What are some good examples of spin-off companies outlasting the companies that founded them? An example for me is CarMax outlasting its parent company Circuit City
This may not exactly qualify, but AT&T. One of the largest companies ever now exists only as a file cabinet full of legal documents somewhere in Texas.
Split up in 1984 as part of settling an antitrust lawsuit into several companies. Later on, one of the spun-off "Baby Bells," SBC, acquired its former parent (and some of the other spinoffs) and began using AT&T as its corporate name. (I'm familiar with this once since both my wife and I are AT&T retirees.)
Sears Mexico
K-mart Australia will almost certainly outlast the North American K-mart.
Decades ago, Mr. Donut had hundreds of locations in the US. But they were acquired by Dunkin Donuts, and now have just one branded location in the US, in Illinois.
However, now there are more than 10,000 Mr. Donut locations worldwide, mostly in Asia. (The mochi donuts are really good)
Quote from: kurumi on December 19, 2023, 10:39:14 AM
Decades ago, Mr. Donut had hundreds of locations in the US. But they were acquired by Dunkin Donuts, and now have just one branded location in the US, in Illinois.
However, now there are more than 10,000 Mr. Donut locations worldwide, mostly in Asia. (The mochi donuts are really good)
I didn't know that was a chain until very recently; I figured the one we had in town (which disappeared around 1990) was just a one-off itself, because I'd never noticed any others.
Not quite the same, but the giant nonprofit Kaiser Permanente health system that Henry Kaiser helped found (originally to provide health care to workers at his dam construction projects and shipyards) certainly overshadows what's left of his industrial empire.
Kaiser Aluminum is a more conventional spinoff that outlasted most of Henry Kaiser's other for-profit enterprises.
TJ Maxx was started by Zayre.
Shakey's Philippines outlasted and became bigger than Shakey's Pizza which originated in Sacramento.
Kenny Rogers Roasters is another one that no longer exists in North America but has a sizable presence in Asian markets.
Quote from: Takumi on December 19, 2023, 12:24:09 PM
TJ Maxx was started by Zayre.
So was Bj's Wholesale Club.
Other examples off the top of my head:
Discover Card will outlast Sears
Ruby Tuesday outlasted Morrison's Cafeteria
Quote from: jdb1234 on December 19, 2023, 05:02:39 PM
Quote from: Takumi on December 19, 2023, 12:24:09 PM
TJ Maxx was started by Zayre.
So was Bj's Wholesale Club.
I knew there was a second Zayre spinoff business that was still around, but I could never remember what it was.
In the "companies that were started in the US but solely exist in other countries now" vein, Wimpy is a popular fast food chain in South Africa.
Accenture (a consulting company) was a spinoff from Arthur Andersen (one of the longtime accounting firms), prior to Arthur Andersen's spectacular downfall in the wake of the Enron mess.
Quote from: freebrickproductions on December 19, 2023, 09:56:21 AM
K-mart Australia will almost certainly outlast the North American K-mart.
And Kmart was originally a spin-off of Kresge's dime stores, so the spin-off of a spin-off is going the strongest 50 years after the original company died.
Foot Locker outlasted Woolworth's.
An interesting one is Monster Energy, which was originally started by a small juice company, Hansen's Natural Juices. As the monster brand grew, the original Hansen's company rebranded to Monster, but the juices were still sold. Eventually the juice part of the brand was sold to coca-cola and they continued producing it for a while, but they stopped bottling it years ago.
Outlasting in what context? As in, the parent company shutting down first, but the spinoff staying open for however long more? Or as in the spinoff lasting longer timewise compared to the parent company? For example, after five years of being open, the parent company creates a spinoff. After 10 years of being open, the parent company shuts down, but the spinoff continues running and eventually surpasses the parent company by being open for 20 years and is still open to date.
