Entrepreneurship (as measured by the number of monthly new business applications) remains significantly higher than it was pre-pandemic.
This surge in entrepreneurship partly explains why the U.S. labor market has remained so tight. Other factors affecting the U.S. labor market include upward demand shock from fiscal stimulus, excess liquidity from monetary stimulus (liquidity that got channeled into VC funds and startups to hire people, amongst other places), and many other factors related to the massive shifts in lifestyle and workstyle that occurred during the past 2 years.
However, entrepreneurship trends varied by industry. Here are some of the most interesting ones.
Retail Industry Entrepreneurship Trends
The surge in retail business entrepreneurship is the most extreme surge in entrepreneurship seen in any industry during the pandemic. From around 30,000 new retail business applications per month, we skyrocketed to nearly 130,000 per month before coming back down to still about twice pre-pandemic levels.
Information Industry Entrepreneurship Trends
The information industry includes many types of online businesses so it is somewhat surprising that this type of business did not experience the same surge in entrepreneurship that retail did during the pandemic.
Real Estate Industry Entrepreneurship Trends
Interestingly, the real estate industry did not really have a pandemic surge in entrepreneurship. It fell off during the first year of the pandemic and then recovered fully during the booming housing market, but it still isn’t notably over the pre-pandemic trend.
Construction Industry Entrepreneurship Trends
Like the real estate industry, the construction industry didn’t have a significant deviation in entrepreneurship from its pre-pandemic trend. In fact, entrepreneurship data in the construction industry doesn’t really show any sign that the pandemic ever happened.
Accommodation and Food Service Entrepreneurship Trends
This chart actually surprised me quite a bit. During the lockdowns in 2020, we heard about lots of restaurants failing and hospitality businesses struggling. However, those hardships on existing businesses are not reflected in the entrepreneurship trends for food service and hospitality businesses. Instead, entrepreneurship seems to have spiked almost immediately after the pandemic began.
5 Biggest Companies Headquartered in Massachusetts by Revenue (2021)
These are the five largest companies headquartered in Massachusetts by 2021 revenue.
#1 General Electric ($74 Billion)
Summary: GE is an aviation, healthcare, and energy company that generated $74 billion in revenue in 2021 but actually plans to split into three separate companies during 2023 and 2024.
General Electric (NYSE: GE) is a tech & industrial company that operates across four business segments:
Aviation — Including the manufacturing of commercial and military aircraft engines
Healthcare — Including the manufacutring and distribution of radioactive medical imaging agents
Renewable Energy — Including the manufacturing of windmills and other renewable energy generation equipment
Power — Including equipment for energy production from gas, steam, and nuclear plants
Steam turbines bound for Algeria are manufactured at General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y. (General Electric)
Note: In November 2021, the company announced plans to spin off and split into three separate public companies focused on aviation, healthcare, and energy. In July 2022, the company announced these three companies would be named GE HealthCare, GE Aerospace, and GE Vernova (energy).
GE plans to execute the tax-free spin-off of GE HealthCare in early 2023 and the tax-free spin-off of GE Vernova in early 2024, at which point the remaining company will be renamed GE Aerospace. GE Aerospace would own the GE trademark but would provide long-term licenses to the other companies. What happens to names of GE HealthCare and GE Vernova if/when those licenses expire? Who knows. Maybe they will merge with or be acquired by other companies before then.
Summary: Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an aerospace and defense contractor that is the result of a merger between United Technologies Corporation (UTC) and the original Raytheon Company after UTC spun off Carrier Global and Otis Worldwide in 2020. Raytheon Technologies generated $64 billion in revenue in 2021.
Raytheon Technologies Corporation (NYSE: RTX) is an aerospace and defense company which is actually the renamed United Technologies Corporation (UTC) after UTC spun off Carrier Global and Otis Worldwide as separate publicly traded companies and then merged with “Raytheon Company” which now exists as a subsidiary of “Raytheon Technologies Corporation”. The new Raytheon Technologies Corporation operates with four principal business segments:
The TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX) is a global apparel retail company that owns T.J. Maxx, T.K. Maxx, Marshalls, Sierra, HomeGoods, and HomeSense. The company operates almost 4,700 stores across all its brands and generated $48.55 billion in revenue in 2021.
Summary: This holding company owns a complex tree of personal and business insurance companies and is structured as a mutual insurer which means it doesn’t have stockholders in the conventional sense but rather is owned by its policyholders who are entitled to dividends or reduced premiums on excess corporate profits.
Liberty Mutual Holding Company Inc. (abbreviated LMHC) is the top of a huge corporate tree structure of subsidiaries, many of which have names that include “liberty” and even “liberty mutual”.
