In a recent article I wrote that most small businesses and start-ups in the U.S. do not survive very long. Even some large-cap companies like the Fortune 500 disappear in the long run due to mergers or bankruptcies.

 

Since the U.S. was founded only a couple of hundred years ago, there are no companies here that lasted for hundreds or even a thousand years. However this is not case in other countries. There are businesses exist that today that were originally started very long time ago – hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Here are ten such businesses from an article in Australia’s top news site:

1. The Keiunkan Inn, Japan – Founded in A.D. 705
2. Stiftskeller St. Peter, Salzburg, Austria – Founded more than 1,200 years ago
3. Staffelter Hof, Germany – Founded in A.D. 862
4. Sean’s Bar,Ireland – Dates back to A.D. 900
5. The Marinelli Bell Foundry, Agnone, Italy – Founded in around A.D. 1000
6. Angel & Royal Inn, England – Founded in around 1203
7. Frapin, France – Founded in 1270
8. Piwnica Świdnicka, Poland – Opened in 1273
9. Stora Enso, Sweden & Finland – Original firm started in 1288
10. Pivovar Broumov, Czech Republic – Dates back to 1348

Source: Ten ancient businesses that still exist, July 14, 2015, News.com.au

Today Finland-based Stora Enso trades on the OTC market under the ticker SEOAY.

The entire article is fascinating to read.

Disclosure: No Positions

Many years ago I wrote an article comparing tax rates on capital gains across countries. In this post, let us take a look at the Top Marginal Tax Rate on Capital Gains In OECD Countries for 2015.

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The US has the sixth highest rate among OECD countries. The US rate is 10% higher than the OECD average of 18.4%.

The table below shows the Top Marginal Tax Rate on Capital Gains in OECD countries for 2105:

Top Marginal Tax Rate on Capital Gains, by OECD Country, 2015
Rank	Country	Rate
1	Denmark	42.00%
2	France	34.40%
3	Finland	33.00%
3	Ireland	33.00%
5	Sweden	30.00%
6	United States	28.60%
7	Portugal	28.00%
7	United Kingdom	28.00%
9	Norway	27.00%
9	Spain	27.00%
11	Italy	26.00%
12	Austria	25.00%
12	Germany	25.00%
12	Israel	25.00%
12	Slovak Republic	25.00%
16	Australia	24.50%
18	Canada	22.60%
19	Estonia	21.00%
20	Japan	20.30%
21	Chile	20.00%
21	Iceland	20.00%
23	Poland	19.00%
25	Hungary	16.00%
26	Greece	15.00%
27	Mexico	10.00%
28	Belgium	0.00%
28	Czech Republic	0.00%
28	Korea	0.00%
28	Luxembourg	0.00%
28	Netherlands	0.00%
28	New Zealand	0.00%
28	Slovenia	0.00%
28	Switzerland	0.00%
28	Turkey	0.00%
	OECD Simple Average	18.40%
	OECD Weighted Average	23.20%

Data Source: Ernst and Young and Deloitte Tax Foundation Calculations.

Canada has a lower rate than the U.S.

Source: U.S. Taxpayers Face the 6th Highest Top Marginal Capital Gains Tax Rate in the OECD, Tax Foundation

Every year Fortune magazine publishes its annual list of Fortune 500 companies which is a compilation of the largest publicly-traded US firms. This year’s list was released last month.

Fortune noted the following fascinating fact about these firms:

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 61st running of the list. In total, the Fortune 500 companies account for $12.5 trillion in revenues, $945 billion in profits, $17 trillion in market value and employ 26.8 million people worldwide.

Alan Murray,Editor of the magazine wrote an accompanying article titled “5 things you didn’t know about the Fortune 500”  offering some insights into the Fortune 500. According to him, despite the growth of Silicon Valley and start-up companies, the mega corporations of the U.S. as represented in the Fortune 500 dominate the U.S. economy and their clout is growing as shown in the chart below:

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Source: 5 things you didn’t know about the Fortune 500, Fortune

From Alan’s piece:

But here’s a fact: Fortune 500 companies had revenues last year that equaled 71.9% of U.S. GDP—up from 58.4% two decades ago, and 35% in 1955. To be sure, much of that revenue comes from overseas operations. But these companies are still the guts of the U.S., and the global, economy. (emphasis mine)

So though small businesses and start-ups are considered as important for economic growth, in reality the big companies bring in most of the revenues. Most of the start-up companies that are started backed by venture capitalists will disappear in a few years one way or other. They will either acquired by one of the bigger companies or they end up as failures. Successful hi-tech companies like Google(GOOG), Facebook(FB), Netflix(NFLX), Apple (AAPL), etc. are very rare. In fact, social media firms Facebook and Twitter may disappear sooner as they are not nothing but simply a website and they don’t produce anything.

From an investment perspective, it is important to take note of the power of the Global 500 in the US and even the global economy and pick investment options accordingly.

Disclosure: No Positions