5 Businesses That Started During A Recession

FedEx was incorporated in 1971 as Federal Express, but didn't begin operations until the 1973 recession. Federal Express was born from a Yale term paper written by Frederick Smith who believed that a company devoted to fast delivery to cities of all sizes was a valuable niche company. He started with 14 aircraft, deliveries to 25 cities and 389 employees. Today, FedEx has 688 aircraft, over 90,000 delivery vehicles and more than 300 employees resulting in US$40 billion in annual revenue.

General Electric was founded in the depression of 1873 by inventor Thomas Edison, creator of the incandescent light bulb. The depression saw half of the nation's railroads declare bankruptcy and half of the country's iron furnaces shut down. What was started by a single investment bank shutting down led to what is now called a panic, but Edison opened a small laboratory in 1876 that would later become General Electric. Today, GE has more than 300,000 employees and a cash flow of more than US$14 billion.