America: The Story Of Us

[katiesue]

Originally Posted by JWBear

I almost forgot the BofA crap! And they definitely were not the first (or second) bank chartered in America. BofA started as Bank of Italy in San Francisco in 1904!

It's possible they bought out some other bank that was the first or second. I used to work at an insurance company that was "founded" in 1900 or some such but had been pretty much defunct till our company bought it out in the 90's. But we used the "founded in 1900" bit on our literature.

[JWBear]

Originally Posted by katiesue

It's possible they bought out some other bank that was the first or second. I used to work at an insurance company that was "founded" in 1900 or some such but had been pretty much defunct till our company bought it out in the 90's. But we used the "founded in 1900" bit on our literature.

That's pretty much what they are doing. Bank of Massachusetts was founded in 1784, and ceased to exist in 1903. In 2005 BofA bought the company that bought the company that bought the company that bought out Bank of Massachusetts in 1903. BofA is now claiming that they began as Bank of Massachusetts in 1784. Utter disingenuous rubbish.

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by JWBear

That's pretty much what they are doing. Bank of Massachusetts was founded in 1784, and ceased to exist in 1903. In 2005 BofA bought the company that bought the company that bought the company that bought out Bank of Massachusetts in 1903. BofA is now claiming that they began as Bank of Massachusetts in 1784. Utter disingenuous rubbish.

So when does a company cease to exist? During a merger if the name changes is it a new company? is it a new company if there is no name change? Does it depend on the make-up before and after of the Board of Directors?

With that in mind, what is the Disney Company? Is it still Disney after acquiring Pixar. Does Pixar still exist?

I have no problem with a Company tracing its roots and claiming it's heritage - Companies are fake humans anyway.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by katiesue

It's possible they bought out some other bank that was the first or second.

I'm looking at the "merger & acquisition" tree for my employer (not BofA) and the oldest company listed is The Bank of Manhattan Company founded in 1799. 49 predecessor companies were found before 1900. Maybe we could legally say "Founded more times before 1900 than you can shake a stick at."