Answer: Dried Fish

Today, international electronics giant Samsung is known for products like televisions, Blu-ray players, and mobile phones, but it wasn’t always so. Like many other large and long-lived companies, Samsung got its start in a previous age by selling things far removed from its current business practices.

Founded in 1938, the original incarnation of Samsung was a small trading company that dealt primarily in dried fish, locally-grown groceries, and noodles. They later branched out into different areas including sugar refining and wool-manufacturing, then further diversified their portfolio with investments in insurance, securities, and retail.

It wasn’t until the late 1960s that the company began developing electronics, but their initial products weren’t particularly high quality in nature. In the 1980s, however, they began to heavily invest in research and development and by the 1990s, the company had gained international attention. Fast forward to the present and the company enjoys a significant portion of the global electronics market.