The Telefon Hírmondó (also Telefonhírmondó , generally translated as "Telephone Herald") was a " telephone newspaper " located in Budapest, Hungary , which, beginning in 1893, provided news and entertainment to subscribers over telephone lines. It was both the first and the longest surviving telephone newspaper system, although from 1 December 1925 until its termination in 1944 it was primarily used to retransmit programmes broadcast by Magyar Rádió .
87-461: Telephone Herald may refer to: The Telefon Hírmondó telephone newspaper service in Budapest, Hungary The United States Telephone Herald Company Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Telephone Herald . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
174-672: A subsidiary of another corporation (its parent company ), which may itself be either a closely held or a public corporation. In some jurisdictions, the subsidiary of a listed public corporation is also defined as a public corporation (for example, in Australia ). In Australia corporations are registered and regulated by the Commonwealth Government through the Australian Securities and Investments Commission . Corporations law has been largely codified in
261-405: A company with legal liability, not being a partnership, had a distinct legal personality that was separate from that of its individual shareholders. The existence of a corporation requires a special legal framework and body of law that specifically grants the corporation legal personality, and it typically views a corporation as a fictional person, a legal person, or a moral person (as opposed to
348-518: A concert from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM. Thursdays featured a concert for children at 6:00 PM. W. G. Fitz-Gerald stated the following schedule for a day's typical programme in 1907: In addition, special lectures or concerts for children were given once a week, and information for all the principal Hungarian and Austrian horse races was reported as soon as the results were known. The Telefon Hírmondó news collection practices closely followed those commonly employed by print newspapers. A reporter would compose
435-459: A corporate tax rate, and dividends paid to shareholders are taxed at a separate rate. Such a system is sometimes referred to as " double taxation " because any profits distributed to shareholders will eventually be taxed twice. One solution, followed by as in the case of the Australian and UK tax systems, is for the recipient of the dividend to be entitled to a tax credit to address the fact that
522-432: A form for smaller enterprises, are becoming increasingly common. Between 2002 and 2008, the intermediary corporation ( 中間法人 , chūkan hōjin ) existed to bridge the gap between for-profit companies and non-governmental and non-profit organizations. In Latvia , which uses a model similar to Germany, a public stock company is called an akciju sabiedrība (a/s, A/S or AS), whereas a private, 'limited liability company'
609-613: A large pool of shareholders with management in the hands of jingshang , merchants who operated their businesses using investors' funds, with investor compensation based on profit-sharing, reducing the risk of individual merchants and burdens of interest payment. The operation of these joint investment partnerships can be examined in a mathematical problem included in the Mathematical treatise in nine sections ( Shu-shu chiu-chang ) (1247 ed.) of Ch'in Chiu-shao (c.1202–61). Although
696-640: A legal entity that has shares (Bosnian/Croatian: dionica or vrijednosni papir ; Serbian: akcija or hartija od vrijednosti - Cyrillic : акција or хартија од вриједности ) that can be traded in a free market or stock exchanges in the Bosnia and Herzegovina (listed in Sarajevo Stock Exchange or Banja Luka Stock Exchange ). In Bulgaria , a joint-stock company is called a aktsionerno druzhestvo or AD ( Bulgarian : акционерно дружество or АД ). When all shares are owned by
783-660: A more viable financial structure than previous guilds or state-regulated companies. The first joint-stock companies to be implemented in the Americas were the London Company and the Plymouth Company . Transferable shares aim to achieve positive returns on equity , which is evidenced by investment in companies like the East India Company, which used the financing model to manage their trade on
870-460: A much smaller hit to their returns as opposed to those involved with a closely held corporation. Publicly traded companies, however, can suffer from that advantage. A closely held corporation can often voluntarily take a hit to profit with little to no repercussions if it is not a sustained loss. A publicly traded company often comes under extreme scrutiny if profit and growth are not evident to stock holders, thus stock holders may sell, further damaging
957-467: A natural person) which shields its owners (shareholders) from "corporate" losses or liabilities; losses are limited to the number of shares owned. It furthermore creates an inducement to new investors (marketable stocks and future stock issuance). Corporate statutes typically empower corporations to own property, sign binding contracts, and pay taxes in a capacity separate from that of its shareholders, who are sometimes referred to as "members". The corporation
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#17327840179171044-551: A network that divided Budapest into twenty-seven districts. Starting with 43 miles (69 km) of wire, the systems expanded to 372 miles (599 km) in 1901, and 1,100 miles (1,800 km) in 1907. Twenty-seven copper wires ran from microphone receivers in the Opera House to the central office, where the current would pass through a patented device that increased the sound. A main wire ran to each district, with branch wires to individual houses. The distribution to subscribers
