Need some optimism? Here are ten great companies started in rotten times:

  1. General Electric (1892, one year prior to the panic of 1893)
  2. Disney (recession of 1923–24)
  3. Hewlett-Packard (1939)
  4. Hyatt Corp. (1957–58 recession)
  5. Intel (1968, a year of assassinations and political upheaval)
  6. FedEx (founded in 1971 but launched in 1973, the same year as the Arab oil embargo)
  7. Microsoft (1975)
  8. Apple (1976)
  9. Genentech (1976)
  10. Wikipedia (2001)

From Forbes.com, “Pessimism’s Bull” by Rich Karlgaard, 01.14.09, 06:00 PM EST
Forbes Magazine dated February 02, 2009

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0202/019.html

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