Biography of Caleb bradham(Pepsi)

Caleb Davis Bradham (May 27, 1867 – February 19, 1934) invented the soft drink Pepsi-Cola. He was a pharmacist, born in Chinquapin, Duplin County,North Carolina, May 27, 1867. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended the University of Maryland School of Medicine.Circa 1890, he dropped out of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, owing to his father's business going bankrupt. After returning to North Carolina, he was a public school teacher for about a year, and soon thereafter opened a drug store in New Bern named the "Bradham Drug Company" that, like many other drug stores of the time, also housed a soda fountain.This drug store, located on the corner of Middle Street and Pollock Street in downtown New Bern, is where Bradham, on August 28, 1898, invented the recipe—a blend of kola nut extract, vanilla, and "rare oils" -- for what was initially known as "Brad's Drink," but that soon was renamed Pepsi-Cola. Bradham named his drink after a combination of the terms “pepsin” and “cola,” as he believed that his drink aided digestion much like the pepsin enzyme does, even though it was not used as an ingredient. His assistant James Henry King was the first to taste the new drink.On December 24, 1902, the Pepsi-Cola Company was incorporated in North Carolina, with Bradham as the president, and on June 16, 1903 the first Pepsi-Cola trademark was registered. Also in 1903, he moved his Pepsi-Cola production out of his drug store and into a rented building nearby. In 1905, Bradham began selling Pepsi-Cola in six-ounce bottles (up until this time he sold Pepsi-Cola as a syrup only), and awarded two franchises to North Carolina bottlers.On January 1, 1901, Bradham married Charity Credle in New Bern, North Carolina.Bradham was elected steward of St. John's (Masons') Lodge No. 3 in 1895; he was later elected or appointed junior warden in 1898, senior warden in 1899, and Worshipful Master in 1900, 1901, and again in 1927.By the time of his death, Bradham had attained the 32nd degree of Scottish Rite, acted as grand commander in the York Rite, served as provincial grand master of the Order of Colonial Masters of North America, recorder and treasurer of the Sudan Shrine Temple, eminent commander of St. John's Commandery, and master kadosh of Carolina Consistory No. 3 He also served as an exalted ruler of the New Bern Elks Lodge.In addition to running his drug store, he served as the president of the People’s Bank of New Bern, and was a chairman of the Craven County Board of Commissioners. At one point he was even suggested as a candidate for governor of North Carolina. He also served as an officer in the naval reserve for 25 years; he was named a lieutenant in the North Carolina Naval Militia, was promoted to commander in 1904, and to captain in 1913. He retired as a rear admiral. Additionally, in 1914 he was appointed by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to the General Naval Militia Board.At the peak of success, Bradham had authorized Pepsi-Cola franchises in over 24 states; however, on May 31, 1923, Bradham and his Pepsi-Cola Company declared bankruptcy. The major factor for Bradham’s business failure was the price of sugar immediately following World War I, when prices went up to 28 cents per pound (it was three cents per pound pre-war), and Bradham had purchased a large amount of sugar at that price but the price of sugar nosedived soon after he purchased it. The assets of his company were sold to the Craven Holding Company for $35,000. After declaring bankruptcy, Bradham returned to operating his drug store.Bradham died on February 19, 1934, after succumbing to a long-term illness. His funeral was held at New Bern's First Presbyterian Church, of which Bradham was a member. He is buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery in New Bern; Masonic rites were administered at his graveside, and the pallbearers were from his Masonic lodge.Nicholas Sparks, a fiction author who lives in New Bern, mentioned Mr. Bradham in his book Bend in the Road.

Biography of Stan Shih (founder of acer)

Stan Shih was bone at December 8, 1944 in Lukang Township, Changhua County, Taiwan. He is a retired Taiwanese business tycoon. After receiving the Bachelor's degree and Master's degree degrees in Electronics Engineering from the National Chiao Tung University, Shih founded Acer (originally named as Multitech, but later changed to Acer in 1987) in 1976 along with his wife Carolyn Yeh and a group of five. Shih chaired Acer until his retirement late in 2004, seeing Acer growing from a tiny start-up to a billion-dollar worldwide brand. After retirement Shih is still active in local charity works, and was even appointed as the Special Representative of President Chen Shui-bian to the APEC Australia 2007.