Reminds me of television series, where if there's a spinoff, the spinoff is usually canceled after one or two seasons, while the parent series, which has been running for years, continues to air new episodes. The Goldbergs and Schooled and The Rookie and The Rookie: Feds are two examples that come to mind. Schooled (2019–2020) was canceled after two seasons, while The Goldbergs (2013–2023), which had already been running for a long time, continued to air new seasons and episodes for another few years. The Rookie: Feds (2022–2023) was canceled after only one season, while The Rookie (2018–present) is still running.
Software company HeR Interactive, mostly known for making the Nancy Drew mystery PC games, started out in 1995 as a division of American Laser Games, which was mostly known for making light gun arcade games like Mad Dog McCree & Who Shot Johnny Rock?
After finding some initial success, HeR Interactive was spun off into its own company &, by the late 90's, bought out it's former parent company, American Laser Games.
In 2000, Digital Leisure Inc. acquired the development & publishing rights to the games once developed & published by American Laser Games.
HeR Interactive still continues to make Nancy Drew mystery PC games to this day.
Quote from: freebrickproductions on December 19, 2023, 09:56:21 AM
K-mart Australia will almost certainly outlast the North American K-mart.
https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/our-businesses/our-businesses (https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/our-businesses/our-businesses)
Yes because Kmart Australia is owned by an investment company called Wesfarmers and they also hold the rights to the Target name in Australia.
In an unrelated case Pak N Save it used to be well known in the San Francisco area but the majority were renamed as Safeway. However the name Pak'N Save is better known in New Zealand yes it's a case of a store brand being tied to a bigger investment group. This is like Ralphs Supermarkets of Southern California is tied to Kroger type situation here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pak%27nSave (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pak%27nSave)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foodstuffs_(company (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foodstuffs_(company))
https://local.safeway.com/pak-n-save/ca.html (https://local.safeway.com/pak-n-save/ca.html)
Isn't there a store called Lawson that started out selling milk in Ohio - but is now a convenience store chain in Japan?
Quote from: KCRoadFan on December 21, 2023, 01:31:44 PM
Isn't there a store called Lawson that started out selling milk in Ohio - but is now a convenience store chain in Japan?
Yup. The Japanese incarnation of Lawson outlived the original American one, which was absorbed by various companies that eventually merged into Tyson Foods.
Howard Johnson started out as a restaurant, and while that's not around anymore, the hotel chain is -- under the Wyndham banner. There's also the Ground Round restaurant spin-off, though not as many as there once were.
Along similar lines, in 1983 Apple Computer introduced a new advanced desktop system called the Lisa. But with a price around $10k, few people purchased it. So about a year later, Apple decided to market a stripped-down version of the Lisa with the same revolutionary user-friendly interface, but at a much more affordable price. Perhaps you have heard of the Macintosh?
Quote from: WillWeaverRVA on December 21, 2023, 02:25:28 PM
Quote from: KCRoadFan on December 21, 2023, 01:31:44 PM
Isn't there a store called Lawson that started out selling milk in Ohio - but is now a convenience store chain in Japan?
Yup. The Japanese incarnation of Lawson outlived the original American one, which was absorbed by various companies that eventually merged into Tyson Foods.
I thought about mentioning Lawson in my previous reply, but when looking them up the Japanese version has opened a couple of stores in Hawaii so I wasn't quite sure if it counted.
Here's a different twist: The Staten Island Railroad was spun off from the Chessie System and lives on as a subsidiary of the New York MTA, long outliving the Chessie brand. Some might say that the Chessie lives on as the big "C" in CSX Transportation, but there are very few remaining symbols of the Chessie cat remaining outside of the railfan world. (Chessie the Cat was a longtime symbol of the smooth travel promised on Chesapeake and Ohio passenger trains). For the record, I am a Roadgeek and not a railfan.
