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Companies

Started by Densun Jun 2, 2002 at 2:06 PM 11 replies 250+ views

Original Post

151

Jun 2, 2002 at 2:06 PM

What are some of the oldest companies? The oldest one I know of is Zildjian. It got started in Constantinople in 1623. That brings me to another question. How long will most of today''s companies survive?

Strife

108

Strife

Jun 2, 2002 at 2:23 PM

Well, DuPont is 200 years old this year. Honestly, not many companies last for more than two or three generations, so if they do make it past that, they have a very good chance of lasting until they either merge, or decide to go out of existence themselves

rm -rf /bin/laden

bishop_pass

296

bishop_pass

Jun 2, 2002 at 2:27 PM

Levi Strauss
Coca Cola
Ford
3m

Mithrandir

235

Mithrandir

Jun 2, 2002 at 3:30 PM

Levi''s isn''t that old, it''s not even 150 yet.

felonius

Jun 2, 2002 at 5:24 PM

I guess the univesity I went to can be called a company. That was founded in the year 1479. Thats old (and it shows

). It is the university of Copenhagen, Denmark. The logo is even in Latin.

[edited by - felonius on June 2, 2002 6:29:29 PM]

Densun

Author

151

Densun

Jun 2, 2002 at 5:47 PM

quote:
Original post by felonius
The logo is even in Latin.

That''s not odd for universities. Latin used to be something everyone learned until the later half of the 20th century AD.

felonius

Jun 2, 2002 at 6:37 PM

okay. Anyway, I think the oldest university in Europe is the Charles university in Prague.

http://www.cuni.cz/index.php?lng=eng

That is from 1348 according to their home page.

felonius

Jun 2, 2002 at 6:44 PM

And if allow the term "company" to cover religious organaizations too we can go back much further. I think the oldest religion that can be said to be controlled by the same organization since its start must be the catholic church. And that happened shortly after the death of Christ - but it becomes somewhat fuzzy here depending on the requirements for companies. If we require that they earn money I don''t think it was until several hundred years after the death of jesus.

Possibly the Jews also have an organization but I don''t know if it is the same one that exists today as back when they started.

Muzzafarath

Jun 3, 2002 at 5:17 AM

quote:

I guess the univesity I went to can be called a company. That was founded in the year 1479. Thats old (and it shows ). It is the university of Copenhagen, Denmark. The logo is even in Latin.

Har har, the university of Uppsala is two years older

Densun

Author

151

Densun

Jun 3, 2002 at 4:49 PM

quote:
Original post by Muzzafarath
Har har, the university of Uppsala is two years older

I believe the Oxford and the University of Paris are both older. I haven''t found an exact date for either yet.

Lode

278

Lode

Jun 3, 2002 at 5:12 PM

Founded in 1425 by Pope Martin V, the K.U.Leuven bears the honour of being the oldest Catholic university in the world still in existence and the oldest university in the Low Countries. <-- that''s MY university

felonius

Jun 3, 2002 at 5:12 PM

Univesity of Oxford history:

http://www.ox.ac.uk/aboutoxford/history.shtml

This says it is somewhere from 1096-1167. Here the university of paris is also mentioned as being older. I can''t find the founding year of the university of Paris though.

felonius

Jun 3, 2002 at 5:16 PM

But I think the Roman catholic church qualifies as a company. It owned a third of the land in Europe when it was richest. It earned money via tenth and by selling letters of forgiveness. And they had some very strong lobbyists!

So unless someone comes up with something older I think that is the winner - and that church was founded (as an organization) some time during the fall of the Roman Empire.

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