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General Electric -

General Electric was launched by Thomas Edison in 1892. This was just before the "Panic of 1893," when business activity across the United States dropped by 40% for more than a year. In 2019, their revenue stood at US$95.2 billion.

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General Motors -

General Motors was launched during the "Panic of 1907," during which time business activity dropped by 30% in the United States. They became one of the biggest corporations in history, earning billions every year.

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IBM -

IBM was launched in 1911 during a two-year recession. Other industries were seeing massive declines, but IBM managed to thrive and become one of the biggest technology companies in the world.

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IBM -

IBM caused several of its competitors to go bankrupt when it released the first comprehensive family of computers in the 1960s.

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Disney -

Brothers Walt and Roy Disney created Walt Disney Productions in 1929, the year after their first Mickey Mouse cartoon was released. This was also the beginning of the four-year Great Depression.

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Disney -

They continued to produce short features throughout the Depression and built up enough money to release their first full feature film: 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.'

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Revlon -

Cosmetics brand Revlon was founded in 1932. They rolled out the first pigment-based red nail varnish, which was a huge success. Revlon was the second biggest cosmetics company in the US by the end of WWII.

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HP -

Billion dollar tech company Hewlett Packard was launched by two young Stanford graduates in 1939, during one of the worst recessions of the 20th century.

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Burger King -

The first Burger King restaurant, then called Insta-Burger King, opened in Florida in 1953. There was a recession between 1953 and 1954, which caused the GDP to drop by 2.2%.

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Hyatt -

At the beginning of the 1958 recession, a young entrepreneur purchased his first motel. By the end of the decade, he had bought two hotels under the name of Hyatt. It's now one of the top 10 hotel chains in the world.

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Trader Joe's -

Trader Joe's was also launched during the recession of 1958, under the original name Pronto Markets.

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FedEx -

After developing the idea at Yale, Fred Smith launched his delivery company at the end of the 1970 depression. This type of service was unheard of, so it was quite a challenge to sell the idea during times of economic hardship.

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FedEx - Smith became a pioneer of the industry and Fedex now delivers over 15 million packages a day!

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Microsoft -

Bill Gates and Paul Allen started Microsoft shortly after the 1973 oil crisis caused the worst recession in 20 years. It was launched literally days after the recession was considered over.

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Microsoft -

The company sky-rocketed to success and by 1986 it was responsible for the creation of the three billionaires and 12,000 millionaires!

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CNN -

CNN went live for the first time during the recession of the early 1980s. Ted Turner created the first ever 24-hour news channel, which is now viewed by millions.

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EA -

The video game company Electronic Arts was founded during the energy crisis of the early '80s, when US unemployment rose to 10.8%. They are now one of the biggest gaming companies in the world, valued at around US$37 billion.

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Netflix -

Netflix was launched in its original form in 1997. It began as a DVD rental delivery service, which barely survived the dot-com bubble burst of the early 2000s.

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Netflix - At that point they saved themselves with the innovative idea to pivot their business to an online streaming service, which now dominates this thriving industry.

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Mailchimp -

The email marketing platform Mailchimp was founded during the dot-com recession in 2001. It became one of the leading services in its field. 

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Uber -

Uber was one of several massively successful companies that were founded during the Great Recession of the 21st century that lasted from 2007 to 2009.

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Uber -

In 2023, Uber reported that the app had been used for 9.4 billion trips!

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Airbnb -

The vacation rental platform Airbnb was also launched at the beginning of the recession in 2007. They struggled initially, but managed to hold on and achieve incredible success.

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Airbnb - Now an average of two million people sleep in Airbnb properties every night, and the company is valued at US$94 billion.

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Groupon -

The website Groupon was founded in the US in 2008, advertising deals from local businesses. It has now expanded all over the world and is valued at US$ 641 million.

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Venmo -

Venmo was founded in 2009, after founders thought about how cool it would be if you could send money from your cell phone.

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Venmo -

Venmo was purchased by Braintree, which was then purchased by PayPal for US$800 million in 2012. Venmo reportedly has 70 million users.

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See also: AI tools for small businesses

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