Since Mr. Donut, Shakey's, Kenny Rogers, and Lawson were all mentioned here, here are other examples of American brands that have a significantly higher Philippine presence than in the US:
Boysen Paints (founded in Oakland in the 1930s but with zero footprint in America in decades)
Italianni's restaurant (one or two locations left in the US, about 45+ in the Philippines)
Magoo's Pizza (one revived location in Hawaii, vs. three bowling alley kiosks in metro Manila)
There's also a local brand there named Holly Farms that is..probably not connected to the former Tyson Foods brand/division that sponsored NASCAR races at North Wilkesboro.
---
To the main topic of thread:
Target basically subsumed its original parentage of Dayton's/Hudson's department stores, outlasting both brands
Didn't Filene's Basement outlive Filene's (though neither exists today)
Radio Shack/Tandy is an interesting case, as the Radio Shack brand eventually dissolved for a while and the Tandy Leather brand emerged again (there was a Tandy Leather store in San Bruno until a few years ago)
Quote from: oscar on December 19, 2023, 11:10:30 AM
Not quite the same, but the giant nonprofit Kaiser Permanente health system that Henry Kaiser helped found (originally to provide health care to workers at his dam construction projects and shipyards) certainly overshadows what's left of his industrial empire.
Kaiser Aluminum is a more conventional spinoff that outlasted most of Henry Kaiser's other for-profit enterprises.
Yes and also there used to be a Kaiser Broadcasting in San Francisco like the former KBHK-TV (Call Letters bore the initials on the former leader Henry J. Kaiser) which is now owned by Paramount.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Broadcasting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Broadcasting)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KPYX (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KPYX)
And yes the only company that hold the Kaiser name is Kaiser Permanente a major hospital chain in California.
Tower Records that used to be a major record store whose headquarters was based in Sacramento, CA. But today its spinoff company exists a music label holding the contracts of pop artists in Japan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Palette_Records (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Palette_Records)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Records (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Records)
http://tower.jp/label/t-paletterecords (http://tower.jp/label/t-paletterecords)
This isn't exactly the same thing, but obviously Netflix started as a DVD renting operation. Then they started to add a little streaming. Now they're a streaming company that has completely shut down the physical media portion.
Quote from: TheStranger on December 22, 2023, 09:53:00 AM
Radio Shack/Tandy is an interesting case, as the Radio Shack brand eventually dissolved for a while and the Tandy Leather brand emerged again (there was a Tandy Leather store in San Bruno until a few years ago)
Coleco (Connecticut Leather Company) is another leather brand that pivoted to electronics (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ColecoVision); a home video game console. (I only remember this because I'm a CT homer)
Amoco (pre-BP takeover) and Esso/Exxon both outlasted Standard Oil.
Quote from: catch22 on December 19, 2023, 09:01:00 AM
This may not exactly qualify, but AT&T. One of the largest companies ever now exists only as a file cabinet full of legal documents somewhere in Texas.
Split up in 1984 as part of settling an antitrust lawsuit into several companies. Later on, one of the spun-off "Baby Bells," SBC, acquired its former parent (and some of the other spinoffs) and began using AT&T as its corporate name. (I'm familiar with this once since both my wife and I are AT&T retirees.)
SBC was Pacific Bell in the 1980's -1990's I remember when SBC headquarters were based in San Francisco under the Pacific Bell name at one point before they moved to Dallas as the main headquarters as a result of SBC merging with AT&T. In other words the one that holds the AT&T name was at one point was one of the regional baby bells whose service area covered California prior to being nationwide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Bell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Bell)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T)
Quote from: bing101 on December 23, 2023, 11:25:09 AM
Quote from: catch22 on December 19, 2023, 09:01:00 AM
This may not exactly qualify, but AT&T. One of the largest companies ever now exists only as a file cabinet full of legal documents somewhere in Texas.
Split up in 1984 as part of settling an antitrust lawsuit into several companies. Later on, one of the spun-off "Baby Bells," SBC, acquired its former parent (and some of the other spinoffs) and began using AT&T as its corporate name. (I'm familiar with this once since both my wife and I are AT&T retirees.)
