Andrew Boyd's Create a Company Challenge

Vektris Engineering Corporation

Established: May 22, 1952 (as Lethbridge Machine and Metalworks)
Headquarters: Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

Vektris Engineering, a Canadian industrial gem and one of the most skilled firms in the world at the making of metal components of all sizes and materials, began in a humble manner, a machining firm dedicated to the production of metal components for farm machinery, trucks and railroad cars. Created by Adam Veksler and William Tristian in May 1952 for that purpose, the company began both for this purpose but also as a licensed dealer for parts and service for Robinson, Massey-Harris and Russell-Evans products, doing a brisk business in the 1950s as the local population grew and higher prices for farm products created a class of farmers who bought mechanized equipment in ever-larger quantities.

Despite this success, skilled machinist Tristian and machine designer Veksler began to make their own equipment and attachments for Massey-Harris and Russell-Evans products in the mid-1950s, starting with better cultivators and plows, and the development in the late 1950s of combination of powered tiller and herbicide sprayer that reduced the quantity of herbicide used (and would be proven a good idea after the downsides of excess herbicide use became apparent in the late 1960s) that was designed to be easier on fields. As oil exploration grew in the area during the same time period, the company's machine shop proved capable of making virtually anything the oil industry needed, and the specialized built-to-order business became a company hallmark by the early 1960s. By the early 1960s the company had spread out to making tools and equipment out of all kinds of metals, and the prosperity of the time in Canada and the shifting needs of both industries, as well as lavish support from Petro-Canada, led to the company creating an express engineering department in 1963, initially hiring grads from Central Canada but quickly developing its own home-grown talent from Alberta itself. The engineering department of the company quickly saw the company divided into engineering, fabrication and commercial departments, and the company began to expand its operations far beyond the oil and farm implements industries.

The company became known across Canada with the building of the Iroquois-class destroyers in the mid-1960s, as their revolutionary COGOG drive systems were designed and in part built by Lethbridge Machine and Metalworks, and the company also developed the drive system used by the UAC/CLC TurboTrain that began service on CN in 1965, both projects making the company's reputation for quality engineering. Perhaps more importantly, the company's engineering divisions developed their own fabrication tools and machines, which made the company's ability to take on specialized projects expand. The expansion into specialized engineering led to the name change from Lethbridge Machine and Metalworks to Vektris Engineering Corporation in 1974, and Vektris' abilities to make components of a quality and durability unmatched by others led to the firm growing into many new fields in the 1970s and 1980s, including everything from industrial machinery to metal pieces for construction projects to automotive industry components.

Vektris through the 1970s and 1980s took on and successfully accomplished one task after another, building up a formidable reputation. They built the titanium-alloy chassis tubs for Walter Wolf's Formula One race cars, wheeltrucks for the CLRV streetcars for Toronto, structural steel components for the monorail for Expo 86 in Vancouver, frames for Cray Research and Pacific Alliance supercomputers and even a machine that produced surgical stainless steel and titanium jewelry chains for Michael Daniels. But the company scored its greatest 1980s coup when they convinced General Electric and the Royal Canadian Navy to outsource to them the production of the General Electric LM2500 gas turbine engines that the Navy's Fraser-class air-warfare destroyers used for their primary power - the Fraser and Eagle class destroyers and the Halifax and Ottawa class frigates using LM2500s built by Vektris, as well as four LM2500s built for the aircraft carrier HMCS Canada.

A company re-organization in 1986 separated the engineering division into the Heavy, Transport, Industrial and Specialized engineering divisions and separated the fabrication division into the Heavy, Commercial, Advanced Materials and Specialized fabrication divisions. This allowed the company to become a partner in other projects on smaller or larger scales, from audio synthesizers to movie props (most famously creating numerous props for famed science-fiction hits Terminator II: Judgement Day, Jurassic Park, Eraser, Armageddon and Total Recall) to parts for the Canadarm that flew on the Space Shuttle. Vektris manufacturing machinery was used extensively by Fairchild Semiconductor in the United States, Fujitsu in Japan and Cameron Semiconductor and Sierra Technologies in Canada for the making of computer chips (and often enough Cameron and Sierra-made components were part of Vektris machinery) and by Gildan Activewear for the making of clothing.

A billion-dollar company by the time of Veksler and Tristian's retirement in 1988, the torch of the company was passed off to John Rosbart, who had joined Vektris as a fresh-out-of-college designer in 1964. Rosbart expanded the company way beyond its North American markets and dramatically-expanded the advanced materials divisions, resulting in the company working with Nortel Networks to create commercial fiber-optic communications network equipment in 1991 and one of the first commercially-available 3D printers, the Vektris Avatar, in 1994, while at the same time continuing its heavier-metal businesses. The company's industrial divisions developed (with Dilworth, Secord and Meagher) a second-generation of refueling system for CANDU reactors, this first being installed at the Darlington and Fort McMurray NPPs in 1994, while the opening of Studio Powerstation and MGM Studios Toronto resulting in the company opening up a specialized manufacturing facility in Pickering, Ontario, in 1996, the company's first facility outside of Alberta. The Pickering factory was followed by the Industrial Engineering division setting up shop a new facility in Richmond, British Columbia the following year, and the Transport Engineering opening its new facility in Hamilton, Ontario, in 2000.

