Founders - Lee Byung-chul

First location - Seoul, South Korea

Samsung was founded as a grocery trading store on March 1, 1938, by Lee Byung-Chull. He started his business in Taegu, Korea, trading noodles and other goods produced in and around the city and exporting them to China and its provinces.

After the Korean war and during the country's push to industrialization, the company successfully expanded into textile-manufacturing.

New subsidiaries such as Samsung Heavy Industries, Samsung Shipbuilding, and Samsung Precision Company soon followed.

Samsung first entered the electronics industry in 1969 with several electronics-focused divisions—their first products were black-and-white televisions. During the 1970s the company began to export home electronics products overseas.