Biography of Sunil Bharti Mittal

Early life

Sunil Mittal was born in Ludhiana, Punjab, India. His father, Sat Pal Mittal, had been the Member of Parliament (M.P) from Ludhiana. He first joined the Wynberg Allen School in Mussoorie,but later attended Scindia School at Gwalior and he graduated in 1976 from Punjab University, Chandigarh, with a Bachelor of Arts and Science for which he studied in Arya College for Boys, a local college in Ludhiana.His father died of cardiac arrest in 1992.

Entrepreneurial ventures

A first generation entrepreneur, Mittal started his first business in April 1976 at the age of 18, with a capital investment of 20,000 (US$0) borrowed from his father. His first business was to make crankshafts for local bicycle manufacturers. In 1980, he along with his brothers Rakesh, Rajan started an Import Enterprise named Bharti Overseas Trading Corporation.He sold his bicycle parts and yarn factories and moved to Mumbai. In 1981, he purchased importing licences from exporting companies in Punjab.He then imported thousands of Suzuki Motors's portable electric-powergenerators from Japan. The importing of generators was suddenly banned by the then Indian Government and just two licences to manufacture generators in India were issued to two companies. In 1984, he started assembling push-button phones in India,which he earlier used to import from a Taiwan company, Kingtel, replacing the old fashioned, bulky rotary phones that were in use in the country then. Bharti Telecom Limited (BTL) was incorporated and entered into a technical tie up with Siemens AG of Germany for manufacture of electronic push button phones. By the early 1990s, Mittal was making fax machines, cordless phones and other telecom gear. Mittal says, "In 1983, the government imposed a ban on the import of gensets. I was out of business overnight. Everything I was doing came to a screeching halt. I was in trouble. The question then was: what should I do next? Then, opportunity came calling. While in Taiwan, I noticed the popularity of the push-button phone -- something which India hadn't seen then. We were still using those rotary dials with no speed dials or redials. I sensed my chance and embraced the telecom business. I started marketing telephones, answering/fax machines under the brand name Beetel and the company picked up really fast.".He named his first push-button phones as 'Mitbro'. In 1992, he successfully bid for one of the four mobile phone network licences auctioned in India.One of the conditions for the Delhi cellular license was that the bidder have some experience as a telecom operator. So, Mittal clinched a deal with the French telecom group Vivendi. He was one of the first Indian entrepreneurs to identify the mobile telecom business as a major growth area. His plans were finally approved by the Government in 1994 and he launched services in Delhi in 1995, when Bharti Cellular Limited (BCL) was formed to offer cellular services under the brand name AirTel. Within a few years Bharti became the first telecom company to cross the 2-million mobile subscriber mark. Bharti also brought down the STD/ISD cellular rates in India under brand name 'Indiaone'.IndiaOne was India’s first private national as well as the international long-distance service provider, and, thus, became a major factor in Bharti's success by providing services cheaply. In November 2006, he struck a joint venture deal with Wal-Mart, the US retail giant, to start a number of retail stores across India. In July 2006, he attracted many key executives from Reliance ADAG, NIS Sparta and created Bharti Comtel. In May 2008, it emerged that Sunil Bharti Mittal was exploring the possibility of buying the MTN Group, a South Africa-based telecommunications company with coverage in 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. The Financial Times reported that Bharti was considering offering US$45 billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which would be the largest overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm. However, both sides emphasize the tentative nature of the talks, while The Economist magazine noted, "If anything, Bharti would be marrying up," as MTN has more subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic coverage.However, the talks fell apart as MTN group tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a subsidiary of the new company. In May 2009, Bharti Airtel again confirmed that it was in talks with MTN and the companies agreed to discuss the potential transaction exclusively by 31 July 2009. Bharti Airtel said in a statement "Bharti Airtel Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has renewed its effort for a significant partnership with MTN Group". Talks eventually ended without agreement, some sources stating that this was due to opposition from the South African government.

Biography of Michael Dell

Early life and education

Michael Dell was born to a well-off, Texan Jewish family, on February 23, 1965.The son of an orthodontist and a stockbroker, Dell attended Herod Elementary School in Houston, Texas.In a bid to enter business early, he applied to take a high school equivalency exam at age eight. In his early teens, he invested his earnings from part-time jobs in stocks and precious metals.

Dell purchased his first calculator at age seven and encountered his first teletype machine in junior high, which he programmed after school. At age 15, after playing with computers at Radio Shack, he got his first computer, an Apple II, which he promptly disassembled to see how it worked.Dell attendedMemorial High School in Houston, selling subscriptions to the Houston Post in the summer. While making cold calls, Dell observed that newlyweds and people moving into new homes were most likely to buy a subscription. He targeted this demographic group by collecting names from marriage and mortgage applications. Dell earned $18,000 that year, exceeding the annual income of his history and economics teacher.

