IBM joins elite group of 100-year-old companies
A hundred years ago the company made punch cards, scales and clocks. Today, its supercomputers can beat human chess champions or solve mind-bending business problems.
The company is IBM. And today Big Blue joins the exclusive club of companies to have survived 100 years, a rare feat it accomplished by constantly adapting through the tumult of recessions, technology shifts and CEO succession.
Don't make the mistake of thinking IBM is a corporate old-timer that just watched technology evolve. It has remained at the forefront through the decades and tops several of its whippersnapper rivals in some regards.
Perhaps the most quantifiable hallmark is the value investors put on the company: $197 billion. That makes IBM the fifth-most-valuable U.S. company, just behind Microsoft at $200 billion and well ahead of Google at $162 billion.
IBM's entrance to the club of U.S. companies to see their 100th birthdays is a milestone in business history. "It's the predominant pattern that companies eventually self-destruct," says management expert Jim Collins, author of books such as Built to Last, who studies corporate longevity. Companies that survive 100 years or longer are "a special and rarefied group."
Here's a little snapshot of our celebrations at IBM, all decked up in Blue with the theme "Think Blue, Go Green! The IBM way on its Centennial Celebration".
I am proud to be an IBMer, building a smarter planet!
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