I've been obsessed with knowing about everything happening in the world and who owns/makes the things around me since I was 16. I used to make extensive notes from ages 16 to 20. A small slice still survives:
The majority of non-voting shares in Bose Corporation are owned by MIT
At one point, Thomas Cook flew in 45% of tourists to Gambia. Tourism constitutes one third of Gambia’s GDP
Blackstone owns the Willis tower Chicago
Nestle has a 20% stake in L’oreal
Facebook has a 10% stake in Reliance Jio
MUFG has a 22% stake in Morgan Stanley
Eric Schmidt owns 20% of D.E Shaw
Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia owns 85% of Newcastle United
Richemont owns: Cartier, Montblanc, Jaeger lecoultre, Vacheron Constantin
Cereberus Capital owns Subcom LLC which is the biggest submarine cable installer, Alcatel Submarine network is second with Nokia being its owner, Japan’s nec corp is at the third place owned by Sumtomo group, Huawei marine comes in fourth owned by Hengtong Optic-Electric Co Ltd
Blackstone owns 6.5-7% of crocs
Jardine Matheson owns 77.4% stake in Mandarin Oriental, 5.44% stake in Rotschild and Co, owns Zung Fu which is the exclusive dealer of Mercedes Benz in Hong Kong and Macau
Ping an group owns 7% of HSBC
KPS Partners owns TaylorMade and Life Fitness
Brazil’s government owns more companies than any other country accept China
The cullinan mine owned by Petra diamonds is the only significant source of blue diamonds and the worlds largest uncut, unpolished diamond was found here
Fulton umbrellas provide umbrellas to the royal family of Britain
The internet corporation for assigned names and numbers is the organization which protects the master key of the internet (accessing its database), its key is held by 7 people and 7 backup keys by 7 others, icann is responsible for assigning numerical internet addresses to websites and computers
Zipper companies: SBS- China, YKK- Japan; ykk makes its own zipper making machines; sbs clients: Giorgio Armani, Mango, H&m, Target; Mid-range: very competitive, Chinese and ykk; higher end- ykk, custom zips
Phoenix air makes Containerized Bio-Containment Systems which effectively fits inside large cargo aircraft to transport sick people and evacuate people. Originally designed to fit inside gulfstream jets. Paul Allen foundation along with MRI Global and Phoenix air helped make it bigger so that it could fit inside large cargo jets. All devices are owned by the State department and operated under contract by Phoenix air. They conduct training exercises during the year as well. Phoenix air has a partnership with Kalitta air to fit its container system onto the plane. Phoenix air was also responsible for bringing back Otto Warmbier from North Korea. They have gulfstream aircraft fitted with Aeromedical Biological Containment Systems in LA, San Diego, Norfolk,, Virginia, Stuttgart, Nairobi and Malta. Aeromedical Biological Containment Systems is for gulfstreams which can carry one person and Containerized Bio-Containment Systems are for cargo aircraft which can carry four extremely sick, highly contagious people
Varta is a German company that makes miniature, high capacity batteries for headsets including the airpods and hearing aids. Varta’s batteries powered German submarines in both the wars and also Neil Amstrong’s camera on the moon.
Humanetics Innovative Solutions Inc, is the world’s largest maker of crash-test dummies, the steel-and-vinyl humanoids stuffed with electronics that gauge how a car crash could injure a human body. The company enjoys a global market share exceeding 70 percent, and its dummies can cost as much as $1 million apiece. Regulators in the U.S. and other countries effectively require Humanetics customers to buy at least some of its products. Sales and demand are less because companies end to use its dummies over multiple years. Bridgepoint owns it
Ajinomoto the company behind the seasoning Ajinomoto controls 80% of Japan's seasoning market and supplies 20% of the MSG consumed worldwide
Hagoromo Fulltouch Chalk was said to be the Rolls Royce of Chaks, it was mathematicians favourite chalk. They hoarded it like crazy before the company was sold.
Cushing, Oklahoma is the delivery location for the NYMEX benchmark Light Sweet Crude Oil futures contract.Light Sweet Crude Oil futures contract specifies delivery of a common stream of light sweet crude U.S. oil grades, which are referred to as WTI or Domestic Sweet crude oil. The Cushing physical delivery mechanism is a network of nearly two dozen pipelines and 15 storage terminals, several with major pipeline manifolds. Cushing is called The Pipeline Crossroads of the World. This vibrant hub has 90 million barrels of storage capacity where commercial companies are active participants in the market.
