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Dutch Companies

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So posting something every weekday is a little harder than I thought. I think I'm just going to shoot for at least 2 a week. Sorry folks.

Today I thought it would be neat to read about some companies that were founded in the Netherlands. Some you already know and others that may make you say, "really?" I picked just the ones that we here in America would recognize.

First off the beer companies. Just 2 BIG ones.

Amstel Brewery - 1870 in Amsterdam. Bought by the next company in 1968.
Heineken International - 1864 in Amsterdam. As of 2007 they own 119 breweries in 65 countries. They claim their recipe hasn't changed in 150 years and Heineken is the worlds 3rd largest brewer.

Now others.

Endemol - 1994 merger of television companies. They have produced shows like Fear Factor and Wipeout based in the Netherlands.
ING Group - Financial institution full name is Internationale Nederlanden Groep (International Netherlands Group). You remember the commercials. ING with the orange lion on the park benches.
KLM - Royal Dutch Airlines merged with Air France in 2004 founded in 1919.
Philips - Electronics corporation founded in 1891. We actually used to have a Philips TV. And you thought only good electronics came from Asia.....
TomTom - Navigation company founded in 1991. Mostly used in Europe the second most sought after GPS behind Garmin but infron of Magellan I think.

There are many others obviously but the rest aren't as recognisable here in America.
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