Today, the company is the single largest industrial employer in the province of Alberta, with over 85% of the company's 46,000 employees being in the Wildrose Province, and true to form, the company directly employs 22,750 employees in Lethbridge, contributing mightily to the city and province's economy.
 
La Briocherie

Created in the 70's based on American diners, La Briocherie is a French fast food restaurant, that tries to give cheap, healthy, easy-to-eat food. The first restaurant was opened in 1972 in Illkirch, Elsass, next to the pharmaceutical college. The restaurant was a huge success, as it was cheap and close to the college. The menu was mostly made of toasts, french fries, cakes, salads and fizzy drinks, but nowadays features classier food. The second shop, next to Strasburg's main campus, was a huge success, since some students already knew about this place in Illkrich. A few other shops opened in France's biggest cities. The major change happened in 1986, with the purchase of several grocery stores, adding the mention "small store" to the company's portfolio. Many adults and teachers discovered the restaurant through this small grocery part, becoming new clients, since the verso of the receipts is made of discounts for the restaurant.

Nowadays, the company features almost 234 "Briocheries", fairly autonomous from the main direction, but not franchized. Every restaurant can add up to three unique dishes to the menu, to make people come back and find some new profitable dishes. The menu features cakes, french fries, fresh juice, many salads, sushis, toasted brioche, tea, pancakes, ice creams, chicken and soups. One of the main promises of the company is to bring local, organic, "cruelty free" food, which causes most of the French restaurants to have a 0 chocolate and vanilla policy, and a small amount of ice cream perfumes. The company is a familial one : there is no actioneer outside of her family and friends or anything, so the founder, Miss Willhelmine Margaux, can easily enforce her views of what a fast food should be like.

The founder is already 67 years old now, and is not in very good shape because of a lung cancer, so she is considering starting a foundation that would provide money to her heirs without letting them denaturing the company. Considered as a pioneer of ecology, she supports reforestation, organic aquaculture and relocalising food production. However, the company also has some critics : first, the workers are under big pressure because of the huge amount of work, and some people burn themselves out because of the amount of work. Still, the company tries to take good care of the employees who worked hard.
 
Virgo Publishing:
Virgo Publishing started in 1918, shortly following the end of World War I, in New York City, New York. They stared out publishing a magazine focusing on the then-new genre of science fiction, Strange Tales. They were working in something of a niche market, but, though clever marketing and a devoted fan base, managed to stay solvent throughout their first few years. They wouldn't become well-known until around 1927, when a young writer from nearby Providence by the name of HP Lovecraft started offering his work to them. They were initially skeptical, but a key executive, one Lee Scorbal, pushed hard for him, and the story was published by the end of the year. The story, known as "The Call of Cthulhu", was well-received, and lit the budgeting horror and sci-fi communities on fire. Soon, Scrobal would pull another key coup for the company: Namely, he managed to pitch, of all things, a film adaptation to MGM. The movie got only middling reviews, but did well enough at the box office to get MGM to continue the partnership. In 1932, for the first time, one of the films produced by Scrobal earned an Oscar nomination, and won in 1934. The publisher had a steady revenue stream set up, and, soon, they began expanding, working with Lovecraft's inner circle, mining them for ideas. Lovecraft, more financially and mentally stable then in our world, passed away in 1945. By that point, Virgo was becoming a major publisher, both of short stories and of full novels in the horror and science fiction genres. Thus it was that, in 1945, Virg bought out a small but quickly-growing company by the name of DC Comics. In addition to their standard superhero comics, DC began filling their line-up with horror and sci-fi comics, some scripted by the greatest writers of their day. DC managed to hold on for a decade until superheroes saw a sudden revival under the editorial of Julius Schwartz in 1956. That same year, DC merged with a company called Atlas Comics, creating the famous trio of Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and Joe Simon. Though superheroes aren't all of the comic book medium, they still hold the majority of it, and their competition with Fawcett Comics, owned by the Disney corporation, remains strong. Virgo worked with many of the greatest writers in the genre of speculative fiction, many of whom lived longer and were vastly more profitable than IOTL. Robert E. Howard, H. Beam Piper, Randall Garrett, Robert Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov are only a few of the many prominent names that got their start working for Virgo. They've produced many movies based on their work, and have even produced original movies, such as the Star Wars series, directed by Geraldine Lucas and home to Feminist icon Luka Starkiller, as well as a major milestone for interracial relationships in film, courtesy Billy Dee Williams as Hawk Solo. They are the largest publisher specializing in speculative fiction, their production studio broke 7 billion in gross last year, and everyone who's anyone in sci-fi has worked with them. They've done work in just about every form of media.
 
