The Most Valuable Corporation in History - The Dutch East India Company

You know a lot of people have change the world with their companies and a lot of companies have become big corporations. But one thing I always ask myself is “what is the biggest and most valuable company in history that ever existed”? Since on Project hope, we discuss businesses then this post is on track as it will be informative. Let’s begin;

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Dutch East India Company

This company was valued at $7.9 Trillion in the year 1637. This company started in the golden century in the Netherlands, at that point Amsterdam was one of the richest cities in the world. In this period, all countries depended on trade to make money and Amsterdam was dealing big time in trade. In other to prevent England from becoming a major voice in trade, this company was created and was allowed to run as a monopoly in Asian trade as the company traded Spices within the Europe and Indonesia. In case you did not know, unlike this days that spices is in every market, Spices was a scarce commodity and nations fought over countries that had it while other traded over them. The spices were used in medicine, for preservation of food, and flavors in food.

Something you need to know; the Dutch East India Company has a very vital importance in the history of the stock exchange market as it was the first company to go public on the World’s first stock exchange market. The company had up to 70,000 employees and was growing stronger. The company had their own Ships, Ship yards, and several work stations. Do you think Apple, Microsoft, Coca-Cola or Amazon are big conglomerate? Then let them get their own armies just like a Nation. The Dutch East India Company had their own army which stood to secure whatever land they got.

This company was powerful and interfered in international politics and government. The company could decide to wage war on their own, negotiate and even create its own coin for exchange. Even before cryptocurrency, companies were printing their own coins to trade, the difference is that it wasn’t cryptographic. The company was operational for over 2 centuries and could not be differentiated either as a corporate entity or as a state.

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The company started getting involved in flowers (tulips) as time passed and that brought their major revenue. Did you here of the Tulip Bubble? Yes this was the first financial bubble in history. The Dutch government found a way to transact Tulips even in days when they were not in season. Tulips prices were set by traders through contracts, making Tulip the first future driven market just like the current stock market. Many people sold their properties just to purchase tulips to sell for a higher price and they were making money.

The company as at the time of the peak was worth 3X the combined value of Apple, Microsoft and Google but the bursting in the tulip bubble brought down the value of the company.