SBC was Pacific Bell in the 1980's -1990's I remember when SBC headquarters were based in San Francisco under the Pacific Bell name at one point before they moved to Dallas as the main headquarters as a result of SBC merging with AT&T.In other words the one that holds the AT&T name was at one point was one of the regional baby bells whose service area covered California prior to being nationwide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Bell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Bell)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T)
SBC's headquarters was always in Texas (San Antonio, later Dallas). PacBell (among others) was acquired by SBC, but SBC never moved their HQ to California. Our local "Baby Bell," Ameritech, went through a similar takeover. SBC kept a fairly large presence in Chicago afterwards but all the high-power suits worked out of Texas.
Quote from: catch22 on December 23, 2023, 03:30:12 PM
Quote from: bing101 on December 23, 2023, 11:25:09 AM
Quote from: catch22 on December 19, 2023, 09:01:00 AM
This may not exactly qualify, but AT&T. One of the largest companies ever now exists only as a file cabinet full of legal documents somewhere in Texas.
Split up in 1984 as part of settling an antitrust lawsuit into several companies. Later on, one of the spun-off "Baby Bells," SBC, acquired its former parent (and some of the other spinoffs) and began using AT&T as its corporate name. (I'm familiar with this once since both my wife and I are AT&T retirees.)
SBC was Pacific Bell in the 1980's -1990's I remember when SBC headquarters were based in San Francisco under the Pacific Bell name at one point before they moved to Dallas as the main headquarters as a result of SBC merging with AT&T.In other words the one that holds the AT&T name was at one point was one of the regional baby bells whose service area covered California prior to being nationwide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Bell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Bell)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T)
SBC's headquarters was always in Texas (San Antonio, later Dallas). PacBell (among others) was acquired by SBC, but SBC never moved their HQ to California. Our local "Baby Bell," Ameritech, went through a similar takeover. SBC kept a fairly large presence in Chicago afterwards but all the high-power suits worked out of Texas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwestern_Bell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwestern_Bell)
Now I see what you mean SBC was Southwestern Bell prior to that based in Texas too.
Robinsons That name has its origins in Los Angeles as a department store that was later named as Robinsons-May but the Los Angeles one became Macy's. However that name lives on as the name of Department Stores, Malls and online only stores in several countries like Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinsons-May
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Department_Store
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinsons_Malls
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinsons_Department_Stores_Online
Quote from: bing101 on December 24, 2023, 04:39:54 PM
Robinsons That name has its origins in Los Angeles as a department store that was later named as Robinsons-May but the Los Angeles one became Macy's. However that name lives on as the name of Department Stores, Malls and online only stores in several countries like Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinsons-May
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Department_Store
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinsons_Malls
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinsons_Department_Stores_Online
The Robinsons in the Philippines has zero connection to Robinsons-May:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gokongwei
The company founder of the Filipino entity has Robinson as his middle name.
Quote from: TheStranger on December 25, 2023, 12:41:07 PM
Quote from: bing101 on December 24, 2023, 04:39:54 PM
Robinsons That name has its origins in Los Angeles as a department store that was later named as Robinsons-May but the Los Angeles one became Macy's. However that name lives on as the name of Department Stores, Malls and online only stores in several countries like Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinsons-May (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinsons-May)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Department_Store (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Department_Store)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinsons_Malls (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinsons_Malls)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinsons_Department_Stores_Online (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinsons_Department_Stores_Online)
The Robinsons in the Philippines has zero connection to Robinsons-May:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gokongwei (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gokongwei)
The company founder of the Filipino entity has Robinson as his middle name.
Yes and it's a case of unrelated companies in different countries using the same name for local rights.
Here is another one Safeway outlive it's parent company Skaggs Company and the Safeway Name exists as brands within Albertsons inc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skaggs_Companies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safeway_Inc
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertsons
Bank of America was bought out in 1999 by NationsBank, which adopted the smaller firm's name.
Ditto for GateHouse, which bought out Gannett in 2020 to become the nation's largest newspaper company and adopted the smaller partner's name.
