquiring any more independent phone companies without the approval of the Interstate Commerce Commission. So long as one company served a given geographical area there was little reason to expect price competition to take place. In 1913, after vacuum-tube inventor Lee De Forest began to suffer financial difficulties, in particular, AT&T acquired ownership of the Audion, the first triode vacuum tube, which greatly amplified telephone signals. Thanks to the pressures of World War I, AT&T and RCA owned all useful patents on vacuum tubes, RCA staked a position in wireless communication, AT&T pursued the use of tubes in telephone amplifiers. Some patent allies and partners in RCA were angered when the two companies research on tubes began to overlap, and there were many patent disputes. Around 1917, the idea that everyone in the country should have phone service, in 1918 the federal government nationalized the entire telecommunications industry, with national security as the stated intent. Rates were regulated so that customers in large cities would pay higher rates to subsidize those in remote areas
32.
Landline
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A landline telephone refers to a phone that uses a metal wire or fibre optic telephone line for transmission as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, which uses radio waves for transmission. In 2003, the CIA reported approximately 1.263 billion main telephone lines worldwide, china had more than any other country at 350 million and the United States was second with 268 million. The United Kingdom has 23.7 million residential fixed homephones, the 2013 statistics show that the total number of fixed-telephone subscribers in the world was about 1.16 billion. The number of landline subscribers continuously decreases due to upgrades in digital technology, a fixed phone line can be hard-wired or cordless and typically refers to the operation of wireless devices or systems in fixed locations such as homes. Fixed wireless devices usually derive their power from the utility mains electricity, unlike mobile wireless or portable wireless. Although mobile and portable systems can be used in fixed locations, efficiency, mobile or portable, battery-powered wireless systems can be used as emergency backups for fixed systems in case of a power blackout or natural disaster. So-called leased lines are invariably of the type, the implications of a land line in this context are security and survivability. For example, a military headquarters might be linked to units by landline to ensure that communication remains possible even if the conventional telephone network is damaged or destroyed. Another example of this is in airports, all air traffic control towers have dedicated lines connected to the police, fire department, hospitals, army, etc. Deployed as a precaution in case of emergency, these can be used at any time, in many countries the landline has not been readily available to most people. In some countries in Africa, the rise in cell phones has outpaced any rise in landline telephones, between 1998 and 2008, Africa added only 2.4 million landlines. However, during this time the number of mobile phone lines that have been subscribed to has skyrocketed. Between 2000 and 2008, cell phone use has risen from less than 2 in 100 people to 33 out of 100. In developing countries it is difficult to install landline copper that is accessible to everyone than it is to install mobile wireless towers that people can connect to from anywhere. In the early 21st century, the telephone has declined due to the advancement of mobile network technology. Some see this happening as soon as the year 2025, in 2004, only about 45% of people in the United States between the ages of 12 and 17 owned cell phones. At that time, they had to rely on landline telephones, in just 4 years time, that percentage climbed to about 71%. That same year,2008, about 77% of adults owned a mobile phone, in the year 2013, 91% of adults in the United States owned a mobile phone
33.