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Tremblay-Gauthier Land Development Corporation

Established: September 2, 1910
Headquarters: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

From two best friends partnering to buy small houses to rent to one of the world's largest property developers is a story that is hard to imagine on a lot of fronts, but that is the story of Tremblay-Gauthier, one of Canada's 'Big Nine' large-scale land development companies (along with Olympia and York, Myriad Group, Campeau, Akelius, Cadillac Fairview, Brookfield, Ivanhoe Cambridge and Oxford) and Canada's largest residential property landlord. But history records the story of the stories of Michel Tremblay and Peter Gauthier as two young men growing up as best friends in Montreal's then-rough Maisonneuve neighborhood, who took a gamble on buying several homes in their own neighborhood, aiming to ease some of the burden on the area by absentee landlords.

The gamble proved successful, and as the two friends expanded in the years after World War I, their willingness to take better care of their tenants than other landlords made them well-known in Montreal, and the two men in the 1920s expanded their businesses to properties in Quebec City, Trois-Rivieres and Sherbrooke. As Montreal began to revive its housing stock in the 1920s and then did so as the city (and Canada in general) came out of the Great Depression, Tremblay-Gauthier expanded its operations to building new projects, particularly in the Rosemont, Petite-Patrie, Griffintown and Ville-Emard neighborhoods, helping to begin the long task of redefining Montreal's streetscape. As with Montreal rivals Campeau (as well as similar projects in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Halifax and Ottawa) Tremblay-Gauthier developed its own design styles (helped along by Michel Tremblay being an early and enthusiastic supporter of the 'Men of Honour' who led to charge for Canada to open its doors to Jews escaping Nazi persecution - actions that saved the lives of at least 200,000 Jews - and who was subsequently a major employer of a number of said Jews, including two of the firm's primary architects in the 1930s in Eliot Abraham and Johann Kostiner) and develop the 'Montreal Subsection' of the International Style of architecture. Tremblay-Gauthier moved into the Maritimes and Ontario as part of the 1930s expansions before rapidly moving West after the War, including being one of the three companies (joined by Cambridge Properties and Myriad Management) in the building of Toronto's immense Regent Park, Crescent Town and Jameson Avenue housing projects between 1934 and 1940.

After the war, as all of Canada's cities expanded rapidly and were involved in immense re-development projects, Tremblay-Gauthier's size grew dramatically. As Metro Montreal swelled in size from 1.85 million residents in 1945 to 5.2 million by 1980 and Metro Toronto swelled from 2.16 million to just shy of 7 million, new housing was needed almost constantly, and the two cities led the way for residential development in these cities, but commercial development wasn't far behind. In Montreal, the rapid growth of Francophone interests and their forcing their way into the formerly English-speaking elite of the city changed matters further, a situation added to then the Kahnawake Iroquois, whose home reserve was across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal, started getting into the action after the War, in both cases aided by massive improvements in the quality of education in Quebec by both Francophones and First Nations Quebecers, a situation that in the 1950s saw a sizable exodus in business activity from Montreal to Toronto, but that situation tapered off by the late 1950s and indeed began to reverse as Canada's education, having began to promote bilingualism as a formal policy in 1950, made for an ever-greater number of bilingual or multilingual Canadians, and both the post-war businessmen and the baby boomer generation that followed them had greater and greater ambitions. Expo 67 in Montreal in the summer of 1967 was a watershed moment for this, as Expo was a runaway success and in a very sense shifted the goalposts between English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians as well as the First Nations of Canada, nearly all of whom had by 1967 signed the watershed Treaty of Orillia that gave them sizable rights and responsibilities for their communities within Canada.

In the midst of this universe, by the early 1970s the "Megabuilders" of Canada were well-established on a national scale. Tremblay-Gauthier and Ivanhoe Cambridge built Montreal's landmark CIBC Plaza and Place Ville-Marie in the 1960s, but in terms of size these were first topped by Myriad's Commerce Court in Toronto in 1970 and then five years later by Olympia and York's titanic First Canadian Place in 1975. Tremblay-Gauthier was one of firms involved in the building of the Expo 67 grounds and was the primary developer of several projects in Montreal in the 1980s, most famously the 1000 de la Gauchetière tower, one of Montreal's first post-modern towers, which opened in 1982. Tremblay-Gauthier also expanded far beyond Canada in the 1970s and 1980s, following the leads of Olympia and York (which dove head-first into the New York property market and made a fortune on it) and Myriad Group (which got involved in the office and property markets of several American Midwest cities in the 1980s), with Tremblay-Gauthier's masterwork in the United States being the building of the famed Library Tower in Los Angeles and Southern Pacific Plaza in San Francisco, the former completed in 1989 and the latter in 1995. The company followed up on its success in the United States with projects in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa (after the end of apartheid), Ireland and Israel. In South Africa the company became famous for its rebuilding of the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront and its adjacent African Renaissance Hotel and the Green Point Residences, the billion-dollar project announced in 1995 being one of the first of major projects that would transform Cape Town, while the company was crucial in several key projects in Australia in the 1990s.