A historical example is the Kingdom of Prussia, which took over one by one the various fiefdoms, dukedoms and margravates of modern-day Germany and by the 1870s had adopted the name of Germany.
Quote from: bing101 on December 22, 2023, 09:56:30 AM
Quote from: oscar on December 19, 2023, 11:10:30 AM
Not quite the same, but the giant nonprofit Kaiser Permanente health system that Henry Kaiser helped found (originally to provide health care to workers at his dam construction projects and shipyards) certainly overshadows what's left of his industrial empire.
Kaiser Aluminum is a more conventional spinoff that outlasted most of Henry Kaiser's other for-profit enterprises.
Yes and also there used to be a Kaiser Broadcasting in San Francisco like the former KBHK-TV (Call Letters bore the initials on the former leader Henry J. Kaiser) which is now owned by Paramount.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Broadcasting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Broadcasting)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KPYX (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KPYX)
And yes the only company that hold the Kaiser name is Kaiser Permanente a major hospital chain in California.
I've heard of both Kaiser Permanente & Kaiser Broadcasting, but didn't know that there was a connection between them.
Verizon Inc it outlived it's former parent company Bell Atlantic which was one of the former baby bells of the 1980's that served Pennsylvania and New York.
Note Bell Atlantic merged with GTE to become what is now known as Verizon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Atlantic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GTE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verizon
Mainframe computer innovator CDC (Control Data Corporation) lives on as Ceridian, a major provider of software for human resource departments. Not exactly a true spinoff, as when the original CDC began to eliminate the computer manufacturing business, the firm split into two entities: Ceridian and CDS (Control Data Systems), which still sold and supported mainframe computer systems for a while. What little bit of CDS that still remains is now part of British telecom giant BT Group.
Lane Bryant is a spin-off of Charming Shoppes, a company that began with Fashion Bug in the 1980s; Charming ceased to exist in 2012.
Quote
SBC was Pacific Bell in the 1980's -1990's I remember when SBC headquarters were based in San Francisco under the Pacific Bell name at one point before they moved to Dallas as the main headquarters as a result of SBC merging with AT&T.
The original AT&T was (foolishly, IMHO) broken up into seven regional companies. One of those was SBC, which was given TX, OK, KS, MO, and AR. Another was Pacific Telesis, which was a stupid name they quicky abandoned for "Pacific Bell" or "Pac Bell", which was given CA and the parts of Nevada AT&T owned (Las Vegas was part of the 20% of the country that was served by non-AT&T phone companies). SBC bought Pacific Bell, along with two other "baby Bell" companies, then the remnants of AT&T itself, keeping/reviving that brand name.
In the transactions, SBC (now AT&T) was the buyer, and the other companies, including Pacific Bell, were that which was being bought. The HQ has always been in Dallas.
Can you imagine the cell phone market if Bell, Inc. hadn't been broken up. Eesh.
It would not have changed a bit, considering the cell phone would have been invented at the same time. If not for that invention, we would still be suffering under the massive public policy mistake that the AT&T breakup was.
Understand what AT&T was.
It consisted of three main parts. The local companies, which provided a telephone to every home under the doctrine of "universal service". The Long Lines Department which sold long distance, and Western Electric, which made the equipment in unionized factories in America. Local phone service was provided at a loss, while the LLD made plenty of money. Now who called long distance? Statistically the government, wealthy people and businesses. That's right, phone service for the poor was subsidized by the wealthy, without any need of the government to be involved.
What did the breakup do? Three things really.
- It broke up the local companies into regional ones. And? If I have my one and only phone company here where I live the fact that the one and only phone company in some place in Oregon where I will never live is the same or a different company is irrelevant. Totally irrelevant.
- It opened up long distance to competition. Remember that local service was operated at a loss, and long distance paid for it. Well, no more. That means that the local regional companies had to make money from local service. Which caused the costs of a home phone to skyrocket. If the cell phone and things like VOIP had not been invented, poor or even middle class people would not be able to afford a phone today.
