Successfully changed their shoes: famous brands that radically changed the direction of their activities (9 photos)

Today, the capitalist world is ruled by brands, and upon hearing their names, almost everyone will be able to say exactly what this company does. Many of these brands began their existence in the last century, and were tailored for a completely different business.





The well-known company Shell is now engaged in the supply of oil and gas, and it is one of the largest companies on the world market. The brand name translates as “shell”, since the company initially dealt with antiques and sold boxes with a scattering of shells.



The 27th most expensive brand is occupied by the American financial company American Express, which began its existence in 1850. Initially, the company was not engaged in finance, but in logistics and transportation of goods. Actually, the name of the company subtly hints at this.





Twitter originally focused on podcasts and nearly went out of business after the release of the iTunes app. After this, the management decided to redesign the platform for the exchange of short messages. Actually, Twitter is currently one of the most popular instant messengers, and the company was recently bought by Elon Musk.



Samsung is now, along with Apple, a leader in the production of phones and other equipment, but this brand has repeatedly changed its field of activity. Initially, it was a grocery store for noodles and seafood, then the company began to engage in sugar production, the production of clothing, mills, and only then the company moved to the production of equipment.



Like Samsung, Nokia initially did something completely different. After opening in 1865, the company was engaged in the production of paper, and only then changed its type of activity and began to produce equipment, in particular indestructible telephones.



The Avon company, which gained popularity in the early 2000s, was initially engaged not in cosmetics, but in the sale of books. The founder of the company distributed perfumes to women along with books, and when he realized that they had become more popular than books, he switched to cosmetics.



BMW has been around since 1916 and originally produced airplanes, but since it is a German company, after the Treaty of Versailles in 1920, which banned Germany from producing airplanes, the company began producing motorcycles and then cars.



Nintendo got its start by making playing cards. It was only in 1977 that the company released its first game, which became a success.