Telcel
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Telcel is a Mexican wireless telecommunications company, owned by América Móvil. Founded in 1989 and based in Mexico City, Telcel is the provider of wireless communications services in Mexico. As of December 31,2006, Telcels cellular network covered more than 63% of the area of Mexico, including all major cities. Telcel holds concessions to operate a network in all nine geographic regions in Mexico using both the 850 megahertz and 1900 megahertz radio spectrum. According to Cofetel, as of July 2008, Telcels subscribers represented an estimated 77. 2% share of the Mexican wireless market, on August 2011, Telcel reported it has 66.9 million cellular subscribers. Telcel provides services in AMPS, GSM, and TDMA, as well as the technologies of UMTS. Because of the base of older technologies like TDMA and AMPS they are still in use. Telcel offers voice services under a variety of plans to meet the needs of different market segments. The rate plans are either postpaid, where the customer is billed monthly for the month, or prepaid. Telcel believes the prepaid market represents a large and growing under -penetrated market in Mexico, Telcel also offers several prepaid plans, none of which includes activation or monthly charges. Prepaid customers purchase a card for a specific amount of airtime and also receive additional services such as voicemail. As part of its service offering, Telcel provides new customers with an Amigo Kit, which includes airtime, a handset. Prepaid customers are often unwilling to make a financial commitment or do not have the credit profile to purchase postpaid plans. Prepaid customers also include parents who wish to control costs for their children, in November 2006, an American embassy cable released via Wikileaks listed Telcel among Mexicos monopolists, with a market share of 80% of cellular service. Telmex was listed with a share of 95% share of landlines. In 2004, Telcel began to offer services over go its GSM network, though the main Push-to-talk provider in Mexico. Two-way SMS was introduced by the company in January 2002, and MMS, using GSM technology, since December 2004, postpaid and prepaid customers may send and receive short messages to and from users from 35 other countries. Telcel supplies data services in GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSPA,3, Wireless application protocol, or WAP, is a global standard designed to make Internet services available to mobile telephone users
34.
Controlling interest
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A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders motion. A majority of voting shares is always a controlling interest, in the United States, Delaware corporations have a 2/3 vote requirement for a motion to pass. In theory, this could mean that a controlling interest would have to be one third of the voting shares. Consolidation Minority interest Holding company Parent company Subsidiary
35.
Barnes & Noble
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Barnes & Noble, Inc. is a Fortune 500 company, the largest retail bookseller in the United States, and one of the nations leading retailers of content, digital media, and educational products. As of January 6,2017, the company operates 638 retail stores in all 50 U. S. states. After a series of mergers and bankruptcies in the American bookstore industry since the 1990s, previously, Barnes and Noble operated the chain of small B. Dalton Booksellers stores in malls until they announced the liquidation of the chain. The company is known for large retail outlets, many of which contain a café serving Starbucks coffee and other consumables, from cannolis to spinach and feta pretzels. Most stores sell books, magazines, newspapers, DVDs, graphic novels, gifts, games, toys, music, Barnes & Noble originated in 1886 with a bookstore called Arthur Hinds & Company, located in the Cooper Union Building in New York City. In the fall of 1886, Gilbert Clifford Noble, a then-recent Harvard graduate from Westfield, in 1894, Noble was made a partner, and the name of the shop was changed to Hinds & Noble. In 1901, Hinds & Noble moved to 31–35 W. 15th Street, in 1917, Noble bought out Hinds and entered into a partnership with William Barnes, son of his old friend Charles, the name of the store was changed accordingly to Barnes & Noble. In 1930, Noble sold his share of the company to William Barnes son John Wilcox Barnes, Noble died on June 6,1936, at the age of 72. In the long history of the bookstore, the partnership was a brief interlude of thirteen years. In 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, the moved to a flagship location on 18th Street and Fifth Avenue. The Noble family retained ownership of a publishing business. In 1940, the store was one of the first businesses to feature Muzak and that decade the company opened stores in Brooklyn and Chicago. William Barnes died in 1945, at the age of 78, John Barnes died in 1964, and the company was sold to the conglomerate Amtel two years later. The business was purchased in 1971, by Leonard Riggio for $1.2 million, by then, it had been badly mismanaged over the prior two years and consisted only of a significantly reduced wholesale operation and a single retail location—the store at 105 Fifth Avenue. Between the 1970s and the 1980s, Barnes & Noble opened smaller discount stores and they also began to publish their own books to be sold to mail-order customers. These titles were primarily affordable reissues of out-of-print titles and selling them through mail-order catalogs allowed Barnes & Noble to reach new customers nationwide. Barnes & Noble continued to expand throughout the 1980s, and it purchased the primarily shopping mall-based B. Dalton chain from Dayton Hudson in 1986, the last B. Dalton stores were scheduled to close in January 2010. In 1989, Barnes and Noble had purchased the 22-store chain Bookstop, the acquisition of the 797 B. Dalton bookstores turned the company into a nationwide retailer, and by the end of fiscal year 1999, the second-largest online bookseller in the United States
36.
