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From HP to Disney, here are eight giant companies that were founded in a garage.
Hewlett-Packard
Market cap: $1.53 billion*
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard founded HP in 1939 in a garage in Palo Alto, California. The garage is now referred to as “the birthplace of Silicon Valley”.
*market capitalisation as on Aug 5, 2025
Mattel
Market cap: $5.48 billion
The toy company, known for its flagship Barbie dolls, was started by Ruth and Elliot Handler, along with a friend, in a garage in Los Angeles, USA, in 1945.
Dell
Market cap: $88.08 billion
Michael Dell founded Dell Computers from his off-campus housing garage in Texas in 1984, after dropping out of college.
Walt Disney Co
Market cap: $214.56 billion
In 1923, the brothers Walt and Roy Disney founded the animation company from their uncle’s one-car garage in Los Angeles.
Amazon
Market cap: $2.26 trillion
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon as an online bookstore in 1994, selling books from the garage of his rented home in Washington.
Google
Market cap: $2.36 trillion
Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google Inc. in 1996 from Susan Wojcicki's garage (CEO of YouTube from 2014-2023).
Apple
Market cap: $3.02 trillion
Apple was established in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. Wozniak clarified that only Apple 1’s product testing happened in Jobs’ garage.
Microsoft
Market cap: $3.98 trillion
In 1979, Bill Gates and Paul Allen established Microsoft in a small garage in New Mexico, USA. They worked on their first software project from there.
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