Old Notes on the World

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 keep extensive notes from ages 16 to 20. A small portion still survives:

• The majority of non-voting shares in Bose Corporation are owned by MIT
• At one point, Thomas Cook flew 45% of tourists to the Gambia. Tourism constitutes one-third of Gambia’s GDP
• Blackstone owns the Willis Tower in Chicago
• Nestlé has a 20% stake in L’Oréal
• 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
• Cerberus Capital owns SubCom LLC, the largest submarine cable installer. Alcatel Submarine Networks is second and owned by Nokia. Japan’s NEC Corp. is third and part of Sumitomo Group. Huawei Marine comes in fourth and is owned by Hengtong Optic-Electric Co. Ltd.
• Blackstone owns 6.5-7% of Crocs
• Jardine Matheson owns 77.4% of Mandarin Oriental and 5.44% of Rothschild and Co. It also owns Zung Fu, the exclusive Mercedes-Benz dealer 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 except China
• The Cullinan Mine, owned by Petra Diamonds, is the only significant source of blue diamonds and the world’s 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 responsible for assigning numerical internet addresses to websites and computers. It also protects a master key for the internet’s naming system: seven people hold keys, and seven others hold backups.
• Zipper companies: SBS is Chinese, YKK is Japanese. YKK makes its own zipper-making machines. SBS clients include Giorgio Armani, Mango, H&M, and Target. The mid-range market is very competitive between Chinese companies and YKK; the high end is mostly YKK and custom zips.
• Phoenix Air makes bio-containment systems for medical evacuation. Its Aeromedical Biological Containment Systems fit inside Gulfstream jets and carry one patient. Its Containerized Bio-Containment Systems fit inside large cargo aircraft and can carry four highly contagious patients. The larger system was developed with the Paul Allen Foundation and MRI Global. The devices are owned by the State Department and operated by Phoenix Air, which also trains with them during the year. Phoenix Air was also responsible for bringing Otto Warmbier back from North Korea.
• 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 world wars and also Neil Armstrong’s camera on the moon.
• Humanetics Innovative Solutions Inc. is the world’s largest maker of crash-test dummies: steel-and-vinyl bodies stuffed with electronics that measure car-crash injuries. It has over 70% global market share, and its dummies can cost as much as $1 million each. Regulators effectively require carmakers to buy at least some of its products, though companies reuse the dummies for 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 chalks, 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. The contract specifies delivery of U.S. light sweet crude grades, also called WTI or Domestic Sweet crude. Cushing is called "The Pipeline Crossroads of the World" because it connects nearly two dozen pipelines and 15 storage terminals, with about 90 million barrels of storage capacity.
• Pigment industry is worth 30 billion dollars, 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 the Plaza Hotel in New York
• Brunei Investment Authority owns the Dorchester Collection, which owns hotels like Plaza Athénée, Hotel Bel-Air, and the 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 Agra. Earlier, Four Seasons was supposed to help Leela expand in India when it had only two hotels. Leela’s founder asked Four Seasons to redesign the Goa hotel first, then backed out of the agreement after the redesign was finished.
• 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 in the USA (Shanghai government’s arm specializing in investment, construction and management of urban infrastructure).
• Charoen Pokphand foods is one of the world’s largest producers of feed, shrimp, and a global top three producer of pork, poultry and other agricultural products. It operates Southeast Asia’s largest retail business with 10,000 7-Eleven stores.
• Nikkei owns Financial Times
• Brown-Forman owns Jack Daniel’s
• BlackRock has a majority stake in Authentic Brands. It owns licenses for 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 HGGC.
• Malaysia has around 68% of the rubber glove market. Top Glove is the world’s largest rubber glove manufacturer. Supermax accounts for 12% of demand for latex examination gloves. Hartalega is the world’s largest nitrile glove producer. All three are based in Malaysia.
• Samsung owns Harman International Industries which owns JBL and Harman Kardon and Bang & 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 is the biggest by market share, and Firmenich is second. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust has owned a stake in Givaudan.
• Estée Lauder owns and has the cosmetics licenses 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 is the largest hotel toiletries supplier with brands like Hermes, Bvlgari, Salvatore Ferragamo, etc
• Hearst Communications owns 20% of 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
  • Along with Brookfield, a majority stake in Songbird Estates which is a majority owner of Canary Wharf Group
  • Shard along with Sellar Property Group
  • Harrods
  • 23% of Banyan Tree and 10% of Accor
  • Hotel holdings including Westin Excelsior Rome, Savoy London, InterContinental hotels in Amsterdam, Cannes, and Madrid, Peninsula Paris, Ritz-Carlton Doha, Raffles Singapore, Sheraton and Marriott Doha, Raffles Paris, and Burgenstock
• Serco, a British BPO company, operates:
  • Border visa and immigration UK
  • Santander cycles in London
  • Prisons in UK
  • ATC UAE
  • Had a contract from the U.S. to manage ATC in Iraq
  • Chicago parking meters
  • Operates the Dubai Metro and Dubai Tram
  • Contract to upgrade Ballistic Missile Early Warning System for a U.S. base in Greenland
• Luxottica owns Ray-Ban and Vogue Eyewear, and holds eyewear licenses for a huge number of luxury brands.
• 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% of Zambian Airways, 20% of Eritrean Airlines, and 49% of Chad’s airline
  • China Eastern and Delta each own 10% of Air France-KLM
  • Air France-KLM owns 31% of Virgin Atlantic
  • Delta owns 49% of Virgin Atlantic, 49% Aeroméxico
  • Qatar Airways owns 9.6% of Cathay Pacific, Swire Pacific owns 45% of Cathay, 5% of China Southern, 20% of IAG (owner of BA)