1131-625: A publicly traded company, as there will generally be fewer voting shareholders, and the shareholders would have common interests. A publicly traded company is also at the mercy of the market, with capital flow in and out based not only on what the company is doing but also on what the market and even what the competitors, major and minor, are doing. However, publicly traded companies also have advantages over their closely held counterparts. Publicly traded companies often have more working capital and can delegate debt throughout all shareholders. Therefore, shareholders of publicly traded company will each take
1218-511: A responsabilità limitata , or S.r.l.), and the publicly traded partnership ( società in accomandita per azioni , or S.a.p.a.). The latter is a hybrid of the limited partnership and public limited company, having two categories of shareholders, some with and some without limited liability, and is rarely used in practice. In Japan , both the state and local public entities under the Local Autonomy Act (now 47 prefectures , made in
1305-510: A single earphone. A loud buzzer, strong enough to be heard throughout a room even when the subscriber's receivers were not currently being listened to, was used to draw attention to important announcements. The American author Thomas Denison, who visited Budapest in 1901, found that transmission of spoken news was "highly satisfactory", but the audio quality for musical programmes, whether vocal or instrumental, "still leaves something to be desired". Subscribers received programme listings, reviewing
1392-478: A single shareholder the company receives the special designation of ednolichno aktsionerno druzhestvo or EAD ( Bulgarian : еднолично акционерно дружество or ЕАД ). In Canada both the federal government and the provinces have corporate statutes, and thus a corporation may be incorporated either provincially or federally. Many older corporations in Canada stem from Acts of Parliament passed before
1479-611: A stock transfer for an eighth of the company (or more specifically, the mountain in which the copper resource was available) as early as 1288. In more recent history, the earliest joint-stock company recognized in England was the Company of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands , founded in 1551 with 240 shareholders. It became the Muscovy Company , which had a monopoly on trade between Russia and England , when royal charter
1566-438: A story and submit it to the chief, who would sign it to fix responsibility. A clerk would then carefully copy the text with lithographic ink onto long galley slips which were transferred to a lithography stone, to be printed in parallel columns 6 inches wide and two feet long (16 cm x 60 cm). Then, two pressmen would take a number of impressions on a roller-movement hand press, using common printing paper. Each sheet
1653-513: A telephone newspaper". Additional patents were received internationally, including a Canadian grant, issued in 1893, which characterized the invention as a "Telephonic News Dispenser". Initially the Telefon Hírmondó used telephone lines provided by the local telephone company to distribute its programmes. It later received permission to string its own lines, and, under the guidance of its technical director, Nándor Szmazsenka, constructed
1740-409: Is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders . Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders are able to transfer their shares to others without any effects to the continued existence of the company. In modern-day corporate law , the existence of a joint-stock company
1827-584: Is a matter of definition. An early form of joint-stock company was the medieval commenda , although it was usually employed for a single commercial expedition. Around 1350 in France at Toulouse , 96 shares of the Société des Moulins du Bazacle , or Bazacle Milling Company were traded at a value that depended on the profitability of the mills the society owned, making it probably the first company of its kind in history. The Swedish company Stora has documented
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#17327840179171914-419: Is also empowered to borrow money, both conventionally and directly to the public, by issuing interest-bearing bonds. Corporations subsist indefinitely; "death" comes only by absorption (takeover) or bankruptcy. According to Lord Chancellor Haldane , ...a corporation is an abstraction. It has no mind of its own any more than it has a body of its own; its active and directing will must consequently be sought in
2001-624: Is called a sabiedrība ar ierobežotu atbildību (SIA). State-owned variants of these companies add an initial capital V ( valsts - 'state'), as in VAS and VSIA. In Norway, a joint-stock company is called an aksjeselskap , abbreviated AS . A special and by far less common form of joint-stock companies, intended for companies with a large number of shareholders, is the publicly traded joint-stock companies, called allmennaksjeselskap and abbreviated ASA . A joint-stock company must be incorporated, has an independent legal personality and limited liability, and
2088-457: Is often synonymous with incorporation (possession of legal personality separate from shareholders) and limited liability (shareholders are liable for the company's debts only to the value of the money they have invested in the company). Therefore, joint-stock companies are commonly known as corporations or limited companies . Some jurisdictions still provide the possibility of registering joint-stock companies without limited liability. In
