I thought this was interesting from a historical investing perspective. I went on a deep dive in the Studebaker company which had started in colonial US times as a coach (horse carriage) manufacturing company. And their secret ingredient was owning property with oil shale for curing wood and making quality steel. This is back in the 1700s.
This is all from Wikipedia.
> In 1918, "History of the Studebaker Corporation", including the 1918 annual report, "Written for the information of the 3,000 stockholders of the Studebaker Corporation
So 3,000 stockholders were IT. Those were the totality of retail investors of a major company in 1918. And I think that’s pretty fascinating. How different to appease 3,000 investors as opposed to today with huge institutional investors as well as moms and pops.
> By 1929, the sales list had been expanded to 50 models and business was so good that **90% of earnings were being paid out as dividends to shareholders** in a highly competitive environment. However, the end of that year ushered in the Great Depression…
90%! I had heard of all the crazy things that were going on leading to the depression and stuff like this can’t help. And if you think not, they didn’t stop with the Depression
> president Albert Russel Erskine maintained faith in the Rockne [new car design] and rashly had the directors declare huge dividends in 1930 and 1931.
So for three years, including in the depression, if you had studebaker stock you were making good money.
They have a picture of a stock certificate, 1906, and I’m surprised to see it has the dividends listed on it. It also lists the total dollar amount preferred and common shares. You’d think that stuff could change but maybe I’m reading it wrong.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Studebaker_Brothers_Manufacturing_Company_1906.jpg
It’s a fun read. And how they fended off competition, made a name for themselves, and organized the company is fascinating.
Hope this is relevant. I know it’s a defunct company but it’s cool to see all these investing concepts fully in use in the late 1700s.
