The oldest, continuously running, independent business in the world?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kong%C5%8D_Gumi

by erikpukinskis • 16 years ago

83 33 16 years ago

en.wikipedia.org

edw519• 16 years ago

I can hear the naysayers now: "100% of all start-ups fail in the first 1500 years."

icey• 16 years ago

First we should see what happens with these fellows: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoshi_Ryokan

This whole list is actually quite interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_corporations

mbenjaminsmith• 16 years ago

"At nearly 400 years old, Zildjian is the oldest family-run business in America."

I never would have guessed that.

Aaronontheweb• 16 years ago

Sounds like they didn't exit the market soon enough.

jlangenauer• 16 years ago

I love that somebody created a Wikipedia category page for "Companies founded in 578". You can guess how many entires it has.

yread• 16 years ago

Aren't these pages made by bots? Still funny though :)

sliverstorm• 16 years ago

Just goes to show, construction will probably not be going away any time soon. Safe bet for a company, same as how land generally holds value (in the extreme long term). People need places to live.

JacobAldridge• 16 years ago

I did a newsletter on family business about eighteen months ago, and came across this article - the 100 oldest companies in the world http://www.bizaims.com/articles/business+economy/the+100+old...

There's actually a range of industries in the top 10 - construction, inn keeping, viticulture, goldsmithing and others.

InclinedPlane• 16 years ago

jcl• 16 years ago

Heh... I was rather hoping to see "Nokia -- cellphones" in the list, but it cuts off just a few years before Nokia's 1865 founding date. Same for Nintendo (1889).

celoyd• 16 years ago

For a comparable curiosity, see the VOC. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company –

“It was the first multinational corporation in the world and the first company to issue stock. It was also arguably the world's first megacorporation, possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, negotiate treaties, coin money, and establish colonies.”

“The Dutch East India Company remained an important trading concern for almost two centuries, paying an 18% annual dividend for almost 200 years. In its declining years in the late 18th century it was referred to as Vergaan Onder Corruptie (referring to the acronym VOC) which translates as 'Perished By Corruption'.”

mkramlich• 16 years ago

I pictured something like "Eve's Escorts"

alxp• 16 years ago

"It's the world's newest profession"

kiba• 16 years ago

I wonder what is the secret to keeping these corporations alive.

Some people say that the grandpa build the business, dad grow the business, and the son wreck the business. So these families might have ways or tradition to transmit knowledge and wisdom to their offsprings, or maybe they're just incredibly lucky.

jakarta• 16 years ago

Peter Lynch, the investor who used to run Fidelity's Magellan fund used to have a saying that he wanted to invest in businesses that even his dumb nephew could run.

The idea being, businesses that have great fundamental economics and competitive advantages are going to be much more sustainable and thus more likely to compound wealth over time.

If you look at the lists, a lot of these are businesses that are fundamental and cater towards basic human needs/wants. For example, note all the hotels on the list. Maybe they have a fantastic really critical location in a country that has good property laws. That means you can keep transferring it through your bloodline and as long as nobody does anything too stupid (e.g.: take on crazy amounts of debt, go wild and de-worsify) the hotel should continue to exist.

shiro• 16 years ago

I guess for the major part of the time they were more like a guild. Building temples requires very special skills; they say they aim at 1000 year duration, even though those temples are made of woods, instead of stones. It requires many years of apprenticeship, and probably becoming a member of their family was the only way to master the profession, thus there weren't much competitors. On the other hand, temples had always been built and reconstructed.

ck22• 16 years ago

What's most interesting is in the end, their culture did them in, not their own work/management ethic.

dotcoma3• 16 years ago

no way - the Catholic Church has been around for over 2,000 years.

aymeric• 16 years ago

I have a question, and I am not trying to be cynical.

What differentiate a profitable church from a company, other than a different legal structure?

ck22• 16 years ago

The "Church" is a government/country, not a corporation.

They've executed (lots of) people with their power via sovereignty.

If you mean the church on the corner, well there is no difference, they are simply a profitable business that pays no taxes (the clergy are often owning nicer homes and driving nicer cars than their patrons).

dotcoma3• 16 years ago

churches don't pay taxes.

troels• 16 years ago

Well, defining what makes religion special, is kind of tricky as well. And I think the answer to your question is closely related to that.

ecaradec• 16 years ago

there is only marketing but no product

cromulent• 16 years ago

Their leader gets no salary, lives for ever, and is omnipotent.

Rupert Murdoch currently only ticks one, maybe two of those boxes.

thecoffeeman• 16 years ago

yeah 2006 was a tough year.

jplewicke• 16 years ago

For those who are wondering, this seems to be a reference to the 2006 bankruptcy of Kongō Gumi, the previous record-holder for the oldest continuously-running independent business. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kong%C5%8D_Gumi )

robnicmac• 16 years ago

sticktoitiveness

alexro• 16 years ago

Church

The oldest, continuously running, independent business in the world?

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