2175-503: Is required to have a certain capital upon incorporation. Ordinary joint-stock companies must have a minimum capital of NOK 30,000 upon incorporation, which was reduced from 100,000 in 2012. Publicly traded joint-stock companies must have a minimum capital of NOK 1 million. See: Open joint-stock company (OJSC). In Spain there are two types of companies with limited liability: (i) "S.L.", or Sociedad Limitada (a private limited company ), and (ii) "S.A.", or Sociedad Anónima (similar to
2262-496: Is that publicly traded corporations have the burden of complying with additional securities laws, which (especially in the US) may require additional periodic disclosure (with more stringent requirements), stricter corporate governance standards as well as additional procedural obligations in connection with major corporate transactions (for example, mergers) or events (for example, elections of directors). A closely held corporation may be
2349-657: The Aktiengesellschaft (AG), analogous to public limited companies (or corporations in US/Can) in the English-speaking world, and the Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH), similar to the modern private limited company . Italy recognizes three types of company limited by shares: the public limited company ( società per azioni , or S.p.A.), the private limited company ( società
2436-706: The Canada Business Corporations Act . The Chilean form of joint-stock company is called Sociedad por Acciones (often abbreviated "SpA"). They were created in 2007 by Law N° 20.190, and they are the most recent variety of societary types, as they represent a simplified form of corporation – originally conceived for venture capital companies. According to the Ministry of Economy's Business and Society Registry, SpAs accounted for 71.42% of new businesses in October 2023. The Czech form of
2523-526: The Corporations Act 2001 . In Brazil there are many different types of legal entities ( sociedades ), but the two most common ones commercially speaking are (i) sociedade limitada , identified by "Ltda." or "Limitada" after the company's name, equivalent to the British limited liability company, and (ii) sociedade anônima or companhia , identified by "SA" or "Companhia" in
2610-551: The Dutch East India Company issued shares that were made tradable on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange . The development enhanced the ability of joint-stock companies to attract capital from investors, as they could now easily dispose of their shares. In 1612, it became the first 'corporation' in intercontinental trade with 'locked in' capital and limited liability. The joint-stock company became
2697-491: The Indian subcontinent . Joint-stock companies paid out divisions (dividends) to their shareholders by dividing up the profits of the voyage in the proportion of shares held. Divisions were usually cash, but when working capital was low and detrimental to the survival of the company, divisions were either postponed or paid out in remaining cargo, which could be sold by shareholders for profit. However, in general, incorporation
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2784-554: The Telefon Hírmondó could develop into an "important tool of power", as it could potentially be used to quickly spread strategic, political, and social information. The Telefon Hírmondó had started operations based on an informal verbal approval, to demonstrate that the idea was practical. After two weeks of successful operation, on 2 March 1893 Puskás sent a letter to Béla Lukács, the Hungarian Minister of Trade, requesting formal authorization to run his "newspaper", under
2871-472: The Telefon Hírmondó from consideration, explaining that "we prefer to restrict ourselves to radio broadcasting". Andrew Orlowski has called the Telefon Hírmondó service "a historical antecedent" of the WAP and mobile data services . Carolyn Marvin states that Telefon Hírmondó can be seen as a "proto-broadcasting system", and An Nguyen notes that it might also fit into the definition of online news as
2958-517: The United Kingdom and in other countries that have adopted its model of company law, they are known as unlimited companies . A joint-stock company is an artificial person; it has legal existence separate from persons composing it. It can sue and can be sued in its own name. It is created by law, established for commercial purposes, and comprises a large number of members. The shares of each member can be purchased, sold, and transferred without
3045-521: The 19th century and municipalities ) are considered to be corporations ( 法人 , hōjin ) . Non-profit corporations may be established under the Civil Code . The term "company" ( 会社 , kaisha ) or (企業 kigyō ) is used to refer to business corporations. The predominant form is the Kabushiki gaisha (株式会社), used by public corporations as well as smaller enterprises. Mochibun kaisha (持分会社),
3132-492: The April 1901 issue of The World's Work : The paper is so well known and has accomplished so much that it appears to be beyond the stage of experiment so far as Budapest is concerned. One strong point in its favor is its early reports. In this respect the paper has a strong hold, for it is able to issue an "extra" at any hour of the day. Moreover, invalids and busy people may get as much news as they want with little effort. Indeed,
3219-747: The New Jersey Telephone Herald Company, located in Newark, New Jersey , from 1911 to 1912, and the Oregon Telephone Herald Company, located in Portland, Oregon , during 1912-1913. There have been varying opinions whether the Telefon Hírmondó should be considered the first "broadcasting" operation, in part due to differing definitions of the term, including semantic differences, involving issues such as audience size, geographic coverage, and whether