Pigment industry is worth 30 billion dollar, and we still haven’t been able to create a safe, stable red
South africa mines most of the world’s rhodium
"Over 600,000 people in the UK have epilepsy. That’s about one in every 100 people. There are around 50 million people with epilepsy in the world”, https://epilepsysociety.org.uk/about-epilepsy/what-epilepsy/epilepsy-facts-and-myths
Qatar owns New York Plaza Hotel
Brunei investment authority owns the Dorchester collection, which owns hotels like plaza athenee, bel air, Beverly hills hotel
Starboard Cruise Services is the world’s largest cruise ship retail operator and is owned by LVMH.
Pan Pacific is owned by the UOL Group
Stefnir hf., the country’s biggest fund management company owns 14.88% of Iceland Air
Roosevelt hotel in nyc is owned 99% by Pakistan International airlines, 1% by saudi arabia.
Brookfield owns Leela including its hotels in delhi, bengaluru, chennai and in agra, four seasons was supposed to help Leela expand in India when it just had 2 hotels, leela’s founder asked four seasons to redesign their Goa hotel first, as soon as they finished doing that, Leela backed out from the agreement.
Heathrow Airport is owned by: Ardian (22.61%), Qatar Investment Authority (20.00%), Public Investment Fund (15.01%), GIC (11.20%), Australian Retirement Trust (11.18%), China Investment Corporation (10.00%), Ferrovial S.A. (5.25%), Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) (2.65%), and Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) (2.10%)
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines holds a 7.8% stake in Kenya Airways
Central park tower is a joint venture between extell and Shanghai Chengtou Corporation- USA(Shanghai government’s arm specializing in investment, construction and management of urban infrastructure).
Charoen Pokphand foods is one of the world’s largest producer of feed, shrimp, and a global top three producer of pork, poultry and other agricultural producers. It operates south east asia’s largest retail business with 10,000 7/11 stores.
Nikkei owns Financial Times
Brown Forman owns Jack Daniels
Blackrock has a majority stake in Authentic Brands. It owns licences to Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad Ali, Elvis Presley, Aeropostale, Nautica, Sports Illustrated
Oxford properties is owned by Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, it also owns the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel
Monotype Imaging Holdings developed fonts like Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica,etc. It is owned by HGCC.
Malaysia’s rubber glove market share is around 68%. Top Glove is the world’s largest rubber glove manufacturer, Supermax accounts for 12% of demand for latex examination gloves, Hartalega Malaysia is the world’s largest nitrile glove producer, all three of them are based in Malaysia.
Samsung owns Harman International industries which owns JBL and Harman Kardon and Bang and olufsen’s car audio business
Sparkle Roll a chinese company owns 14.9% of Bang and Olufsen
Nidec company has the largest global market share for the tiny spindle motors that power hard-disk drives.
The flavour market: Givaudan the biggest by market share(Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust (Investment Management)), firmenich is the second biggest, and others.
Estee Lauder owns and has the cosmetic licences of Bobbi Brown, Clinique, DKNY, MAC, Michael kors, Tom Ford, Tommy Hilfiger, Tory Burch
Thermoplan AG a swiss company is behind the mastrena coffee makers in starbucks stores
Guest Supply Europe, largest hotel toiletries supplier with brands like Hermes, Bvlgari, Salvatore ferragamo, etc
Hearst communications owns 20% ESPN and Fitch Ratings
Qatar sovereign wealth fund owns:
17% empire state Building trust
20% IAG
20% Heathrow airport holdings (manages Heathrow airport
25% St. Petersburg Airport
And along with Brookfield majority of Songbird Estates which is a majority owner of Canary Wharf Group
Shard along with Sellar Property Group
Harrods
23% Banyan Tree, westin excelsior rome, savoy London, intercontinental Amsterdam and cannes and Madrid, peninsula Paris, Ritz Carlton Doha, raffles Singapore, Sheraton and Marriott Doha, raffles Paris and manages burgenstock, 10% accor hotels
Serco, a British bpo company, operates:
Border visa and immigration uk
Santander cycles in London
Prisons in uk
Atc uae
Had contract from us to manage atc in Iraq
Chicago parking meters
Operates the Dubai metro and dubai tram
Contract to upgrade Ballistic Missile Early Warnings Systems for us base in Greenland
Luxottica owns Ray Bans, Vogue and has licenses for almost every luxury brand for distribution, marketing and selling of eye wear
RFR Holding owns the Chrysler Building, The tower‘s owners don’t own the ground beneath the property and pay rent on the land to the Cooper Union school.
airlines:
Ethiopian airlines owns 49% of Malawian airlines, 45% stake in Zambian airways, 20% stake in Eritrean airlines, 49% stake in Chad’ s airline
China eastern and Delta each own 10% of Air France- KLM
Air France-KLM own 31% of Virgin Atlantic
Delta owns 49% of Virgin Atlantic, 49% aeroMexico
Qatar airways owns 9.6% of Cathay pacific, Swire pacific owns 45% of Cathay, 5% of China southern, 20% of IAG(owner of BA)