The company bought up the residential property assets of Ivanhoe Cambridge (including the remaining pieces of the Jameson Avenue and Crescent Town neighborhoods they didn't own) in 1986, and Olympia and York sold off its residential assets in Canada and the United States to Tremblay-Gauthier in 1991. In Canada Tremblay-Gauthier's reputation for excellent management of its residential buildings - modern amenities, well-maintained buildings and excellent service to its tenants in addition to competitive rents - has resulted in Tremblay-Gauthier (and Myriad Group, which has a similar reputation) being well-regarded by tenants and tenants' groups and thus the activism that has been repeatedly aimed at several other large residential property owners in several Canadian cities in the 1990s and 2000s has largely spared them.
 
From my alternative NASCAR history timeline:
KSN

Kamikaze Sports Network was founded in 1983 by Dylan Jacobs, the founder of Shitech products. The original plan for the channel was to be a regional channel in the Dakotas. The main studio was in Sioux Falls South Dakota within the Midco headquarters, whom they were partnered with.

When the channel was founded, it was a low budget network. They couldn't show national sports, kind of like early ESPN. Instead, they created shows based on what they wanted to cover. These shows include:

Cubs Rant n' Review: A show talking about the Chicago Cubs, Jacobs favorite Baseball team. He hosted the show and would go over the Cubs on a daily basis. When they didn't do so well, he would get angry and rant. The most memorable moment of the show was in 1986 when there was a really bad game and he went on a tirade. He wasn't fired because it's his network but the FCC fined him.

Chargers Rant n' Review: Same thing but with the Chargers. Also hosted by Jacobs.

NASCAR Rant n'Review

WWF Rant n' Review
: Hosted by the other KSN personality, Levi McIntire. This show was all about wrestling.

Motorsports in the Dakotas: Regional racing program.

Shitech infomercials: because they need money somehow.

Eventually they started ending up on cable packages across the country, hence how their notoriety grew. This led to them being able to show Cubs and Chargers highlights courtesy of WGN and whoever broadcast the Chargers games (mainly NBC). In 1988, they got to show three Solo Cup races. However, NASCAR wasn't wooed by their performance and considered dropping them. Jacobs pleaded with them for another chance which they were eventually granted. They only got to show one race for 1989, the June race at Pocono and they made sure that it would be great. After pouring their heart and soul into it. NASCAR decided KSN was serious about NASCAR and let them show more races for 1990 as well as Busch series races. As mentioned above, ESPN was excited to have relief in carrying the bulk of the Solo Cup season. The races they will show will be discussed in a future post but here's what to expect:

ANNOUNCERS: Dylan Jacobs, Levi McIntire, and Bobby Allison. Allison was convinced by Jacobs to join and be a broadcaster in his post-driver career and he decided to give it a shot.

PIT ROAD: Larry Nuber, Ralph Sheheen
Nuber was hired after he was let go by ESPN. This is Sheheen's big break as a NASCAR reporter.

THE SHITECH MARK CAM
Just like TBS always has a camera in Phil Parsons' car, KSN will do the same with Mark Martin as well as being an associate sponsor.

CALL IN: Fans will be able to call in with questions and have them answered on air. KSN introduced this with their first telecast in 1988.

Jacobs is excited to finally have a major sport on his channel. He is still hoping to have Cubs games on in the coming years.
 

Deleted member 92195

Krupp von Porsche Industries

Friedrich Alfred Krupp unexpectedly died yesterday (5th July 1907) after rumours resurfaced in March about his homosexuality, which is said to have taken place in Capri, Italy, it is unknown if his death was suicide or natural causes. Friedrich had survived public scandal in 1902 only by quick reaction to the press quashing claims of his homosexuality. As for the national interest of Krupp Industries inheritance, it was resolved by Friedrich himself, in 1906; Friedrich paired his first daughter Bertha Krupp with Ferdinand Porsche, after meeting him in 1905 when he was receiving the Pötting prize for Austria's most outstanding automotive engineer. It has been rumoured that Friedrich and Baroness Margarethe von Ende (his wife) were trying for another baby but were unable too. Bertha Krupp and Ferdinand Porsche were married on 5th June 1906 at 10am and the company has been re-branded as Krupp von Porsche Industries to acknowledge both her and his surnames.

Ferdinand’s marriage to Bertha compelled the Austro-Daimler company’s board of director’s to become a subsidiary of Krupp von Porsche industries. In 1908 Porsche employed Léon Levavasseur and together they built the Levavasseur project, this became the first built design of a tank or more specifically a tank destroyer in 1910. Léon Levavasseur stayed in Germany after the war broke out in 1914; the French government informed him that he would be executed if he returned. This was despite his claim of approaching the French government first about the project. It is said that Porsche offered him full design, creation and project management, he also gave him a house. Similarly, in 1911 he employed Günther Burstyn to build the first self-traversing gun turret in 1912. Günther and Leon remained employed by Ferdinand and for next 20 years and the three of them designed and shaped the ‘tank’.