3306-565: The US). The institution most often referenced by the word "corporation" is publicly traded , which means that the company's shares are traded on a public stock exchange (for example, the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq in the United States) whose shares of stock of corporations are bought and sold by and to the general public. Most of the largest businesses in the world are publicly traded corporations. However,
3393-558: The afternoon hours. Reports of the Reichsrath and political news were given at 11:45 AM to 12:00 PM; when the Reichsrath was not in session, this period was filled by fuller reports of general and foreign news. At 1:30 PM and 6:00 PM a brief summary of news was provided. 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM was filled by concerts, varied by literary criticism, sporting events etc. On Sundays there were special items: news from 11:00 AM to 11:30 AM, and
3480-592: The case of Hallett v Dowdall , the Court of the Exchequer held that such clauses bound people who have notice of them. Four years later, the Joint Stock Companies Act 1856 provided for limited liability for all joint-stock companies provided, among other things, that they included the word "limited" in their company name. The landmark case of Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd established that
3567-557: The company debts that extend beyond the company's ability to pay up to the amount of them. The earliest records of joint-stock companies appear in China during the Tang and Song dynasties . The Tang dynasty saw the development of the heben , the earliest form of joint stock company with an active partner and one or two passive investors. By the Song dynasty this had expanded into the douniu ,
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3654-480: The company if a vacancy occurs, but that is uncommon. A joint-stock company also differs from other company forms, as it lacks internal ownership (hence its shareholders). This means that although the shareholder(s) in the joint-stock company may also work for the company as employees or by contract, when they act as shareholders they are always exterior to the company, which may help keep ownership business-oriented and impersonal. Provided sales and assets exist within
3741-520: The company profits. Closely held companies often have a better relationship with workers. In larger, publicly traded companies, often after only one bad year, the first area to feel the effects is the workforce with layoffs or worker hours, wages or benefits being cut. Again, in a closely held business the shareholders can incur the profit damage rather than passing it to the workers. The affairs of publicly traded and closely held corporations are similar in many respects. The main difference in most countries
3828-494: The company's name, equivalent to the British public limited company. The "Ltda." is mainly governed by the new Civil Code, enacted in 2002, and the "SA", by Law 6.404, dated December 15, 1976, as amended. In Bosnia and Herzegovina , a joint-stock company is called: The specified form of organization means that the company ( private or state-owned ) is organized on the Bosnian market (Federation of BiH and RS entity level) as
3915-469: The company, a joint-stock company is effectively a forum for three- party trading: Owners, i.e. shareholders, are seeking financial funds (profits) and offer economic assets, in the form of capital. Employees, contractors and other contracted parties seek compensation and offer labor for this. Utilisers, ie customers, clients and other stakeholders, seek products and services, and offer financial funds for this. The shareholders are usually not liable for any of
4002-408: The company. Often, that blow is enough to make a small public company fail. Often, communities benefit from a closely held company more so than from a public company. A closely held company is far more likely to stay in a single place that has treated it well even if that means going through hard times. Shareholders can incur some of the damage the company may receive from a bad year or slow period in
4089-513: The consent of other members. Its capital is divided into transferable shares, suitable for large undertakings. Joint stock companies have a perpetual succession and a common seal. Ownership refers to a large number of privileges. The company is managed on behalf of the shareholders by a board of directors, elected at an annual general meeting. The shareholders also vote to accept or reject an annual report and audited set of accounts. Individual shareholders can sometimes stand for directorships within
4176-654: The content was delivered over a point-to-point communication network only to selected users. Using news, literary and musical pieces that were transmitted through Telefon Hirmondó in 1897, Első Pesti Egyetemi Rádió, a Budapest based university station, for the first time, reconstructed a full "broadcast day". It was transmitted live via telephone from the same room where Telefon Hirmondó operated. "Le Journal Téléphonique de Budapest: L'ancêtre de la Radio" (in French) by Jules Erdoess, Radiodiffusion , number 3, October 1936. Joint stock company A joint-stock company (JSC)
4263-513: The corporation are able to assess the creditworthiness of the corporation and cannot enforce claims against shareholders. Shareholders, therefore, experience some loss of privacy in return for limited liability. That requirement generally applies in Europe, but not in common law jurisdictions, except for publicly traded corporations (for which financial disclosure is required for investor protection). In many countries, corporate profits are taxed at
