Innovation, Intrigue, Subterfuge, and the Birth of an Industry: AT&T Inc. (T), The Western Union Company (WU), CBS Corporation (CBS)

A very German genesis
Bayerische Motoren Werke — that’s BMW to you — was formed on March 7, 1916 from the combination of two aircraft engine manufacturers. After World War I, the punishing armistice treaty forced upon Germany effectively ended the nation’s production of aircraft, and BMW had to find a new way to apply itself. This led it to manufacture boat and truck engines, as well as farming equipment. Another strategic shift in the 1920s, to motorcycles and then automobiles, proved more durable. BMW was set on the path to automotive leadership, but it did not abandon aircraft engines. As the armistice prohibited only military aircraft, BMW became a manufacturer of both automobiles and aircraft by the end of the 1920s.

The global Great Depression and the rise of Nazism in Germany diverted BMW for some time, and it was not until the 1950s that BMW again produced cars for the commercial market. It rose to prominence during the 1970s as a German luxury alternative to and has been one of the world’s leading automakers ever since. Although BMW trails the largest automakers in production totals, it certainly doesn’t lag in mind share.

Ford graduates to the Big Board
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) went public to tremendous investor interest in mid-January of 1956. It joined the ranks of stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange two months later, on March 7, 1956. Its IPO had been a spectacle, and so too was its exchange debut, which was marked by ceremonies that (among other things) announced that Ford was already one of the 10 most widely held stocks in the U.S. At the time, it was by far the newest of the Big Three on the Big Board, but it has since become the American auto industry’s elder statesman on the New York Stock Exchange following its competitors’ bankruptcies in 2009. A share bought on Ford’s exchange debut day would have cost about $62. Over the following 50 years, that single share would have paid out total dividends worth $673.45.

The article Innovation, Intrigue, Subterfuge, and the Birth of an Industry originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Alex Planes.

Fool contributor Alex Planes holds no financial position in any company mentioned here. Add him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter @TMFBiggles for more insight into markets, history, and technology. The Motley Fool recommends Ford, NYSE Euronext, and Western Union. The Motley Fool owns shares of Ford.

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