Elizabeth Parisian - The Most Powerful Company You've Never Heard of: Meet CME Group
May 8, 2012 Think of powerful, multi-billion dollar corporations, and many come readily to mind. Wal-Mart. General Electric. Exxon Mobil. Bank of America. McDonald's. Apple. We recognize their logos, know what they sell and how to buy it -- or how to not buy it if we choose.
But for all their riches and ubiquity, when it comes to sheer raw power, these high-profile behemoths are eclipsed by a company that most of us have never heard of.
Meet CME Group. Last fall, Forbes revealed "The Four Companies That Control the 147 Companies That Own Everything," in which contributor Brendan Coffey argues that "the real power to control the world" lies not with the likes of Wal-Mart and Bank of America, but with the select few companies that control the indexes that rank these corporations. CME Group, owner of the Dow Jones Indexes, is one of these four companies, which is why it is important for all of us to get to know this company, how it makes its billions, and how it impacts us all.
The "CME" in "CME Group" stands for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which has special significance for those of us who live in Chicago. We're familiar with "The Merc" and the Chicago Board of Trade, the two iconic commodities futures exchanges comprising Chicago's Wall Street. (And if you're not from Chicago, you've likely seen the trading floor of Board of Trade -- featured in the classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off). CME Group formed relatively recently, when the Mercantile Exchange bought the Board of Trade in 2007. But a five-year growth and acquisition spree has secured its status as one of the four masters of the corporate universe.
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