History of McDonald's

McDonald's Corporation is an American fast food company, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hamburger stand, and later turned the company into a franchise, with the Golden Arches logo being introduced in 1953 at a location in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1955, Ray Kroc, a businessman, joined the company as a franchise agent and proceeded to purchase the chain from the McDonald brothers. McDonald's had its original headquarters in Oak Brook, Illinois, but moved its global headquarters to Chicago in June 2018.

McDonald's is the world's largest restaurant chain by revenue, serving over 69 million customers daily in over 100 countries across 37,855 outlets as of 2018.

Although McDonald's is best known for its hamburgers, cheeseburgers and french fries, they feature chicken products, breakfast items, soft drinks, milkshakes, wraps, and desserts. In response to changing consumer tastes and a negative backlash because of the unhealthiness of their food, the company has added to its menu salads, fish, smoothies, and fruit. The McDonald's Corporation revenues come from the rent, royalties, and fees paid by the franchisees, as well as sales in company-operated restaurants. According to two reports published in 2018, McDonald's is the world's second-largest private employer with 1.7 million employees (behind Walmart with 2.3 million employees).

The Founding of McDonald's

Siblings Richard and Maurice McDonald opened the first McDonald's at 1398 North E Street at West 14th Street in San Bernardino, California on May 15, 1940. The brothers introduced the "Speedee Service System" in 1948, putting into expanded use the principles of the modern fast-food restaurant that their predecessor White Castle had put into practice more than two decades earlier. The original mascot of McDonald's was a chef hat on top of a hamburger who was referred to as "Speedee". In 1962, the Golden Arches replaced Speedee as the universal mascot. The mascot, clown Ronald McDonald, was introduced in 1965. He appeared in advertising to target their audience of children.

Logo from 1940 until 1948

Logo from 1948 until 1953

Logo from 1953 until 1960

On May 4, 1961, McDonald's first filed for a U.S. trademark on the name "McDonald's" with the description "Drive-In Restaurant Services", which continues to be renewed. By September 13, McDonald's, under the guidance of Ray Kroc, filed for a trademark on a new logo—an overlapping, double-arched "M" symbol. But before the double arches, McDonald's used a single arch for the architecture of their buildings. Although the "Golden Arches" logo appeared in various forms, the present version was not used until November 18, 1968, when the company was favored a U.S. trademark.

The present corporation credits its founding to franchised businessman Ray Kroc on April 15, 1955. This was in fact the ninth opened McDonald's restaurant overall, although this location was destroyed and rebuilt in 1984. In 1961, Kroc purchased the McDonald brothers' equity in the company and began the company's worldwide reach. Kroc was recorded as being an aggressive business partner, driving the McDonald brothers out of the industry

Kroc and the McDonald brothers fought for control of the business, as documented in Kroc's autobiography. The San Bernardino restaurant was eventually torn down in 1971, and the site was sold to the Juan Pollo chain in 1976. This area serves as headquarters for the Juan Pollo chain, and a McDonald's and Route 66 museum. With the expansion of McDonald's into many international markets, the company has become a symbol of globalization and the spread of the American way of life. Its prominence has made it a frequent topic of public debates about obesity, corporate ethics, and consumer responsibility.

Finance

For the fiscal year 2018, McDonalds reported earnings of US$5.9 billion, with an annual revenue of US$21.0 billion, a decrease of 7.9% over the previous fiscal cycle. McDonald's shares traded at over $145 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at over US$134.5 billion in September 2018.

Year	Revenue in mil. USD$	Net income in mil. USD$	Total assets in mil. USD$	Price per share in USD$	Locations	Employees
2005	19,117	2,602	29,989	31.88
2006	20,895	3,544	28,975	36.79	31,046
2007	22,787	2,395	29,392	50.98	31.377
2008	23,522	4,313	28,462	58.06	31,967
2009	22,745	4,551	30,225	57.44	32,478
2010	24,075	4,946	31,975	70.91	32,737
2011	27,006	5,503	32,990	83.97	33,510
2012	27,567	5,465	35,387	92.53	34,480
2013	28,106	5,586	36,626	97.26	35,429	440,000
2014	27,441	4,758	34,227	96.38	36,258	420,000
2015	25,413	4,529	37,939	100.28	36,525	420,000
2016	24,622	4,687	31,024	120.14	36,899	375,000
2017	22,820	5,192	33,804	148.76	37,241	235,000
2018	21,025	5,924	32,811	166.06	37,855	210,000

Headquarters

On June 13, 2016, McDonald's confirmed plans to move its global headquarters to Chicago's West Loop neighborhood in the Near West Side. The 608,000-square-foot structure was built on the former site of Harpo Productions (where The Oprah Winfrey Show and several other Harpo productions taped) and opened on June 4, 2018.