In 1915 the German Rifle Testing Commission wanted to design a completely new weapon for trench warfare. Krupp von Porsche Industries was not a small arms manufacturer but Ferdinand decided to provide Theodor Bergmann and Hugo Schmeisser, all the resources required to designing the new weapon. With such rich and available resources the MP18 began mass manufacturing in 1916. This wartime collaboration created a future arms defence partnership. The company continued to produce armaments but the production of these revolutionary weapons determined the war in 1916 with the Battle of Verdun. The allied front collapsed and Germany captured Paris, a year later Russia collapsed and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, whilst a treaty with the west determined Belgium a Prussian province.

Post war Krupp von Porsche industries were given dry docks and manufacturing plants in Antwerp, Ostend, Zeebrugge, Riga, and Tallinn. In 1920 they were given the opportunity to buy the port of Constantia and the Petromidia Refinery from the German government, starting their own oil business. Currently, the media euphoria have him splashed him across the front pages in full spreads and he’s spoken about all over the radio for a number of reasons. Firstly he submitted plans to redesign the Ports of New Orleans, San Francisco Bay and Rotterdam. Secondly, a committee of parliamentary MPs have been investigating the army’s dominance and inefficiency over war production in the Great War; the committee’s conclusions are to create a ‘Minister for Armaments’ and he is a candidate. Finally, Porsche has expressed interest in building multiple canals in Nicaragua to increase trade flow and also in François Élie Roudaire’s Sahara Sea plan.
 
Disney Animator’s Union

In 1933, the reign of the bourgeoisie ended in America. The workers, long oppressed by the greedy robber-barons whom the Federal government were in cahoots with, rose up after Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomas was wrongfully arrested by the capitalists after winning the 1932 Presidential Election. When the Revolution broke out, Walt Disney found himself torn between the two factions. Although he wasn’t a fan of the socialism espoused by Norman Thomas and the Socialist Party, he also loathed the authoritarianism of the Junta-led United States, which he felt had betrayed American ideals. So he sided with the socialists, and produced cartoons supporting democracy. After the revolution was won and the capitalists were exiled to the frozen wastes of Alaska, Walt Disney offered to continue making animated films for the enjoyment of all Americans. The newly founded government of the Commonwealth of America at first were skeptical of Disney, whom they viewed as a capitalist. However, knowing Disney’s positive influence on American culture, they decided to allow him to continue producing films, but under a new name: the Disney Animator’s Union. Today the Union continues to make animated films that are beloved by all, and Walt would even pioneer such innovations such as the Experimental Socialist Community of Tomorrow, or ESCOT.
 
Disney Animator’s Union

In 1933, the reign of the bourgeoisie ended in America. The workers, long oppressed by the greedy robber-barons whom the Federal government were in cahoots with, rose up after Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomas was wrongfully arrested by the capitalists after winning the 1932 Presidential Election. When the Revolution broke out, Walt Disney found himself torn between the two factions. Although he wasn’t a fan of the socialism espoused by Norman Thomas and the Socialist Party, he also loathed the authoritarianism of the Junta-led United States, which he felt had betrayed American ideals. So he sided with the socialists, and produced cartoons supporting democracy. After the revolution was won and the capitalists were exiled to the frozen wastes of Alaska, Walt Disney offered to continue making animated films for the enjoyment of all Americans. The newly founded government of the Commonwealth of America at first were skeptical of Disney, whom they viewed as a capitalist. However, knowing Disney’s positive influence on American culture, they decided to allow him to continue producing films, but under a new name: the Disney Animator’s Union. Today the Union continues to make animated films that are beloved by all, and Walt would even pioneer such innovations such as the Experimental Socialist Community of Tomorrow, or ESCOT.

Ironically enough, Walt’s dad was a Socialist apparently
 

Md139115

Banned
Deep Dig

Singaporean land magnate Chan Hi Zaifeng, better known by his nickname “Master Zai,” had already amassed a large personal fortune in his investments in land reclamation between 1985-2009, but began to suffer from a midlife crisis in that latter year, feeling that he had peaked personally, in conjunction with a professional angst over the increasing lack of easy opportunities to expand the city-state.

In turmoil and finding no succor in his extensive vintage plane and beanie babies collections, he decided to take a page from the life of the Buddha, and retreated to one of his minor holdings in Assam. There, he gave his staff strict instructions that they were not to disturb him for 40 days and nights, as he sat down beneath a fig tree. Fortunately for him, someone from his staff checked up on him on Day 4, and found him collapsed from dehydration. After three days of being unconscious or catatonic in the hospital, he awoke suddenly and started screaming that he had achieved an enlightened thought. He proceeded to break out of the hospital, commandeer a plane, and fly home to Singapore, arriving triumphant to his boardroom before realizing that somewhere along the way he lost his hospital gown.

Continuing anyway despite his nakedness, he explained that mankind was too fixated on the heavens, given that was going further away from everything else rather than achieving some higher state. Instead, harmony with nature and the universe required getting as close to the center of balance as possible. Given Earth was a sphere, that meant one would be in greater harmony the closer one dug to the center of the Earth. Thus he would dump his entire fortune into digging a giant hole in the middle of downtown Singapore.

