Founders
Company Founders
214 founder profiles — backgrounds, founding stories, and legacy.
Abraham Anderson
The Campbell's Company
Adolf Dassler
Adidas AG
Adolph Zukor
Paramount Skydance Corporation
Adrian Dalsey
DHL Group
Alexander Graham Bell
AT&T Inc.
Alva Kinney
Conagra Brands, Inc.
Amadeo Peter Giannini
Bank of America Corporation
Amory Houghton Sr.
Corning Incorporated
Arnold Peter Møller
A.P. Moller - Maersk
Arthur Guinness
Diageo plc
Arthur J. Schmitt
Amphenol Corporation
Arthur Taubman
Advance Auto Parts, Inc.
Asa Griggs Candler
The Coca-Cola Company
Astra AB Consortium
AstraZeneca PLC
August Kuehne
Kuehne+Nagel International AG
Barbara Novick
BlackRock, Inc.
Barney Kroger
The Kroger Co.
Barry Babcock
Charter Communications
Ben Golub
BlackRock, Inc.
Ben Huston
Carvana Co.
Bernie Marcus
The Home Depot, Inc.
Bill Darden
Darden Restaurants, Inc.
Bill Gates
Microsoft Corporation
Brian Armstrong
Coinbase Global
Brian Chesky
Airbnb, Inc.
Brian Halligan
HubSpot, Inc.
Cadwallader C. Washburn
General Mills, Inc.
Carl von Thieme
Allianz SE
Carlyle Fraser
Genuine Parts Company
Charles Dolan
AMC Networks Inc.
Charles Henry Robinson
C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc.
Charles Le Bègue de Germiny
BNP Paribas SA
Charles Pfizer
Pfizer Inc.
Charles R. Schwab
The Charles Schwab Corporation
Charles Ranlett Flint
International Business Machines Corporation
Charles S. Davis
BorgWarner Inc.
Charlie Morrison
Wingstop Inc.
Chris Malachowsky
NVIDIA Corporation
Chung Ju-yung
Hyundai Motor Company, SK Hynix Inc.
Clessie Lyle Cummins
Cummins Inc.
Colbert Coldwell
CBRE Group, Inc.
Collett Everman Woolman
Delta Air Lines, Inc.
Conrad Nicholson Hilton
Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.
Consortium of Founding Banks
Mastercard Incorporated
Curtis Priem
NVIDIA Corporation
Cyrus Rowlett Smith
American Airlines Group
Daniel Katz
A24 Films, LLC
Daniel Vasella
Novartis AG
David A. Jones Jr.
Humana Inc.
David Vélez Osorno
Nu Holdings Ltd.
Derrick Rossi
Moderna, Inc.
Donald Fisher
Gap, Inc.
Donald Flynn
LKQ Corporation
Dr. Austin Church
Church & Dwight Co., Inc.
Earl Congdon
Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc.
Edward Dubinsky
AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc.
Edward Robinson Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
Elon Musk
OpenAI, SpaceX, Tesla, Inc.
Émile Pereire
BNP Paribas SA
Energizer Holdings, Inc. (via spin-off)
Edgewell Personal Care Company
Erle P. Halliburton
Halliburton Company
Ernest Garcia III
Carvana Co.
Estée Lauder
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc.
Eugène Schueller
L'Oréal SA
Ferdinand Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft
FPL Group Corporate Restructuring
NextEra Energy, Inc.
Francisco D'Souza
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation
Francois Pinault
Kering SA
Frank Little
Conagra Brands, Inc.
Frederick Taylor
Chevron Corporation
Friedrich Bayer
Bayer AG
Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel
Chanel S.A.
George B. Rathmann
Amgen Inc.
George Conrad Westervelt
The Boeing Company
George Garvin Brown
Brown-Forman Corporation
George Merck
Merck & Co., Inc.
Gerard Adriaan Heineken
Heineken N.V.
Gottlieb Daimler
Daimler Truck Holding AG, Mercedes-Benz Group AG
Graeme Ferguson
IMAX Corporation
Gustaf Larson
Volvo Car AB, AB Volvo
Hans Christian Hagedorn
Novo Nordisk A/S
Hartford Investors (Connecticut General Life Insurance Company)
The Cigna Group
Henry Ford
Ford Motor Company
Henry Samueli
Broadcom Inc.
Henry Wells
American Express Company, Wells Fargo
Hospital Corporation of Indiana Organizers
Elevance Health, Inc.
Hugh Frater
BlackRock, Inc.
Ian Wright
Tesla, Inc.
Indiana Hospital Service Directors
Elevance Health, Inc.
Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India
ICICI Bank Limited
Ingvar Kamprad
IKEA Group (INGKA Holding B.V.)
Isaac Carasso
Danone S.A.
Isaac Pereire
BNP Paribas SA
J. Michael Pearson
Bausch Health Companies Inc.
J. Willard Marriott
Marriott International
Jack Dorsey
Block Inc, X Corp (formerly Twitter)
Jack Ma (Ma Yun)
Alibaba Group Holding Limited
Jack Northrop
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Jack Schiff
Cincinnati Financial Corporation
Jacques Saadé
CMA CGM S.A.
Jacques-Théodore le Carpentier
AXA SA
James D. Sinegal
Costco Wholesale Corporation
James L. Kraft
The Kraft Heinz Company, Mondelez International, Inc.
