This is a list of companies founded by
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
alumni, including attendees who enrolled in degree-programs at Stanford but did not eventually graduate. This list is not exhaustive, as it only includes notable
companies
A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...
of which the founding and development history is well recorded by reliable sources. In particular,
subsidiaries
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a sa ...
are listed with their owners in parentheses.
Stanford University is one of the most successful universities in creating companies, attracting funding, and licensing its inventions to existing companies. It is often held up as a model for
technology transfer
Technology transfer (TT), also called transfer of technology (TOT), is the process of transferring (disseminating) technology from the person or organization that owns or holds it to another person or organization, in an attempt to transform invent ...
. Stanford's Office of Technology Licensing is responsible for commercializing developments. The university is described as having a strong venture culture in which students are encouraged, and often
funded, to launch their own companies.
According to
PitchBook, from 2006 to 2017, Stanford produced 1,127 company founders as alumni or current students, more than any other university in the world; and these founders created 957 companies, second only to
UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...
in the world. In addition, according to a Stanford alumni survey conducted in 2011, some 39,900 companies founded by Stanford alumni were active, and companies founded by Stanford alumni altogether generated more than $2.7
trillion
''Trillion'' is a number with two distinct definitions:
*1,000,000,000,000, i.e. one million million, or (ten to the twelfth power), as defined on the short scale. This is now the meaning in both American and British English.
* 1,000,000,000,00 ...
in annual revenue and had created 5.4 million jobs, roughly equivalent to the 10th-largest economy in the world (2011).
In this list, founders of a company which
merged
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
with other companies to form a new company are counted as founders of the new company. However, founders of a company which later dissolved into several successor companies are ''not'' counted as founders of those successor companies; this same rule applies to
spin-off companies. Finally, a defunct company is a company that stopped functioning completely (e.g.,
bankrupt
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
) without dissolving, merging or being
acquired.
Top companies by revenues
Fortune Global 500 (2017)
This list shows companies in
Fortune Global 500
The ''Fortune'' Global 500, also known as Global 500, is an annual ranking of the top 500 corporations worldwide as measured by revenue. The list is compiled and published annually by ''Fortune'' magazine.
Methodology
Until 1989, it listed onl ...
founded or co-founded by Stanford alumni. The cut-off revenue for 2017 Fortune Global 500 companies was $21,609M in 2016.
Fortune 1000 (2017)
This list shows companies in
Fortune 1000
The Fortune 1000 are the 1,000 largest American companies ranked by revenues, as compiled by the American business magazine '' Fortune''. It only includes companies which are incorporated or authorized to do business in the United States, and fo ...
(only for companies within the
U.S.) founded or co-founded by Stanford alumni. The cut-off revenue for 2017 Fortune 1000 companies was $1,791M in 2016.
Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas ...
in 2017 and is no longer an independent company.Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
''.
Former Fortune-listed companies
For each company, only the latest rankings (up to three years) are shown in this list.
Timeline
Index
This index also contains companies listed in section "Notable defunct & dissolved".
Before 1960
1960 - 1979
1980 - 1999
,
,
2000 - present
Notable defunct & dissolved
See also
*
List of companies founded by Harvard University alumni
This is a list of companies founded by Harvard University alumni, including attendees who enrolled in degree programs at Harvard University but did not eventually graduate. Companies founded by alumni of Radcliffe College ("Harvard Annex", 1879-19 ...
*
List of companies founded by MIT alumni
*
List of companies founded by UC Berkeley alumni
This is a list of companies founded by University of California, Berkeley alumni, including attendees who enrolled in degree-programs at Berkeley but did not eventually graduate. This list is not exhaustive, as it only includes notable companies o ...
*
List of companies founded by University of Pennsylvania alumni
*
List of Stanford University people
This page lists the members of Stanford University, including students, alumni, faculty and academic affiliates associated.
Stanford office Presidents
Acting presidents were temporary appointments. Swain served while Wilbur was United Sta ...
Notes
[Alphabet Inc. was created through a corporate restructuring of Google, Inc in 2015. Google, Inc. itself was founded in 1998. Google currently is an LLC subsidiary company of Alphabet.]
References
{{Companies founded by University alumni
Stanford University
Stanford University alumni
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...