The board had him committed to an insane asylum, but he was in for less than 24 hours before the government released him, intrigued at the prospect of creating more living space. With their blessing and a few generous loans supplementing his own capital reserves, Zai got to work on his famous dig in the Toa Payoh district along the Kallang River. Within three years, he had created a shaft nearly 700 meters deep and almost 65 kilometers of new living space, a stunning accomplishment in a country that was still only about 720 sq. km. in size. With the dirt being used for further land reclamations, Zai was making money faster than he could spend it and was lauded internationally as one of the greatest titans of the 21st Century.

Repetition of the success was also requested, with governments ranging from India to China to Germany seeking Deep Dig’s partnership in their own underground creations. Undoubtedly the biggest commitment though came from the US state of West Virginia, which sought to become the Silicon Valley of the East Coast by practically giving away old coal mines to technology companies, with Deep Dig’s help in refurbishment. As a baffled Wall Street Journal later put it, it was as if “the end of Dr. Strangelove was upon us.”

All was not well in Singapore though. The depths (no pun intended) of Zai’s obsession were never understood by any of his backers, who expected him to stop at some point. The first inklings that there might be a problem came when a terse press release was issued in 2017 stating that the shaft had surpassed the 3.9 kilometer record of the Mponeng Gold Mine in South Africa. At the time, any concerns were dissipated by the celebrations, and the discussions on how to utilize the high heats encountered at this depth to run the complex and possibly the nation on geothermal energy. The next acknowledged milestones came in 2018 at 5 km, then 2021 at 8 km, then 2023 at 10 km. At this last one, public concern became plain and Google searches of “how thick is the Earth’s crust in Signapore” spiked (the answer was between 24 and 28 kilometers). The government began to study the issue, but dragged it’s feet, only issuing an edict early the next year forbidding Zai and the company from breaching 14 kilometers in depth. Zai apparently strongly disagreed with this.

In any respect, it became moot. On the morning of April 17, 2025, a category 8.7 earthquake occurred epicentered on the town of Tuluk, Indonesia, 205 miles to the southwest. This only had a minor effect above ground at Singapore, but underground was a much different story.

The earthquake was caused by the massive movement of a large section of the Eurasian plate over the Australian plate, and act which caused massive concentric cracking of the latter plate for hundreds of miles underground as the compressed top spread out. In nearly all cases, these cracks were promptly filled with magma, which cooled and became part of the plate. At Singapore though, one crack connected with Deep Dig’s shaft.

It is unlikely that any of the 1.3 million people living in the shaft felt their deaths, it would have come instantaneously for them. The same, sadly, cannot be said of the above-ground residents of Singapore, who suddenly were confronted with a volcano growing out of the middle of their city. Utter horror and bedlam ensued as explosions and magma outputs rivaling the famous eruption of Krakatoa utterly destroyed one of the major cities of the Earth and killed well in excess of 85% of its inhabitants. It is estimated that nearly five million died in a 24 hour period, making April 17-18 the deadliest single day in human history. Zai was among them, though the circumstances of his death are unknown. On May 7th, the two survivors of the Singaporean Parliament announced the dissolution of the country, and the territory was (re-)annexed by Malaysia. Mount Singapore (or Mount Zai as some derisively call it) today is a semi-active stratovolcano with a height of 312 meters, and growing.

As for Deep Dig, the death of it’s founder, entire board of directors, and the majority of its stockholders, and the destruction of its home nation, headquarters, and flagship location did not kill the company outright. Representatives of the surviving shareholders, mostly nations and banks partnered in Deep Dig’s foreign projects, gathered in Munich and decided to equitably divide up the company on national lines. In China, India, and most European nations, these assets would be nationalized. In the UK, Second Home would be formed out of the company’s interests in South Wales and the Midlands, while New Glasgow would be created from the company’s one Scottish venture. The largest venture, the US offshoot, would be named New Earth and continue to thrive today. It is a publicly traded firm with about 8.9 billion in assets and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ERTH.
 
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Santa Claus, Inc.

Yes, Virginia; there is a Santa Claus...so long as he doesn’t die in office without a designated successor, which has yet to happen in the company’s 106-year history.

Though Santa Claus, Inc. (NYSE: HOHOHO) credits St. Nicholas as its first holder of the title of Santa Claus, it was railroad magnate John Thayer who started the operation in the Alaska territory, fittingly at a small town called North Pole. Thayer, a survivor of the Titanic who took the place of a man dying of food poisoning, claimed he had an epiphany while waiting to be rescued, and he decided to dedicate his life to philanthropy and a business model “that will bring joy to people.” So he used his knowledge of transportation to establish an elaborate delivery system for toys, gifts and necessary goods to be delivered throughout the country, even to the most far-reaching communities.

Santa Claus Inc. patented the Reindeer delivery system and has continued to evolve it for modern times. What once relied on railroads, trucks and even horses now incorporates airplanes, drones and even helicopters along with semi trucks. Critics of the Reindeer system decry the loss of jobs from its fully automated loading system, but supporters point out that the company starts out all employees at a minimum of $18.50 an hour and more in some areas, providing full benefits at just 60 days and allowing employees up to 20 paid days off in addition to eight recognized holidays.