James Luther Turner
Dollar General Corporation
JB Straubel
Tesla, Inc.
Jean Madar
Interparfums, Inc.
Jeffrey Preston Bezos
Amazon.com, Inc.
Jensen Huang
NVIDIA Corporation
Jerry Moyes
Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings Inc.
Jerry Sanders
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Johann Peter Gottlieb Bunge
Bunge Global SA
John Amos
Aflac Incorporated
John D. Rockefeller
Exxon Mobil Corporation
John Foley
Peloton Interactive, Inc.
John Freame
Barclays PLC
John Harvey Kellogg
Kellanova
John W. Daniels
Archer-Daniels-Midland Company
John Warnock
Adobe Inc.
Joseph A. Campbell
The Campbell's Company
Karl Benz
Mercedes-Benz Group AG
Karl Rapp
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
Kevin Clark
Aptiv PLC
Kumar Mahadeva
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation
Lakshmi Narayanan
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation
Larry Fink
BlackRock, Inc.
Larry Page
Alphabet Inc.
Lawrence Joseph Ellison
Oracle Corporation
Lee Roy Mitchell
Cinemark Holdings, Inc.
Leonard Bosack
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Lihong Qin
NIO Inc.
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton Malletier SAS
Lowry Mays
iHeartMedia, Inc.
Lucius Ordway
3M Company
Luis von Ahn
Duolingo, Inc.
Malcolm Wilson
GXO Logistics, Inc.
Marc Tarpenning
Tesla, Inc.
Marcus Goldman
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
Mark Zuckerberg
Meta Platforms, Inc.
Martin Lorentzon
Spotify Technology S.A.
Marvin Sands
Constellation Brands, Inc.
Maurice James McDonald
McDonald's Corporation
Max Levchin
Affirm Holdings, Inc., PayPal Holdings, Inc.
Maxwell Kohl
Kohl's Corporation
Michael L. Riordan
Gilead Sciences, Inc.
Michael S. Dell
Dell Technologies Inc.
Mike Cannon-Brookes
Atlassian Corporation Plc
Milton S. Hershey
The Hershey Company
Monroe Milstein
Burlington Stores, Inc.
Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector
ON Semiconductor Corporation
N. R. Narayana Murthy
Infosys Limited
Namihei Odaira
Hitachi, Ltd.
Nathan Blecharczyk
Airbnb, Inc.
Norman Augustine
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Oliver Chace
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Olivier Pomel
Datadog, Inc.
PECO Energy Company and Commonwealth Edison
Exelon Corporation
Peter Thiel
Palantir Technologies Inc., PayPal Holdings, Inc.
Phil Knight
NIKE, Inc.
Philadelphia Merchants (Insurance Company of North America)
The Cigna Group
Philips Electronics (institutional founder)
ASML Holding NV
Pierre Omidyar
eBay Inc.
Pitt Hyde Jr.
AutoZone, Inc.
Prof. Ozlem Tureci, M.D.
BioNTech SE
Prof. Ugur Sahin, M.D.
BioNTech SE
Ralph J. Roberts
Comcast Corporation
Ralph Schlosstein
BlackRock, Inc.
Ray Dolby
Dolby Laboratories, Inc.
Reed Hastings
Netflix, Inc.
Reuben C. Baker
Baker Hughes Company
Richard L. Sharp
CarMax, Inc.
Robert D. Walter
Cardinal Health, Inc.
Robert Kalin
Etsy, Inc.
Robert Noyce
Intel Corporation
Robert S. Kapito
BlackRock, Inc.
Robin Saxby
Arm Holdings
Roy O. Disney
The Walt Disney Company
Rudolf Dassler
Adidas AG, Puma SE
Ruth Handler
Mattel, Inc.
Ryan Cohen
Chewy, Inc.
Ryan Keeton
Carvana Co.
Sam Altman
OpenAI
Samuel Osgood
Citigroup Inc.
Sears, Roebuck and Co.
The Allstate Corporation
Sebastian Siemiatkowski
Klarna Group plc
Sergey Brin
Alphabet Inc.
Several small oil companies
Marathon Petroleum Corporation
Silvanus Bevan
GSK plc
Stan Vishnevskiy
Discord Inc.
Stanley Goldstein
CVS Health Corp.
Steve Ells
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.
Steve Jobs
Apple Inc.
Susan Wagner
BlackRock, Inc.
Taavet Hinrikus
Wise plc
Takemitsu Takizaki
Keyence Corporation
Takeshi Mitarai
Canon Inc.
Ted Burch
Crown Castle Inc.
Thierry Hermès
Hermès International
Thomas Alva Edison
General Electric Company
Thomas Gould
Barclays PLC
Thomas Sutherland
HSBC Holdings plc
Trip Hawkins
Electronic Arts Inc.
Wang Chuanfu
BYD Company Ltd
Weili Dai
Marvell Technology, Inc.
Wendell Cherry
Humana Inc.
Will Keith Kellogg
Kellanova
William C. Durant
General Motors Company
William Colgate
Colgate-Palmolive Company
William E. Boeing
The Boeing Company, United Airlines Holdings, Inc.
William Fargo
American Express Company, Wells Fargo
William Knox D'Arcy
BP plc
William Li
NIO Inc.
William Pigott Sr.
PACCAR Inc
William Welch Deloitte
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited
Zhang Yiming
ByteDance Ltd., TikTok