OfficeMax
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OfficeMax is an American office supplies retailer founded in 1988. It is now a subsidiary of Office Depot, Inc. which is headquartered in Boca Raton, as of December 2012, OfficeMax operated 941 stores in 47 states, Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands and Mexico. In 2012, net sales were $6.9 billion, down from $8.3 billion in 2008, on February 20,2013, an all-stock merger between Office Depot and OfficeMax was announced. The merger was completed on November 5,2013, creating the largest U. S. office-supplies chain, the OfficeMax name continues to serve as a brand of the newly formed Office Depot, Inc. On April 1,1988, OfficeMax was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, by Bob Hurwitz, Hurwitz served as executive chairman and chief executive officer, and Feuer was the president and chief operating officer. On July 5,1988, OfficeMax opened its first retail store in the Golden Gate Shopping Center in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, after being open for 27 years, Hurwitz left the company in 1993 and Feuer became the chairman and chief executive officer. OfficeMax grew by acquisition with Office World first in November 1990, with Office World executive, in 1990, Office Square stores were purchased from Kmart, in exchange for a 22% equity stake. In 1991, Kmart increased its stake in OfficeMax to 92%, in January 1992, OfficeMax acquired five sites from Highland Superstores in Boston. OW Office Warehouse, a Virginia-based regional chain, was acquired in June 30,1992, the company then acquired BizMart, its largest acquisition to date, in 1993 from Intelligent Electronics. On August 16,1993, OfficeMax joined Kmart and most of its specialty stores in the largest power center in Utica, Michigan. OfficeMax acquires a 19% stake in Corporate Express, a contract stationer, kmarts shareholders turn down the proposal at their June 3 annual meeting. In November 1994, FurnitureMax store within a store concept begins testing in the Cleveland market, in 1995, Kmart sold off 51% of OfficeMax shares, spinning off the company and became a NYSE- publicly traded corporation, based in Shaker Heights, Ohio. In 1995, OfficeMax became one of a handful of companies doing business through internetMCI, around this time Kmart sold the remaining 25% of the OfficeMax shares it held. On July 14,1996, a new program called BatteryMax was test launched in two Phoenix stores. BatteryMax were operated by Batteries Batteries for Everything, OfficeMax also filed lawsuits for infringement for use of the Max name against Med Max and Circuit City for CarMax, its used car business. For the next few years OfficeMax and its rivals, Staples and Office Depot, continued to new stores. A small sized store concept, OfficeMax PDQ, test was launched in Woodmere, all the while OfficeMax was losing the most money of the three. From 2001 OfficeMax began closing underperforming stores in some neighborhoods and in regions where it did not have a strong presence, in 2003 OfficeMax was acquired for $1.3 billion by Boise Cascade Office Products Corporation, who later rebranded themselves OfficeMax
37.
