The 1990s Business and the Economy: Chronology

1990:     January 10 Warner Brothers Communications and Time Inc. complete a $14.1 billion merger, establishing the largest media conglomerate in the world.

1990:     April 12 Under pressure from environmental groups, three top U.S. canneries implement "dolphin-safe" tuna-catching practices.

1990:     June 4 Greyhound Lines Inc., the bus company, files for bankruptcy.

1991:     January 8 Pan American World Airways (Pam Am) files for bankruptcy.

1991:     April 7 The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 3,000 points for the first time.

1991:     July 3 Apple Computer and IBM publicly join together in an effort to exchange technologies and develop new equipment.

1992:      General Motors announces a record $4.5 billion loss in 1991 and says it will close twenty-one plants and lay off some seventy-four thousand workers in the next four years.

1992:     April 23 McDonald's opens its first fast-food restaurant in Beijing, China.

1992:     June 5 The federal government announces that the unemployment rate has jumped to 7.5 percent, the highest level in nearly eight years.

1993:     February 4 A jury finds General Motors guilty of negligence; the company knew of a faulty fuel-tank design that caused the death of a teenager but did nothing about it. The jury awards $105.2 million to the teenager's parents.

1993:     June 8 The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) rules that employers cannot refuse to hire disabled employees because of high insurance costs.

1994:     January 1 The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect.

1994:     April 4 Netscape Communications is founded.

1994:     July 15 In a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department, Microsoft promises to end monopolistic practices it used to dominate the personal computer software market.

1995:     February 14 A federal judge rejects the U.S. Justice Department's proposed antitrust settlement with Microsoft and orders the company to be broken up; the decision is later overturned on appeal.

1995:     February 26 The United States and China avert a trade war by signing an agreement to reduce trade barriers between the two countries.

1995:     November 21 The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 5,000 mark for the first time, rising 40.46 points to 5,023.55

1996:      For the first time, personal-computer sales exceed the sale of television sets.

1996:     September 6 The jobless rate is reported at 5.1 percent, the lowest figure in seven years.

1996:     November 15 Texaco settles for a record $140 million a racial discrimination lawsuit brought by some of its employees. Executives had taped their disparaging remarks about minorities and their plans to destroy incriminating evidence; the tapes prompted the monetary out-of-court settlement.

1997:     January 9 Volkswagen agrees to pay one hundred million dollars to General Motors to settle an espionage lawsuit in which a former GM executive was accused of stealing trade secrets when he moved to the German automaker.

1997:     January 31 The federal government reports that the rate of inflation has sunk to its lowest level in thirty years.

1997:     September 1 The minimum wage is raised from $4.75 to $5.15 an hour—the last time it will be raised in the decade.

1998:      With a market value of over $260 billion, Microsoft passes General Electric as the biggest company in the United States.

1998:     May 14 Just hours before state and federal governments are set to file extensive antitrust lawsuits against Microsoft, the company agrees to postpone the launch of its newest operating system, Windows 98 for three days.

1998:     December 1 The largest U.S. oil company, Exxon, announces it will buy the second-largest oil company, Mobil, for eighty billion dollars, forming the largest corporation in the world.

1999:     May 3 The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at about 11,000 only twenty-four trading days after breaking the 10,000 mark, making it the fastest stock market rise in history.

1999:     September 7 Viacom Inc. announces it will buy the CBS Corporation for $37.3 billion, making it the largest media merger ever. The new conglomerate becomes the second-largest media company in the world (after Time Warner).