ALL: Soap Businesses & Conglomerates

[NothinButAttitude]

Due to all the talk of what we hope to see on The Gates, it got me thinking of all the many soap businesses over the years.

I just wanted to start a thread that highlights all the fictional soap businesses, conglomerates, etc., and what their specialties were. Or subsidiaries. 

We can also open it up to foreign and primetime soaps too. 

[Contessa Donatella]

So, you are not talking about P&G, the Hubberts, 2 Agnes Nixon corporations, Corday, Bell, Disney, Cap Cities, etc, 

Instead you are talking about Cory Publishing, Titan Enterprises, Lewis Construction, etc., right? I'm just not sure which you were heading for. I guess fictional tips the scale. 

[kalbir]

Sticking w/ the originals on Y&R

Chancellor Industries and Prentiss Industries we don't know exactly what they were involved in.

Newman Enterprises we know as a multinational conglomerate w/ all sorts of divisions.

Mergeron Corporation had a cosmetics division that rivalled Jabot, not sure what else it was involved in.

Jabot Cosmetics and Fenmore's department store pretty self-explanatory.

[NothinButAttitude]

Correct. The fictional companies. 

[I Am A Swede]

B&B obviously has Forrester Creations, and previously also Spectra Fashions, both fashion houses.

Spencer Publications is another B&B company.

[Khan]

AMC: Cortlandt Electronics - Self-explanatory.

GL: Spaulding Enterprises - NOT as self-explanatory.

KL: The Sumner Group - Uhh....?

Edited May 9, 2024 by Khan

[NothinButAttitude]

@Khan, I am wracking my brain about Spaulding. Didn't they just do real estate? Most of the stuff I remember them doing was in the realm of real estate. I am drawing blank for some reason. 

Cory Publishing - self explanatory; however, wasn't KBAY a subsidiary too? 

[Contessa Donatella]

Didn't Donna own KBAY? I have the KBAY Match Dare Telethon clips & Felicia was the host but she had a breakfast show on the TV station. I don't think it was a Cory subsidiary. 

Cory did Bella magazine, Felicia's books, other unknown authors' books, ...

Wasn't the newspaper separate? Called The Spectator? 

On DAYS I was always confused about Titan and about Basic Black. 

[Xanthe]

Mac bought KBAY in 1985 when Carl couldn't afford to keep it and gave Sandy a job there. Then later sometime after Mac's death Rachel sold it and Matthew and Donna became co-owners.

[Kane]

Spaulding also had a pharmaceuticals division and apparently a cosmetics division, as when Jenna and Eleni were trying to launch a face cream Alan-Michael's involvement had to be kept secret because he had just left Spaulding and had a non-compete clause. It may also have had a technologies division - I think that's where Brent Lawrence worked, but could be wrong about that.

[j swift]

ATWT - I actually think Walsh Enterprises and Worldwide, the management consulting firms, were inspired business choices for a soap opera.  Today, IRL, there's a lot of talk about McKinsey and The Boston Group, so they were ahead of their time.  It is reasonable that a management firm could be headquartered anywhere, including a small town like Oakdale.  Nobody has any idea what qualifies someone to be a consultant, so it was plausible for anyone from Emily to Connor to work there.  And they consult with other businesses, so you get legendary accounts like Kingsly-Malta.

However, regardless of the focus of the business, every company on an ABC soap had both a cosmetics division, and a European office.  To this day, I don't know why Buchanan Enterprises, an energy/oil company moved their main office from Texas to Pennsylvania, or why they had an office in London, but they did. 

Edited May 10, 2024 by j swift

[BetterForgotten]

ELQ on GH is another one I’ve never really understood what the hell it’s about.

[j swift]

ELQ (GH) and BE (OLTL) both inexplicably moved their headquarters to the same town as the CEO's eldest son, who, in both cases, had no interest in the family business.  Alan was a doctor, and Clint was a reporter, but for some reason their dad's moved their entire company just to live in the same town.

Can you imagine how angry the executive assistants must have been to hear that they had to move to some po-dunk town because their boss wanted to be closer to their bratty kid?

Edited May 10, 2024 by j swift

[NothinButAttitude]

I am assuming because Pennsylvania was big in the steel & coal industry in the 80s (I have family that live in Pittsburgh), so that would make some sense at the time; however, as you pointed out, Asa probably would've opened a secondary office in Llanview and left the main one in TX. Because by the 90s to early 00s, steel mills shut down and the suburb they lived in was damn near a ghost town because of it. The last time I went and visited (about 2015), they still have not bounced back. 

[titan1978]

Of all the companies listed so far, the one that interested me the most was Jabot. It meant something when Victor took over, and it was incredibly exciting when Jack and Brad took it back. I was invested in those characters and that company more than any soap company. It helped that Jerry was back as John, and Eileen as Ashley.

Next up would have been The Banner and The Sun on OLTL. The prestige vs the often tabloid Sun.

I also loved Lotus Pointe on Knots Landing.