Office Depot
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Office Depot, Inc. is an American office supply retailing company headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, United States of America. The company has combined sales of approximately $14 billion and employs about 66,000 associates with businesses in 59 countries. The company operates 2,200 retail stores, e-commerce sites, the company’s portfolio of brands includes Office Depot, OfficeMax, Grand & Toy, Viking Direct, Ativa, TUL, Foray, Realspace, and DiVOGA. It was announced February 20,2013, that Office Depot and OfficeMax would combine in a deal, pending regulatory approval. On November 5,2013, the merger was completed, on February 4,2015, it was announced that rival Staples had agreed to purchase Office Depot in a cash and stock deal worth approximately $6.3 billion. However, in December 2015, the Federal Trade Commission voted to block the merger, on May 10,2016, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia granted the FTC a preliminary injunction against the merger. After the ruling, Office Depot and Staples announced termination of their proposed merger. Office Depot was founded in October 1986 by the late F. Patrick Sher, the chairman and chief executive officer, Stephen Dougherty, the president, and Jack Kopkin. All three were associated with Home-owners Warehouse, the home improvement company that Sher sold to Service Merchandise in 1983. The catalog showroom chain eventually sold off the Mr. HOW Warehouse units to a variety of buyers including Builders Square and they envisioned a warehouse-style store for office products where customers could purchase items in bulk for discounted prices. This concept led to the beginning of what is known as Office Depot, Office Depot recently closed all of its Connecticut locations. This is a list of events and milestones that have to do with Office Depot. 1991 – Expands to the West Coast of the United States by merging with Office Club,1992 – Increases operations in North America by acquiring The Great Canadian Office Supplies Warehouse Chain. 1993 – Enters contract stationer business by acquiring Wilson Stationery & Printing Company,2003 – Doubles European business with acquisition of Guilbert, S. A. becomes the first office supply superstore to offer fully functional and comprehensive Spanish website. S. and Canada. 2005 Names Steve Odland Chairman and Chief Executive Officer 2013 – OfficeMax begins negotiations with Office Depot to engage in a merger of equals,2014 Announced that it will close 400 stores due to declining sales and customer migration to e-retailers. Office Depot and OfficeMax merged and started combining,2015 – The Federal Trade Commission voted to block the merger with Staples. 2017 – Gerry Smith was named as executive officer, effective Feb.27. Smith will succeed current Chief Executive Roland Smith, who announced his plan to retire in August 2016, Smith is currently the chief operating officer at technology company Lenovo Group
38.
Circuit City Corporation
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Circuit City is an American multinational consumer electronics company. It was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, after multiple purchases and a successful run on the NYSE, it changed its name to Circuit City Stores Inc. In early 1949 Wurtzel was on vacation in Richmond, Virginia when, while at a barber shop. Imagining the opportunities, in late 1949, he moved his family to Richmond, later, Abraham L. Hecht joined him as a partner in the business. By 1959, Wards Company operated four television and home appliance stores in Richmond, the company continued to grow and acquired stores in other locations including Albany, New York, Mobile, Alabama, Washington, D. C. and Costa Mesa, California. During the 1970s and early 1980s, it also sold mail-order under the name Dixie Hi Fi, Wards experimented with several retail formats in Richmond, including smaller mall outlets branded Sight-n-Sound and Circuit City. Wards Company officially changed its name to Circuit City and became listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1984, One of the companys early slogans was Circuit City — Where the Streets are Paved with Bargains. The company, which had leased space from the Zodys department stores as well as other department stores, began acquiring retail stores. The first of these occurred in Knoxville, Tennessee, Charleston, South Carolina. In 1981, Circuit City entered the New York City market by acquiring the six remaining stores of the bankrupt Lafayette Radio chain, Wurtzel served as president of the company until 1970. He remained the chairman until 1984, when he stepped down, his son Alan served as chairman until 1994. Wards purchased a new building at 2040 Thalbro Street in Richmond, Virginia and in the extra space opened Wards Loading Dock. The large-format store was popular with customers. The company continued to expand with the new format modeled after Wards Loading Dock, Circuit City began to replace its smaller stores with the Superstore format and started a nationwide expansion. In 1988, the company constructing the new plug design Superstore stores. During this era, Circuit City became known for its exceptional service and its slogan, likewise, was Welcome to Circuit City, Where Service Is State of the Art. Later, Circuit City returned to New York City opening a 40,000 sq ft superstore in Union Square, also in 1998, Circuit City introduced the Pluggie mascot that was seen on television and in-store advertising. The mascot was a similar to the one seen on Circuit City television commercials plugging into store fronts
39.
