5 Of The World's Oldest Companies

Bangalore: The biggest names in the corporate world today are sheer teenagers in books of business. The big names like Microsoft were not even born until 1975. Knowing the fact that corporate longevity is highly unusual one-third of the firms in the Fortune 500 in 1970 no longer existed in 1983. It’s tough to calculate the actual age of existence of the companies. Listed below are 5 such companies that stood against the test of time.

Consolidated Edison

Con Edison, known as Con Ed to generations of New Yorkers started its journey way back in 1823, when its initial corporate entity, the New York Gas Light Company, received a state charter to install natural gas lines in lower Manhattan, replacing the whale oil lamps that dated back to the 1760s.

In 1824 New York Gas Light was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and it holds the record for being the longest listed stock on the NYSE. In the early years of the 20th century the firm extended into electricity, and in 1936 was renamed the Consolidated Edison Company of New York. Today, Consolidated Edison provides electricity to over three million customers in New York City and Westchester County, and provides gas to more than a million.