Career

A PC's Limited Turbo PC signed by Dell

Michael Dell lecturing at the Oracle OpenWorld, San Francisco 2010

While a pre-med student at the University of Texas at Austin, Dell started an informal business upgrading computers in room 2713 of the Dobie Centerresidential building. He then applied for a vendor license to bid on contracts for the State of Texas, winning bids by not having the overhead of a computer store.

In January 1984, Dell banked on his conviction that the potential cost savings of a manufacturer selling PCs directly had enormous advantages over the conventional indirect retail channel. In January 1984, Dell registered his company as "PC's Limited". Operating out of a condominium, the business sold between $50,000 and $80,000 in upgraded PCs, kits, and add-on components. In May, Dell incorporated the company as "Dell Computer Corporation" and relocated it to a business center in North Austin. The company employed a few order takers, a few more people to fulfill them, and, as Dell recalled, a manufacturing staff "consisting of three guys with screwdrivers sitting at six-foot tables." The venture's capitalization cost was $1,000.

In 1992 at the age of 27, Dell became the youngest CEO to have his company ranked in Fortune magazine's list of the top 500 corporations. In 1996, Dell started selling computers over the Web, the same year his company launched its first servers. Dell Inc. soon reported about $1 million in sales per day from dell.com. In the first quarter of 2001, Dell Inc. reached a world market share of 12.8 percent, passing Compaq to become the world's largest PC maker. The metric marked the first time the rankings had shifted over the previous seven years. The company's combined shipments of desktops, notebooks and servers grew 34.3 percent worldwide and 30.7 percent in the United States at a time when competitors' sales were shrinking.

In 1998, Dell founded MSD Capital L.P. to exclusively manage his and his family's investments. Investment activities include publicly-traded securities, private equity activities, and real estate. The firm employs 80 people and has offices in New York, Santa Monica and London. Dell is not involved in day-to-day operations.

At a speech before the Detroit Economic Club in November, 1999, Dell defined the "3 C's" of e-commerce (content, commerce, and community) while articulating his strategy for offering a superior customer experience online.

On March 4, 2004, Dell stepped down as CEO of Dell Inc. but stayed as chairman of the board, while Kevin B. Rollins, then president and COO, became president and CEO. On January 31, 2007, Dell returned as CEO at the request of the board, succeeding Rollins.

Accolades for Dell include: "Entrepreneur of the Year" (at age 24) from Inc. magazine;"Top CEO in American Business" from Worth magazine; "CEO of the Year" from Financial World, Industry Week and Chief Executive magazines. Dell serves on the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum, the executive committee of the International Business Council, the U.S. Business Council, and the governing board of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India. He previously served as a member of the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

In July 2010 Dell agreed to pay a $4 million penalty to settle SEC charges of disclosure and accounting fraud in relation to undisclosed payments from Intel Corporation. Dell Corporation and two other company executives also paid to settle all the charges.

Writings

Dell's 1999 book, Direct from Dell: Strategies That Revolutionized an Industry, is an account of his early life, his company's founding, growth and missteps, as well as lessons learned. The book was written in collaboration with Catherine Fredman.

Wealth and personal life

As of 2011, Forbes estimates Dell's net worth at $14.6 billion.

Dell resides in Austin, Texas with his wife, Susan, and their four children.

Philanthropy

In 1999, Michael and Susan Dell established the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, which focuses on children’s causes. By 2010, the foundation had committed more than $530 million to assist nonprofit organizations serving urban communities in the United States and India.The foundation has also provided $65 million in grants to three health-related organizations associated with the University of Texas: the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Advancement of Healthy Living, the Dell Pediatric Research Institute, and the Dell Children’s Medical Center, as well as funding for a new computer science building on the University of Texas campus.

In 2002, Dell received an honorary doctorate in Economic Science from the University of Limerick in honor of his investment in Ireland and the local community and for his support for educational initiatives.

Political contributions

In 2004, Susan and Michael Dell were among 53 contributors of $250,000 (the maximum legal donation) to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.

Criticism

In the April 2011 issue of Mother Jones, a timeline of Michael Dell's life is included in the article American Magnate: Michael Dell: How a homegrown geek outsourced, downsized, and tax-breaked his way to the top. The article juxtaposes the CEO's spending on luxurious homes and private jet travel with his pursuit of tax breaks and tax holidays and Dell Computer's outsourcing of jobs overseas.