Wrigley's chewing gum started out as a free gift for buying baking powder.

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Sticks of chewing gum laid out on a table
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1892

Wrigley's chewing gum started out as a free gift for buying baking powder.

Yes. William Wrigley Jr. began in 1891 selling soap, offered baking powder as a bonus, then in 1892 offered chewing gum with the baking powder. The free gum became so popular that it turned into his main product.

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A modern McDonald's restaurant in Franklin, North Carolina
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Rent

McDonald's makes most of its franchise money from rent, not burgers.

Rent is the largest revenue category McDonald's reports from franchised restaurants, ahead of royalties. That does not mean rent is most of all corporate revenue, or that every franchise follows the same property arrangement.

NintendoCards
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1889

Nintendo was founded in 1889 to sell handmade playing cards.

Nintendo traces its origins to Fusajiro Yamauchi making hanafuda playing cards in Kyoto in 1889. Its first home video game machines arrived in 1977, nearly nine decades later.

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