List of oldest companies: Before 1300 • Hacker News Board

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#11

Post by liberte82 » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 4:37 PM UTC

mywittyname wrote: post #5

gf263 wrote: post #2

Fascinating. Is it Japanese culture to maintain the family business?

I believe that it is tradition for the founding family to adopt the next generation head of the business. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_adult_adoption#Econom...

That seems like cheating.

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#12

Post by iagooar » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 4:38 PM UTC

The oldest restaurant in Europe is in Wroclaw: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piwnica_Świdnicka

I once went there without knowing the fact, and it amazed me. It feels so different to sit between those old walls, trying to imagine how the place used to be before or during WWII, or in the 13th century...

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#13

Post by turc1656 » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 4:41 PM UTC

It's really incredible to see something like this. I was disheartened to see that Kongō Gumi was acquired in 2006 after 1,400+ years in business. It's just hard to wrap your mind around. But to see hotels and wineries that have existed for over a millennia is really quite amazing.

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#14

Post by known » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 4:42 PM UTC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bianyifang in 1416 is the first Chinese Restaurant

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#15

Post by keymone » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 4:43 PM UTC

it's incredible to realize that there still exists (technically) a company that was a thousand years old in 1500s.

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#16

Post by geofft » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 4:43 PM UTC

Wow, this web page looks like it hasn't been updated since 1439: http://www.luebeckaltstadthotel.de/

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#17

Post by MatthewWilkes » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 4:44 PM UTC

I had a fun run-in with this q couple of years ago. We had a field in company profile fkr the year of founding whose validator was '4 digits'.

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#18

Post by travmatt » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 4:45 PM UTC

liberte82 wrote: post #11

mywittyname wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe that it is tradition for the founding family to adopt the next generation head of the business. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_adult_adoption#Econom...

That seems like cheating.

Roman political families regularly adopted heirs as well. Rome’s first emperor Augustus was the adopted heir of Julius Casaer.

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#19

Post by rplnt » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 4:45 PM UTC

I think it's hard to argue it's the same company in some cases. The breweries in particular used to be a brewery in said city (the city had right to have a brewery). Different owners, different locations, later different legal companies, periods of inactivity, etc.. The continuity is lost beyond "there was a brewery in this town 600 year ago".

Re: List of oldest companies: Before 1300

#20

Post by 1337biz » Fri, Jan 19, 2018, 4:46 PM UTC

hawktheslayer wrote: post #3

I was very surprised to see a pub (Sean's) owned by Boy George on this list!

Bought it probably for its history. He always seemed a genuine good person behind the flashy persona.