The McDonald's former headquarters complex, McDonald's Plaza, is located in Oak Brook, Illinois. It sits on the site of the former headquarters and stabling area of Paul Butler, the founder of Oak Brook. McDonald's moved into the Oak Brook facility from an office within the Chicago Loop in 1971.

Board of directors

As of January 2019, the board of directors had the following members:

Enrique Hernandez Jr., non-executive chairman; president and CEO of Inter-Con Security
Lloyd H. Dean, president and CEO of Dignity Health
Stephen J. Easterbrook, president and CEO of McDonald's
Robert A. Eckert, operating partner of Friedman Fleischer & Lowe
Margo Georgiadis, CEO of Ancestry.com
Jeanne P. Jackson, CEO of MSP Capital
Richard H. Lenny, non-executive of Conagra Brands
John J. Mulligan, executive vice president and COO of Target Corporation
Sheila A. Penrose, non-executive chairman of Jones Lang LaSalle
John W. Rogers Jr., chairman and CEO of Ariel Investments
Miles D. White, chairman and CEO of Abbott Laboratories
Andrew J. McKenna, chairman emeritus. Also chairman emeritus of Schwarz Supply Source

On March 1, 2015, after being chief brand officer of McDonald's and its former head in the UK and northern Europe, Steve Easterbrook became CEO, succeeding Don Thompson, who stepped down on January 28, 2015.

Global operations

Thomas Friedman said that no country with a McDonald's had gone to war with another; however, the "Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention" is incorrect. Exceptions are the 1989 United States invasion of Panama, NATO's bombing of Serbia in 1999, the 2006 Lebanon War, and the 2008 South Ossetia war. McDonald's suspended operations in its corporate-owned stores in Crimea after Russia annexed the region in 2014. On August 20, 2014, as tensions between the United States and Russia strained over events in Ukraine, and the resultant U.S. sanctions, the Russian government temporarily shut down four McDonald's outlets in Moscow, citing sanitary concerns. The company has operated in Russia since 1990 and at August 2014 had 438 stores across the country. On August 23, 2014, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich ruled out any government move to ban McDonald's and dismissed the notion that the temporary closures had anything to do with the sanctions.McDonald's has become emblematic of globalization, sometimes referred to as the "McDonaldization" of society. The Economist newspaper uses the "Big Mac Index": the comparison of the cost of a Big Mac in various world currencies can be used to informally judge these currencies' purchasing power parity. Switzerland has the most expensive Big Mac in the world as of July 2015, while the country with the least expensive Big Mac is India (albeit for a Maharaja Mac—the next cheapest Big Mac is Hong Kong).

Some observers have suggested that the company should be given credit for increasing the standard of service in markets that it enters. A group of anthropologists in a study entitled Golden Arches East looked at the impact McDonald's had on East Asia and Hong Kong, in particular. When it opened in Hong Kong in 1975, McDonald's was the first restaurant to consistently offer clean restrooms, driving customers to demand the same of other restaurants and institutions. McDonald's has taken to partnering up with Sinopec, the second largest oil company in the People's Republic of China, as it takes advantage of the country's growing use of personal vehicles by opening numerous drive-thru restaurants. McDonald's has opened a McDonald's restaurant and McCafé on the underground premises of the French fine arts museum, The Louvre.

The company stated it would open vegetarian-only restaurants in India by mid-2013.

On January 9, 2017, 80% of the franchise rights in the mainland China and in Hong Kong were sold for US$2.08 billion to a consortium of CITIC Limited (for 32%) and private equity funds managed by CITIC Capital (for 20%) and Carlyle (for 20%), which CITIC Limited and CITIC Capital would formed a joint venture to own the stake.