Liberty Mutual is sixth largest property and casualty insurance company both in the U.S. and in the world., and it is the first largest surety company in the U.S. The company employs over 45,000 people across the world and generated $48.2 billion in revenue during 2021.
Summary: Anyone who has taken a college chemistry class has probably used Thermo Fisher products. The company is a one-stop-shop for laboratory equipment, software, and chemicals.
Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: TMO) reports its business in four segments:
Life Sciences Solutions — Selling a portfolio of reagents, scientific instruments, and consumables used in biological and medical research & drug production
Analytical Instruments — Selling instruments, consumables, software, and services for use in a range of different scientific & industrial uses. Three primary businesses are (1) chromatography and mass spectrometry, (2) chemical analysis, and (3) materials and structural analysis.
Specialty Diagnostics — Sells a range of diagnostic test kits, reagents, culture media, instruments, and associated products to serve customers in healthcare, clinical, pharmaceutical, industrial, and food safety laboratories.
Laboratory Products and Biopharma Services — Sells all basic instruments and supplies needed by a biological or medical lab, from water baths to pH meters to incubators to hotplates to pipette tips to common lab chemicals.
These are the 5 largest companies headquartered in Connecticut by 2021 revenue.
#1 Cigna ($174 Billion)
Cigna (NYSE: CI) is a multinational pharmacy, healthcare, and insurance company based in Bloomfield that generated $174.1 billion in revenue and $5.4 billion in shareholder net income.
Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR) is an internet, cable, and phone service provider that owns the Spectrum brand. Total revenue was $51.7 billion and free cash flow was an impressive $8.7 billion in 2021.
Below is a map of Spectrum’s service areas within the U.S.
Charter Communications has an elaborate corporate structure represented in the diagram below (blame Charter for the poor image quality — this is the resolution they provided in their own investor documents):
#3 The Hartford Financial Services Group ($22 Billion)
The Hartford (NYSE: HIG) is a holding group for subsidiaries that provide business property insurance, business car insurance, general liability insurance, marine insurance, workers compensation insurance, professional liability insurance, surety bonds, assumed reinsurance, as well as investment products like mutual funds, ETFs, and annuities.
Synchrony (NYSE: SYF) is a company whose investor reports consist almost entirely of phrases like “digitally-enabled product suites”, “omnichannel experiences”, “dynamic financial ecosystem”, and other corporate jargon, but in reality the company just owns a bank that helps retailers, hospitals, and fintech companies to offer their own credit cards and payment plans.
The company generated $15.75 billion in revenue and $4.2 billion in net earnings available to common stockholders in 2021.
Stanley Black & Decker (NYSE: SWK) is the largest tool manufacturer in the world and owns a portfolio of brands including Craftsman, DeWalt, Stanley, and obviously Black + Decker (as well as many others). Total 2021 revenue was $15.6 billion.
These are 10 largest companies headquartered in New York state, as measured by total revenue in 2021.
#1 Verizon ($134 Billion)
Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is a multinational telecom conglomerate whose primary business is providing consumer wireless service in the U.S. and other countries.
The company generated $133.6 billion in operating revenues and $22.6 billion in net income in 2021.
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) is a global financial company with commercial banking, investment banking, asset management, and transaction processing businesses.
The company generated $121.6 billion in total net revenue and $48.3 billion in net income in 2021.
Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) is a pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures, markets, sells, and distributes drugs worldwide. Just as defense contractors benefit from wars, Pfizer reaped the benefits of the covid pandemic leading to record 2021 revenue of $81.3 billion and net income attributable to common shareholders of $22.0 billion.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a Federal Reserve regulated financial holding company whose subsidiaries assist governments, institutions, and individuals with issuing securities, trading securities, and managing assets. The company organizes itself into three segments:
Institutional securities
Wealth management
Investment management
The company generated $59.8 billion in net revenue, $15.0 billion in net income attributable to Morgan Stanley, and $14.6 billion in earnings applicable to common shareholders.
American International Group (NYSE: AIG) is a global insurance company selling property casualty insurance, life insurance, retirement solutions, and other financial services to customers in about 70 different countrires and jurisdictions.
The company generated $52.1 billion in total revenue (including $31.3 billion from premiums and $14.6 billion from net investment income) in 2021.
These are the seven largest companies headquartered in Pennsylvania by 2021 revenue.
#1 AmerisourceBergen ($221 Billion)
Summary: AmerisourceBergen is not only a mouthful but also a drug wholesale, distribution, and consulting company headquartered in Conshohocken that generated $221 billion in revenue.
