Foot Locker, Inc. (FL), The Wendy’s Co (WEN), General Electric Company (GE): Three Key Moments That Helped Shape the Dow

The beginning of another error
Other companies might have learned something from the major failure of USX, but Triarc wasn’t one of those companies. On April 24, 2008, the holding-company owner of the Arby’s fast-food chain made a $2.3 billion offer to acquire The Wendy’s Co (NASDAQ:WEN) , then the third-largest burger franchise in the United States (NYSE:X). Pam Thomas Farber, daughter of Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas, expressed great dismay over the sale, telling The New York Times, “It’s a very sad day for Wendy’s, and our family,” and adding that Dave Thomas “would not be amused” if he had been alive to hear the news.

The new company, ostensibly formed to find greater synergies of scale in the fast-food industry, lasted a mere three years. The renamed Wendy’s/Arby’s Group (now simply The Wendy’s Co (NASDAQ:WEN) Company) sold the Arby’s chain to private-equity firm Roark Capital in 2011, gaining $130 million in cash and simultaneously dumping debt in a move that placed the total value of the deal at about $430 million. Arby’s had consistently been a weak performer (do you know anyone who actually eats at Arby’s?), but Wendy’s had thrived after its merger. By the end of 2011, it overtook Burger King Worldwide Inc (NYSE:BKW) to become the second-largest fast-food company by sales in the U.S.

Edison’s empire
Before there was General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) , there was a man and a dream. On April 24, 1889, Thomas Edison took one of the most important steps toward consolidating an industry he had largely helped to create when he merged his most important lighting companies into Edison General Electric. This proto-GE combined three of Edison’s manufacturing companies — two electric-light makers and one manufacturer of dynamos and large electric motors — with a patent-based holding company that protected a number of key Edison inventions.

Within a year, Edison had acquired an electric railway and motor company, founded by former research colleague Frank Sprague, which further established Edison as a force in electric propulsion and generation. By the time Edison agreed to merge with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, he had largely surpassed most competitors, and the merger put further distance between his developments and everyone else.

The article 3 Key Moments That Helped Shape the Dow originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Alex Planes has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Burger King Worldwide. The Motley Fool owns shares of General Electric Company.

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