The 10 Biggest Companies of Yesterday.

24/7 Wall Street did this profile of the 10 largest companies back in the 50's and now. Today we'll show the 10 largest companies in 1955. The list is dominated by old smokestack industries that today account for an increasingly smaller share of our GDP.

Tomorrow we'll give the top 10 of today:

"Among the ten largest employers in 1955 were GM, Chrysler, US Steel (NYSE: X), Standard Oil of New Jersey, Amoco, Goodyear (NYSE: GT), and Firestone. None could have existed or been nearly as large as they were without the insatiable appetite for American-made cars. What caused appetites and businesses to change will continue to be a matter of debate between business historians. Did the Japanese make better products? Did spikes in oil prices in the 1970s, 1980s, and two years ago knock the life out of the car business? Or, did the UAW and other large unions bleed the companies through high wages, rich pensions, and health care funds?......

....The decades-long movement away from a United States dominated by smoke stacks to one dominated by computers and malls has also caused a shift in the geographic placement of the country’s better-paid workers. In the 1920s, they migrated to the North – places like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan – where blue-collar jobs were abundant. Eight decades later their descendants are out of work in numbers that total well into the millions.

Many workers could not be retrained to move from the old economy to the new, and those who could not afford to move from areas with poor employment prospects to those with better ones saw their standards of living decline. As new industries emerge to replace those which are dominant today, these issues are likely to remain."

The Biggest Employers in 1955

1. General Motors {Employees in 1955: 576,667-Employees today: 204,000}

The No.1 car company in the US used to be the No.1 car company in the world. In 1955, GM had more than 50% of the American vehicle market and, between direct employees and those at suppliers, it was responsible for more than 3 million US jobs. GM has emerged from bankruptcy, but has fewer than half as many people, and its US market share is only 20%.

2. U.S. Steel {Employees in 1955: 268,142- Employees today: 43,000}

US Steel was the largest company in its industry worldwide and was among the Fortune 50 in 1955. A large portion of the steel manufacturing business has moved offshore, first to Japan and then China.

3. General Electric {Employees in 1955: 210,151- Employees today: 304,000}

General Electric is one of the few companies that has grown significantly over the last five decades. It was largely an industrial firm in 1955, and now makes a large amount of its revenue and profits from financial services.

4. Chrysler {Employees in 1955: 167,813-Employees today: 58,000}

Another car company that benefited from a very limited number of imports. The firm nearly went out of business during the 1980s recession and was rescued by the US government. It moved into Chapter 11 nearly two years ago.

5. Standard Oil Of New Jersey {Employees in 1955: 155,000-Employees today: 102,700}

Standard Oil of New Jersey was part of the original Standard Oil trust created by John Rockefeller. The company was merged into what eventually became Exxon Mobil.

6. Amoco {Employees in 1955: 135,784-Employees today: N/A}

Another piece of the Rockefeller trust, the company was merged into BP America and is now part of BP plc.

7. CBS {Employees in 1955: 117,143- Employees today: 25,580}

The dominant force in both national radio and TV, the company also owned several large stations. As media has broken into more forms of delivery, including cable and Internet, CBS has grown smaller.

8. AT&T Technologies {Employees in 1955: 98,141- Employees today: N/A}

This division of AT&T handled the telephone company’s R&D was was spun out of AT&T completely in 1984.

9. Goodyear Tire & Rubber {Employees in 1955: 95,727-Employees today: 69,000}

The largest tire company in the world in 1955, Goodyear had large plants around the world. As competition from Japanese companies grew, the company went through several restructurings including a move into energy.

10. Firestone Tire & Rubber {Employees in 1955: 90,000- Employees today: N/A}

The second largest tire company in the world in 1955, Firestone was at one point the exclusive supplier to Ford. The company was sold to Bridgestone of Japan in 1988.

Tomorrow we'll look at 24/7 Wall Street's list of the 10 largest companies today.

*Certain of these companies are included in ETF's that our clients hold. In addition we have one client that holds a legacy position in British Petroleum {BP} and customers of our firm hold legacy positions in General Electric {GE}

Link: America's Biggest Companies, Then and Now.