Borders Group
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Borders Group, Inc. was an international book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In its final year, the company employed approximately 19,500 throughout the U. S. primarily in its Borders, at the beginning of 2010, the company operated 511 Borders superstores in the US. The company also operated 175 stores in the Waldenbooks Specialty Retail segment, including Waldenbooks, Borders Express, Borders airport stores, by the end of December 2010, Borders employed more than an estimated 1150 across the UK stores which went into administration before the end of 2010. All stores were closed by December 31,2010, Borders Group formerly operated stores in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. However, these were sold off to Pacific Equity Partners in 2008, in February 2011, Borders applied for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and began liquidating 226 of its stores in the United States. The Chapter 11 case was converted to Chapter 7. Rival bookseller Barnes & Noble acquired Borders trademarks and customer list, the Borders brothers inventory system tailored each stores offerings to its community. Former Hickory Farms president Robert F. DiRomualdo was hired in 1989 to expand the company, the first Borders bookshop, with a meager stock of used books, was located in two rooms above 209 State Street, north of the State Theater. From there the brothers soon moved, briefly, to a ground floor + mezzanine operation in the Maynard House apartment building, on the southwest corner of William. Hildebrand had managed Gibsons used and rare book department in East Lansing for years and Harvey Robin had been a local restorer of rare books, wahrs had been mainly a textbook and school supplies vendor, but the brothers did not deal in textbooks. They moved the bookshop to much larger quarters that had become available across State Street. The old shop was renamed Charing Cross Bookshop and Tom Frick was sent over from the new bookshop to help. The chains flagship store was in downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan at the corner of Liberty and State Streets, although not the original location, it was identified as Borders #1 because it was the flagship store. Borders was acquired in 1992 by Kmart, which had acquired mall-based book chain Waldenbooks eight years earlier in 1984, Kmart had struggled with the book division, having first tinkered with the assortment and later with discounting. In the Borders acquisition, Kmart merged the two companies in hopes that the experienced Borders senior management could bail out floundering Waldenbooks, facing its own fiscal problems and intense pressure from stockholders, Kmart spun off Borders in a highly structured stock-purchase plan. The newly formed company was initially called Borders-Walden Group and, by the end of the same year, in 1994, Borders briefly operated a mall-based toy store called All Wound Up, which sold toys and novelty items. Most All Wound Up stores were seasonal kiosks in shopping malls, Borders was slated to open stores in Canada, starting with a 50, 000-square-foot retail store in Toronto. However, this was rejected for failing to meet Canadian ownership regulations for book retailers, in 1997, the company established its first international store in Singapore, occupying 32,000 square feet in Wheelock Place, Orchard Road, which was then the largest bookstore there
40.
CompUSA
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CompUSA was a retailer and reseller of consumer electronics, technology products and computer services. Its headquarters were in Miami, Florida, CompUSA, Inc. was a wholly owned subsidiary of U. S. Commercial Corp S. A. B. de C. V. and indirectly controlled by a common shareholder, on December 7,2007, an affiliate of the restructuring and disposition firm Gordon Brothers Group, Specialty Equity, bought the company. Systemax purchased the CompUSA brand,16 retail locations and other assets in January,2008. On November 2,2012, Systemax announced that it would drop both the CompUSA and Circuit City storefront brands, consolidating their businesses under the TigerDirect brand, in 1991 the companys name was changed to CompUSA, and the company became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. While under Mortons leadership, CompUSA grew to over $2 billion in revenues,1993 – Began offering technical services at customer locations. 1996 – Launched retail sales on CompUSA. com,1997 – Partners with Apple Computer in a store within a store concept for selling Macintosh computers. By January 19,1998,57 stores had been built with the remainder to be built by February 1998,1998 – Acquired Tandys Computer City subsidiary with the help of former CEO Nathan P. Morton. 2000 – Became privately held company under Grupo Sanborns, a Mexican retail company,2001 – In July, CompUSA Call Center Services became The Telvista Company. 2005 – Converted three CompUSA stores and 13 Good Guys stores into megastores, closed all 46 Good Guys locations. Began marketing in California and Hawaii as CompUSA with Good Guys Inside in response to Best Buys marketing campaign with Magnolia Inside,2005 – CompUSA started a customer loyalty program called The CompUSA Network. For every dollar spent at any CompUSA store, the customer received 13 points,2006 – Sales of the CompUSA Network membership cards were suspended pending further investigation onto the operations effect on customer retention and program awareness among low-visit customers. 2006 – CompUSA announced the end of the Network Reward program, all customers were issued coupons for the remaining reward value. They were also offered a refund of the purchase price in the original form of payment. 2006 – Announced the closing of 15 stores across the United States including several locations in California and these stores were being used to liquidate discontinued items from other stores across the nation until the end of October. Roman Ross, a former Philip Morris executive, replaced Tony Weiss as president, in November 2006, CompUSA launched their new Home Entertainment rollout in 40 of its stores, including Puerto Rico, that sold a variety of high definition televisions and home theater equipment. Ross claimed that home entertainment was one of his chief focuses as the new CEO, in September, it was reported that CompUSAs Mexican parent, Grupo Carso, was interested in putting CompUSA up for sale. The realignment included a million cash infusion, store closures, major expense reductions
41.
