Editing Megacorporation (section)

==IRL Megacorporations==
[[File:Coporation connections.jpg|600px|thumb|center|The plot thickens...]]
*'''The East India Company (EIC)''': One of the early waves of corporations founded in 1600 to trade with India, the EIC gradually took over the entire Indian Subcontinent until 1858. Of all the IRL example's the EIC is the closest to a fictional megacorp by dint of have a foreign policy of a sort and its own standing army. The East India Company actually had more soldiers than the British Army did. Yes, they're the antagonists for some of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
*'''The Railway Giants''': Rail travel started in the United States around 1830 with small lines here and there, first going from town to town and then branching out to multiple towns.  In order to encourage the buildout, the federal government would grant land adjacent to newly laid rails to the railroads to sell; many towns grew mere from railroad water stops. Gradually the smaller players were bought up by the most successful ones (in particular there was Cornelius Vanderbilt), which had a domino effect. Linking up the networks meant they could not only send goods farther, but cheaper than a mess of little companies could manage. They made a lot of money and had a lot of sway due to how essential they became for trade. Since they also had telegraph lines, they could manage affairs from Maine to Miami to San Diego to Portland.
*'''Standard Oil''': Probably the first monopoly that you can name, even if you lived under a rock. Came to dominate the American Petroleum industry under J.D. Rockefeller. Eventually got broken up later in the 20th century when the federal government realized it didn't like corporations having too much power.
*'''Bell Telephone''': An ideal example of a natural monopoly, the Bell system was THE telephone company for over a hundred years, as the limitations of technology meant competition was almost impossible until modern computers came along; which they had a hand in creating.  In the 1980's, Bell was broken into 8 pieces... which have largely merged back together like a self-repairing machine.
*'''United Fruit Company''': Ever wondered how the term "banana republic" came to be? For the first half of the 20th century, one single company dominated the Caribbean and some parts of Latin America to the point of staging coup d'états against the governments which tried to resist their iron grip. Oh, and those insurgents were openly backed up by the CIA and US Navy/Air Force. You know Chiquita brand bananas? Yeah, it's those guys now after some rebranding.
*'''IG Farben''': The Megacorp that sided with the [[Nazi]]s. A chemical company that fueled the Wehrmacht by turning coal into rubber and fuel, as well [[Grimdark|providing the gas used in the Death Camps, as well as working to death thousands more at their Auschwitz III Chemical Plant]].
*'''[[Disney]]''': Skub depending on who you ask, but Disney is without a doubt one of the largest companies on Earth with wide financial assets. Started as a humble animation studio under an ambitious man, that has evolved in a corporate media giant. Owns one-fifth of the media outlets in the United States.
*'''Vivendi''': The second biggest media empire in the world, owns a lot more shit than you think and have sabotaged many of the companies and licenses they bought. You want to know how evil they are? [[Activision]] and [[EA]] obeys them. Owned by right-wingnut lunatic and complete nepobaby moron Vincent Bolloré, who was humiliated multiple times in the past that he now primarily focuses on his political ventures in France, in which he supports the Far Right and controls a large portion of the media. He tried to sway Valve into completely succumbing into being owned by Vivendi, which backfired spectacularly, meaning they literally have left ''Steam'' escape their greedy, greasy hands.
*'''Nestlé''': Swiss nutrionist and researcher opens a company to sell his foods and goods... Turns into the single most evil company that ever was. Willingly sabotages their own products, disowns and actively protests against making the access to drinkable water a human right (to which they have succeeded), a board of directors that is so ''openly racist'' they make [[/pol/]] cringe, and are essentially the single biggest monopoly on the distribution of sweets, water, milk, and other produce. They're fucking '''everywhere'''.
*'''Amazon''': Not as skub as Disney. Amazon started as a book delivery service that eventually evolved into general merchandise delivery and has even created a niche as a media provider, having acquired MGM and adapted ''The Boys'' and ''Man in the High Castle'' into shows. Infamous for their quick delivery times, terrible worker conditions, and are currently under investigation from the state of Illinois for possibly cutting corners on warehouse safety that resulted in a high number of deaths. Also tied for leading provider of fandom lore rape with Disney due to The Rings of Power, and now considered a potential threat to Warhammer 40,000 since they're the one bankrolling Cavill's pet-project.
*'''Walmart''': The brick & mortar version of Amazon; currently the largest non-government employer in the world.  The embodiment of naked capitalism, sometimes with actual naked people.  Like Amazon, they're notorious for strong-arming their suppliers and mistreating their employees.  Unlike Amazon they also sell groceries, meaning they can neglect their perishables as well.  
*'''Japanese Zaibatsus/Keiretsus and Korean Chaebols''': The most prominent examples of Asian megacorps, being vast networks of companies headed by single families or a cliques thereof rather than any board of directors. Name any major Japanese or Korean brand (Mitsubishi, Toyota, Samsung, Hyundai, etc) that has international fame, and it’s most likely one of these.  Fun fact: Mitsubish, Mitsui, and Sumitomo grew out of former [[Samurai]] clans, surviving the Meiji reformation due to their connections as military suppliers.  The Allied occupation wanted to dismantle them but with the cold war starting they proved too damn useful to get rid of.
*'''The Tech Giants''':
*'''[[wikipedia:Military–industrial complex|The Military Industrial Complex]]''':
*'''[[wikipedia:ITV plc|ITV]]''': One of the most well known companies in Britain, they have gained acclaim for beloved programmes having cult followings, and being behind great TV dramas. However, in recent times, they acquired minority stakes in independent production companies effectively owning them, strongarming television channels to screw over other programmes that effectively NOT made by them. The Balearic island of Mallorca got tourism rates rivalling Ibiza thanks to another one of their popular shows, the bad news is that it were unsustainable. There were talks of a tourist tax, but that meant upsetting the fanbase. Even the BBC, their main competition, has their hands tied considering they got no choice in the matter as they would anger the public, and not for the first time. The fact that they also use philanthropy as a weapon is pretty insidious if you think about it. What makes them stand out is their focus on quality over quantity for the dramas and rewarding their followings of entertainment and reality shows for their loyalty, making them terrifying to face head on.
And despite what memes say and [[Games Workshop]] wants, GW isn't a Megacorp... ''Yet.''