- It allowed third party phone equipment. Western Electric laid off all its American unionized workers and all the replacements were throwaway crap made in communist China.
Huge mistake. Today, of course, the "baby Bell" companies, survive on other things, the home phone is a thing of the past. And rural Americans, where there is no cell service, suffer; and poor people's cell phones are subsidized by taxes.
GE is split into different companies
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/ge-completes-three-way-split-breaking-off-its-storied-past-2024-04-02/
https://www.investopedia.com/ge-completes-its-split-into-3-public-companies-as-ge-vernova-makes-its-trading-debut-8623533
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/01/07/fact-check-chinas-haier-purchased-ge-appliance-unit-2016/4119523001/
It turns out GE has been split into 4 different companies. GE Appliances is owned by Haier Inc, and the other three companies that bore the GE Name is GE Verona, GE AeroSpace and GE Healthcare. Yes they used to be one big company split into different divisions.
Quote from: SP Cook on January 02, 2024, 02:50:53 PMQuoteSBC was Pacific Bell in the 1980's -1990's I remember when SBC headquarters were based in San Francisco under the Pacific Bell name at one point before they moved to Dallas as the main headquarters as a result of SBC merging with AT&T.
The original AT&T was (foolishly, IMHO) broken up into seven regional companies. One of those was SBC, which was given TX, OK, KS, MO, and AR. Another was Pacific Telesis, which was a stupid name they quicky abandoned for "Pacific Bell" or "Pac Bell", which was given CA and the parts of Nevada AT&T owned (Las Vegas was part of the 20% of the country that was served by non-AT&T phone companies). SBC bought Pacific Bell, along with two other "baby Bell" companies, then the remnants of AT&T itself, keeping/reviving that brand name.
In the transactions, SBC (now AT&T) was the buyer, and the other companies, including Pacific Bell, were that which was being bought. The HQ has always been in Dallas.
i remember Southern Bell, South Central Bell, and now it's known as Bell South.
Quote from: SP Cook on January 03, 2024, 09:51:39 AMIt would not have changed a bit, considering the cell phone would have been invented at the same time. If not for that invention, we would still be suffering under the massive public policy mistake that the AT&T breakup was.
Understand what AT&T was.
It consisted of three main parts. The local companies, which provided a telephone to every home under the doctrine of "universal service". The Long Lines Department which sold long distance, and Western Electric, which made the equipment in unionized factories in America. Local phone service was provided at a loss, while the LLD made plenty of money. Now who called long distance? Statistically the government, wealthy people and businesses. That's right, phone service for the poor was subsidized by the wealthy, without any need of the government to be involved.
What did the breakup do? Three things really.
- It broke up the local companies into regional ones. And? If I have my one and only phone company here where I live the fact that the one and only phone company in some place in Oregon where I will never live is the same or a different company is irrelevant. Totally irrelevant.
- It opened up long distance to competition. Remember that local service was operated at a loss, and long distance paid for it. Well, no more. That means that the local regional companies had to make money from local service. Which caused the costs of a home phone to skyrocket. If the cell phone and things like VOIP had not been invented, poor or even middle class people would not be able to afford a phone today.
- It allowed third party phone equipment. Western Electric laid off all its American unionized workers and all the replacements were throwaway crap made in communist China.
Huge mistake. Today, of course, the "baby Bell" companies, survive on other things, the home phone is a thing of the past. And rural Americans, where there is no cell service, suffer; and poor people's cell phones are subsidized by taxes.
Nah.
Not a chance mobile technology evolves the way it does without the break-up. The rapid innovation immediately after the break-up was because AT&T had no motive to approach business differently than it did prior. The break up was a very smart move.
Quote from: Big John on December 19, 2023, 10:42:38 PMFoot Locker outlasted Woolworth's.
...until now, with Dick's acquiring Foot Locker.
https://apnews.com/article/dicks-foot-locker-skechers-trump-tariff-china-2969beebe8d1395cf9badd9fdae993dd