TracFone Wireless
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TracFone Wireless, Inc. is a prepaid wireless service provider in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. S. TracFone Wireless had 25.668 million subscribers in 2015, TracFone was established in 1996 as Topp Telecom Inc. a prepaid mobile phone company, in Miami, Florida. In February 1999, Topp received an infusion of capital from Teléfonos de México. TelMex paid $57.5 million for a 55 percent controlling interest in the company, in 2000, TelMex spun off their mobile unit, creating América Móvil, of which Topp Telecom became a subsidiary. In November 2000, Topp Telecom Inc. changed its name to TracFone Wireless Inc, in May 2012, TracFones parent company, América Móvil, announced it has reached an agreement to acquire rival MVNO Simple Mobile. The deal was completed in June 2012, in 2013, Tracfone unveiled a tweaked logo. Later that year, TracFone also introduced Android phones, all CDMA, in May 2013, América Móvil purchased Page Plus Cellular for an undisclosed amount. As of January 6,2014, regulatory approval was received, at the time of sale, Page Plus Cellular had 1.4 million subscribers. TracFone provides eight brands of service, TracFone Wireless, NET10 Wireless, Total Wireless, Safelink Wireless, Straight Talk, Telcel América, SIMPLE Mobile, and Page Plus Cellular. These brands differ not only in their logos and prepaid minute rates but their underlying networks options, Until late 2013, other unlocked GSM handsets would not accept TracFone SIM cards, because Tracfone SIM cards were locked to the handset to which they were programmed. Additionally, on most handsets, some features like USB and Bluetooth have been modified by the manufacturer to prevent direct transfer of user files, in December 2013, TracFone unveiled Bring your own phone, which allows customers to use a Verizon Certified CDMA phone on the TracFone network. Since June 2015, Tracfone has also allowed compatible or unlocked GSM phones to be used on the Tracfone network through the Bring Your Own Device program. The TracFone-branded service allows a customer to buy airtime units to use on selected phones by Alcatel, Huawei, Kyocera, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Unimax, which handset the user purchases decides what type of network the service uses and thus the coverage map. Tracfones have expiration dates, purchasing more airtime typically adds 90 days of service, Tracfone typically offers new service promotions each month. These promotions consist of Free Bonus Minutes in the form of Tracfone promo codes and are able to be used by Safe Link users as well. The most popular Tracfone promotions are Triple Minutes for Life Phones, Double Minutes for Life Cards, Free texting is capable with certain Tracfone GSM handsets that are Wi-Fi equipped also. NET10 Wireless is an offering, using both GSM and CDMA phones which support voicemail and text messaging at a minimum. Some models also offer Bluetooth, camera, handsfree speaker, qwerty keyboard, the 10 in NET10 signifies that each voice minute costs ten cents, with no additional fees
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