AmerisourceBergen (NYSE: ABC) is first and foremost a pharmaceutical wholesale distributor (buying from manufacturers and reselling to pharmacies, medical clinics, and other customers). However, the company engages in numerous other businesses. Somewhat confusingly, some of those other businesses such as selling data analytics and consulting services to biotech and pharma companies are still reported under the “pharmaceutical distribution” reporting segment in the company’s financial filings.
Summary: This internet service & entertainment company owns Xfinity internet, the NBC networks, the Universal Studios production company and theme parks, and the streaming service Peacock.
The company reports its business in five segments:
Comcast Communications — Consists of Comcast Cable (a provider of internet service to residential customers and additional services to business customers)
Media — Consists primarily of NBCUniversal’s television and streaming platforms (including its cable networks), the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, NBC and Telemundo owned local broadcast TV stations, and Peacock
Studios — Consists primarily of NBCUniversal’s film and TV studio production & distribution operations
Theme Parks — Consists primarily of the Universal theme parks in (1) Orlando, FL, (2) Hollywood, CA, (3) Osaka, Japan, and (4) Beijing, China
Sky — Consists of the operations of Sky (a European entertainment, content production, TV network, and internet and phone service company)
Revenue & EBITDA by business segmentCable Communications’ cable distribution footprint
The company generated $116 billion in revenue and $13.76 billion in comprehensive income attributable to Comcast common stockholders.
Summary: This multinational food & beverage company owns a huge portfolio of brands from Jell-O to Lunchables to Caprisun to Heinz ketchup. The company has a secondary headquarters in Chicago but its official SEC-registered headquarters is in Pittsburgh.
Famous global brands owned by Kraft Heinz
Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ: KHC) is multinational holding company for various food and beverage brands. In 2021, the company reported its business financials via three geographic business segments:
United States
Canada
International
However, during Q4 2021, the company reorganized and going forward will only use two reporting segments:
North America (encompassing both the old United States and Canada segments)
International
Key 2021 financial numbers are summarized in the table below:
Net sales
$26.04 Billion
Cost of products sold
$17.36 Billion
Gross profit
$8.68 Billion
Operating income
$3.46 Billion
Net income attributable to common shareholders
$1.01 Billion
Comprehensive income attributable to common shareholders
Summary: In addition to its Rite Aid branded retail pharmacy stores, the company also owns the Bartell Drug stores and Elixir — a pharmacy benefits manager (which is a company that negotiates pricing with drug manufacturers on behalf of health insurance companies or other payers).
Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD) organizes its business into two segments:
Retail Pharmacy — Consists of Rite Aid stores, Bartell Drug stores, and Health Dialog
Pharmacy Services — Consists of Elixir (a PBM = Pharmacy Benefits Manager)
During the 12-month period ending November 30, 2021, the company generated $24.42 billion in revenue.
Summary: Founded in 1901 through a J. P. Morgan-orchestrated merger of the Carnegie Steel and Federal Steel companies, the company today is still one of the largest steel manufacturers in the world. In 2021, the company produced over 26 million tons of steel and generated $20 billion in revenue.
U.S. Steel (NYSE: X) organizes its business into four reportable segments:
North American Flat-Rolled (Flat-Rolled) — Primarily consists of operating U.S. Steel’s integrated steel plants and North American equity investees involved in the production of slabs, strip mill plates, sheets, and tin mill products. The segment also includes iron ore and coke (the coal-like lumps of carbon, not the beverage) production facilities in the U.S. The main customers of this segment are North American companies in the automotive, appliance, construction, container, transportation, and service center markets.
Mini Mill — Includes the operation of the Big River Steel facility and a new mill under construction in Osceola, Arkansas. This segment produces hot-rolled, cold-rolled, and coated sheets and electrical products.
U.S. Steel Europe (USSE) — Includes the operation of U.S. Steel Košice (USSK) in Slovakia and its subsidiaries
Tubular Products (Tubular) — Consists of U.S. Steel’s tubular production facilities and equity investee in the U.S. The segment produces steel casing and tubing products.
Lincoln National Corporation (NYSE: LNC) is a holding company that operates various insurance and investment management subsidiaries. The company generated $19.230 billion in revenue and $1.085 billion in comprehensive loss in 2021.
Official Company Name
LINCOLN NATIONAL CORPORATION
State of Incorporation
Indiana
Address of Principal Executive Offices
150 N. Radnor-Chester Road Suite A305 Radnor, PA 19087
PNC is a diversified financial company with businesses in retail banking, residential mortgage, corporate and institutional banking, and asset management.