The main hub is still located in North Pole, Alaska andnis a major tourist attraction much of the year as Christmas tourists, winter sports enthusiasts and those seeking adventure fill the Nicholas Hotel year-round.
 
Anymore companies? Please submit!
Atari

Considered the vanguard of the video gaming industry, Atari continues to be the top dog in console production, often butting heads with Nintendo and Sega for domination of the industry. The company’s latest console, the Atari 4000, released in 2016 and posesses 4K resolution support, something the Nintendo Revolution and the Sega Mercury have yet to implement.
 
Black Star Communications (Registered in Gary, Indiana) NYSE: BSEC

Founded in 1980 as a block on the Madison Square Garden Sports Network, Black Star was first known as BET- Black Entertainment Television- and was founded by Sheila Johnson and Robert Johnson. in 1983 BET became its own channel and a deal was signed between BET and EMI where EMI's Capitol label would carry more rappers and EMI would distribute rap record labels in the UK and Europe in exchange for BET getting first access for any new music videos put out by artists signed to an EMI label.

In 1996 BET acquired Universal Pictures, sans EMKA (sold to Disney) and USA Network (sold to Sony); BET was then reorganized, with the cable network retaining the name BET, but the new parent company was (and is) known as Black Star Communications. 1997 saw Marvel and Orion Pictures added to the Black Star Portfolio.

2002 saw Black Star acquire a stake in Funimation.

In 2012 Black Star along with Disney acquired EMI
 
Foxpine Features Syndicate

Founded in 1956, it was the result of a merger between Fox Publications and Pines Comics (better known as Standard/Better/Nedor comics), and was done to help better deal with the struggling businesses. Foxpine Features Syndicate would end up becoming a surprise hit and Fox's drive of courting controversy and defying convention would help it retain its status as the "King of Comics". While DC and Marvel would retain dominance in superhero stories, Foxpine succeeded in overall dominance by its genre, though its heroes were titans in their own right (such as Stardust the Super Wizard, Captain Future and the Liberator). One very noticeable trait was their promotion of minorities and women, ironically through their large collection of "jungle men" and "jungle princesses." They would hire minority writers and in hopes of differentiating the various jungle people from one another, would have them take place across Africa (and later in Mesoamerica and South America) and use legitimate cultural differences to give them different feels. This would benefit them in the long run as Foxpine is pushed the envelope and while most of the white jungle characters have been retired (having been replaced by adopted heirs and descendants who took their names and more native to the region), they are still remembered fondly. in addition, many women would be hired, both initially for saint money, but also to add their own twists. Furthermore, the broad reaching genres, such as cosmic neo-noir with Lance Lewis, Space Detective, and the reimagining of Indiana Jones styled adventuring with the new Desert Hawk series, meant it would reach audiences DC nor Marvel considered until far later down the line.

In present day, Foxpine has remained dominant in the comics industry and continues with pushing limits with the medium along while retaining a more adult edge compared to its contemporaries.
 
AIRFAV
AIRFAV was founded by entrepreneur Jeff Favignano in 1984 in St. Louis. It started as a regional airline going between St. Louis, Chicago, Kansas City, the Twin Cities, Memphis, and Little Rock. Favignano was able to upgrade to bigger airplanes over time and create new routes. Delta airlines bought a minority share in 2001 to provide better funding for the airline. In 2017, they opened a second hub in Orlando and relocated their headquarters there. They are in the same business complex with OCRP and General Things. Today they are the fifth biggest airline in the country behind American Airlines, Southwest, United and Delta. They fly to every major city in America. Their only international flight is St. Louis to Edmonton via Calgary. Their motto is "Fly With Me".
 
(This is less of a company and more of a brand, it is also heavily inspired by Player Two Start, a phenomenal TL with this very premise)