In 2021, the company generated $19.21 billion in total revenue and $3.31 billion of comprehensive income attributable to PNC.
Official Company Name
THE PNC FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP, INC.
State of Incorporation
Pennsylvania
Address of Principal Executive Offices
The Tower at PNC Plaza 300 Fifth Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15222
These are the 5 largest companies headquartered in North Carolina by 2021 revenue.
#1 Lowe’s ($96 Billion)
Summary: Lowe’s is a Fortune 50 company and the world’s second largest home improvement retailer behind Home Depot.
Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) operates 1971 home improvement and hardware stores spread across all 50 U.S. states (1737 stores) and Canada (234 stores). However it’s notable that while only 88% of Lowe’s stores are in the U.S., 94% of consolidated sales come from the U.S.
The company generated $96.25 billion of net sales and comprehensive income of $8.54 billion in 2021.
Summary: This bank holding company owns subsidiaries that offer banking, asset management, and other financial & risk management services.
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) operates through various bank and non-bank subsidiaries throughout the U.S. and abroad. The company organizes its business into four segments:
Consumer Banking
Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM)
Global Banking
Global Markets
The company competes with many types of businesses including banks, credit unions, investment banking firms, investment advisory firms, brokerage firms, investment companies, insurance companies, mortgage banking companies, credit card issuers, mutual fund companies, hedge funds, private equity firms, and e-commerce companies (e.g. Amazon’s merchant financing is competitive with certain BOA products).
The company generated $93.85 billion of revenue and $30.56 billion of net income attributable to common shareholders in 2021.
Official Company Name
Bank of America Corporation
State of Incorporation
Delaware
Address of Principal Executive Offices
Bank of America Corporate Center 100 North Tryon Street Charlotte, NC 28255
Summary: This company manufactures steel and steel products.
Nucor (NYSE: NUE) is a steel manufacturing & metal industry business that self-organizes into three business segments:
Steel Mills — Producing sheet steel, plate steel, structural steel (I-beams, etc), and bar steel. This is Nucor’s largest segment and generated 66% of the company’s sales (excluding intra-organization sales). Customers include steel service centers, fabricators, and manufacturers throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The steel mill segment sold 20.3 million tons of steel to outside customers in 2021.
Steel Products — Producing various types of steel tubing, steel racking, steel joists, steel deck, concrete reinforcing steel, cold finished steel, steel fasteners, metal building systems, insulated metal panels, steel grating, and steel wire and wire mesh. This segment also includes a piling distributor division.
Raw Materials — Producing direct reduced iron (DRI) for use in steel mills, brokering metals, selling alloys, and processing scrap metal. The raw materials segment also includes natural gas drilling operations.
Nucor generated $36.48 billion in net revenue and $6.83 billion of net earnings attributable to stockholders in 2021.
Summary: Honeywell is an aerospace, materials, and building technology company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Honeywell (NASDAQ: HON) organizes its business into four segments:
Aerospace — Selling software and services to aircraft OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and other customers
Honeywell Building Technologies — Selling building control & optimization software, sensors, switches, surveillance cameras, control systems, fire products, and installation and maintenance services
Performance Materials and Technologies — Developing & manufacturing high-performance chemicals and materials (for applications such as armor and drug packaging), providing instruments and software for various materials industries (e.g. oil and gas, refining, pulp and paper, industrial power generation, chemicals, biofuels, life sciences, mining, etc), and providing chemical process aids (e.g. catalysts, adsorbents, and equipment) to to different chemical and material industry customers.
Safety and Productivity Solutions — Providing PPE (personal protective equipment), workplace safety equipment, gas detection technology, emergency messaging services, supply chain and warehouse automation equipment and software, custom sensors and switches, and similar products and services.
Operations that don’t fall into any of those four segments are classified as “Corporate and All Other”, but that category is not reported as a business segment in Honeywell’s SEC filings.
The company generated $34.39 billion in revenue ($25.64B from product sales and $8.75B from service sales) and $5.54 billion in net income attributable to stockholders in 2021.
Summary: Duke Energy is an energy utility company that operates through various subsidiaries along the east coast and in the midwest.
Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) is an FERC-regulated energy company operating in the U.S. primarily through its tree of subsidiaries which include Duke Energy Carolinas, Progress Energy, Duke Energy Progress, Duke Energy Florida, Duke Energy Ohio, Duke Energy Indiana, and Piedmont Natural Gas Company.
The company generated $25.1 billion in operating revenue ($22.3 billion of that from regulated electric utility operations) and $3.7 billion in comprehensive income available to common stockholders in 2021.