Sony/Nintendo

“Now you are playing with power, CD POWER.”
-tagline from a commercial advertising the SNES-CD and PlayStation
The year is 1988, and video games are booming. From the arcades to the living room kids couldn’t get enough of their games, and were forking over lots of cash to play them. The industry was a duopoly, mainly dominated by the massive and venerable Nintendo, and the smaller but just as influential Sega. However, there was one company that wanted in on the lucrative industry, but was unsure of how to enter it. That company was Sony, the enormous Japan-based firm that made televisions and other electronics. Interested in entering the lucrative gaming industry, Sony sought an entry. However there was no way to enter safely. Many companies before it had tried to challenge the duopoly and had failed miserably. Sony did not want to replicate their fate. So Sony decided that instead of entering the industry as a freshman, they would enter it with a senior. And that senior was Nintendo, a company whose mascot, Mario, was on par with Mickey Mouse in sheer recognizability. After Sony produced the sound chip for Nintendo’s upcoming Super Nintendo Entertainment System console, Nintendo signed a contract with Sony to create a new disc-based add-on for the Super Nintendo called the SNES-CD, that would harness the power of CD’s to boost the system’s power to unprecedented heights. Additionally Sony would partner with Nintendo to create their first console, the PlayStation, a disc-based console that would be like a Super Nintendo but with the SNES-CD built into it. Sony would also have the license to feature Nintendo games on their system. The deal was an incredible one, with development of the add-on and the console proving to be potentially revolutionary, and going into 1991 with the smash success of the Super Nintendo, it looked like the deal was a wise one. However that year it almost all fell apart. Nintendo began to get antsy about Sony’s add-on and console, worrying about the fact that Sony would have complete ownership of all games on their Play Station, including Nintendo games. It was at this moment that everything could have gone awry, but thanks to careful negotiations, the partnership remained intact, with a new agreement being made that Nintendo would have complete ownership of their games on Sony’s system, while Sony would receive their revenue from the PlayStation and their own properties. Finally, in late 1992, the SNES-CD and the Play Station combo released just in time for Christmas, selling far better than ever expected. Both the SNES-CD and it’s sister system, the PlayStation, harbor some of the greatest games ever made, such as Donkey Kong Country and The Secret of Mana, and are often considered to be some of the greatest consoles ever made. By the time 1994 rolled around, it was clear that the desision to partner with Nintendo was a wise one, as money was pouring into Sony’s pockets. But it wasn’t enough. Nintendo was still making more money than they were. Feeling cheated, Sony threatened to end the partnership and go on their own. Nintendo caved to Sony’s demands and created a new contract where all revenue from the games produced on their systems would go equally to Nintendo and Sony. With that crisis averted, it was time to make a new console. The brilliant minds at Nintendo and Sony, building off of the SNES-CD and PlayStation, created a new console, one that would ditch cartridges once and for all and utilize the space CD’s provide. That new console was the revolutionary Ultra Nintendo. Released in 1996, the Ultra Nintendo revolutionized the gaming industry forever by wowing gamers everywhere with its realistic (atleast for the time) graphics, and making 3-D graphics the new standard for all game consoles from that point on. It too featured classics such as Super Mario 3-D, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, Starfox 3-D, Ultra Metroid, PaRappa the Rapper, Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot, and Goldeneye 007. Despite their sometimes rocky relationship, Sony and Nintendo’s continued partnership has become a juggernaut in gaming, decimating Sega while also leading over the newcomer Microsoft and their line of Xbox consoles. Today Sony and Nintendo’s latest console, the Fusion, a hybrid console that competes with Microsoft’s Xbox 720, continues Sony and Nintendo’s dominance of the gaming industry.

SNES-CD (Super Famicom version)
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PlayStation
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Ultra Nintendo
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(this image belongs to @Crunch Buttsteak)
 
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Fawcharl Comics

Comic books have been undergoing large changes in the mid 1980s, and with DC and Marvel doing large changes, it seemed like they would grab all the attention. However, a third competitor would rise. Fawcett Comics and Charlton Comics would end up doing a merger in the hopes of promoting their sales while also to avoid being potentially bought out by DC. And thus, Fawcharl Comics were both. The first years were relatively rough, establishing a new universe through a crossover event similar to Crisis of Infinite Earths.

Fawcharl Comics would become noticeable for being the only major comics title not to do anything with the "Dark Age of Comics", starting with Alan Moore's Watchman, which were made with "expys" of characters from Quality Comics (that DC recently purchased). (n fact, the closest thing being a brutal examination of the Vietnam War with Sarge Steel and deconstructing the Red Scare with Spysmasher, which were stand-alone one shots. Fawcharl comics would become more beloved by groups of all ages seeking to escape the hedonism of the 80s and darkness of the 90s that defined the genre.

Various characters appeared and still changed over time, or were reimagined. The Squadron of Justice contained notable characters such as Captain Marvel, Blue Beetle, Winnie the Witch, The Golden Arrow, Captain Atom and many others, fulfilling various roles. Fawcharl would also prove to be more flexible toward minority writers, such as having the second Ibis the Invincible being an ethnic Egyptian or reimagining Master Man as a Mexican superhuman known as Maestro. This would benefit them in the long run.

The more light-hearted tone of Fawcharl Comics meant that they would be more in the public eye and would end up with various animated serieses and later films. While they would become a fair-bit serious over time, it would not be tainted with the "grim dark" of the Dark Age.
 
AIRFAV
AIRFAV was founded by entrepreneur Jeff Favignano in 1984 in St. Louis. It started as a regional airline going between St. Louis, Chicago, Kansas City, the Twin Cities, Memphis, and Little Rock. Favignano was able to upgrade to bigger airplanes over time and create new routes. Delta airlines bought a minority share in 2001 to provide better funding for the airline. In 2017, they opened a second hub in Orlando and relocated their headquarters there. They are in the same business complex with OCRP and General Things. Today they are the fifth biggest airline in the country behind American Airlines, Southwest, United and Delta. They fly to every major city in America. Their only international flight is St. Louis to Edmonton via Calgary. Their motto is "Fly With Me".

How has Airfav handled the bifurcation of legacies and LCC's becoming ULCC's? Has it become a ULCC or has it been able to retain some full-service features, such as first class?
 
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