4350-430: The day's schedule, that could be posted on the wall above their receivers. The "newspaper issue" began with a news bulletin and newspaper article summaries. The afternoon schedule comprised "short entertaining stories", "sporting intelligence", and "filler items" of various kinds. There were hourly news summaries for those who had missed the earlier bulletins. The evening schedule consisted of theatrical offerings, visits to
4437-563: The dealings it describes are perhaps more complex than those practiced a century earlier, it essentially deals with a kind of investment and division of profits that for sure would have been made in the twelfth if not also the eleventh century: a four-party partnership that collectively made an investment (of 424,000 strings of cash) in a Chinese trading venture to southeast Asia. Each party's original investment consisted of precious metals like silver and gold and commodities like salt, paper, and monk certificates (and their accruing tax exemption). Yet
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#17327840179174524-436: The development of radio broadcasting, the Telefon Hírmondó was the first service to electronically deliver a wide range of spoken and musical programming to a diverse audience. Although its inventor envisioned that the technology could be eventually expanded to serve a national or international audience, the technical limitations of the time ultimately limited its service area to just the city of Budapest. The Telefon Hírmondó
4611-409: The end of four months and eight months respectively. Short advertising messages were sandwiched between two interesting news items, so that they would command special attention. In 1901, advertisers were charged one krone for a twelve-second message. The system also experimented with coin-operated receivers located in public places, that took 20- Fillér coins. In the 1920s, the company was granted
4698-458: The firm cannot be taken by personal creditors of its shareholders. The second feature requires special legislation and a special legal framework, as it cannot be reproduced via standard contract law. The regulations most favorable to incorporation include: In many jurisdictions, corporations whose shareholders benefit from limited liability are required to publish annual financial statements and other data so that creditors who do business with
4785-472: The history of the Telefon Hírmondó stated that the service's introduction qualified as "the first broadcasting". In 1967, reviewing the history of organized distributed audio in general, David L. Woods concluded that "The Telephonic Newspaper of Budapest marked the first regular 'broadcasting' operation." However, a 1977 analysis of "broadcasting's oldest stations" by Joseph E. Baudino and John M. Kittross discounted Woods' conclusion, and explicitly eliminated
4872-441: The introduction of a regularly updated audio news source. Initially, the Telefon Hírmondó editorial office was located near Astoria , at 6 Magyar Street. The system began operating on 15 February 1893 with around 60 subscribers, and was inaugurated with a message from Puskás, which, translated into English, stated: We greet the inhabitants of Budapest. We greet them in an unusual way from which telephone broadcasting all over
4959-506: The introduction of general corporation law. The oldest corporation in Canada is the Hudson's Bay Company ; though its business has always been based in Canada, its Royal Charter was issued in England by King Charles II in 1670, and became a Canadian charter by amendment in 1970 when it moved its corporate headquarters from London to Canada. Federally recognized corporations are regulated by
5046-404: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Telephone_Herald&oldid=721386001 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Telefon H%C3%ADrmond%C3%B3 Three decades before
5133-481: The majority of corporations are privately held , or closely held, so there is no ready market for the trading of shares. Many such corporations are owned and managed by a small group of businesspeople or companies, but the size of such a corporation can be as vast as the largest public corporations. Closely held corporations have some advantages over publicly traded corporations. A small, closely held company can often make company-changing decisions much more rapidly than
5220-558: The news reports in advance and have them signed by both the manager and the announcer, with copies of the pages sent three times daily to the Budapest Royal Prosecutor and the Budapest Police Department, plus the next day to the concerned ministries. Popper created The Telefonhírmondó Joint stock company , modernized the equipment, and broadened the range of the programmes. In October 1894,
5307-764: The notable subscribers included the Emperor Francis Joseph , the prime minister Baron Banffy , all the other members of the Hungarian Cabinet, Hungarian author Mór Jókai , and the Mayor of Budapest . The Telefon Hírmondó appealed strongly to the more intellectual classes. The principal hotels in the city also subscribed to the service, and their guests were free to use the instrument. The service could also be found in other places, including doctors' waiting rooms, barber shops, cafes, restaurants, and dentists' parlours. Thomas S. Denison wrote in
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#17327840179175394-586: The offices were moved to 22 Kerepesi street, with Emile von Szveties acting as the technical director. The company constructed its own one-way telephone network, independent of the local telephone company, to provide a continuous service to subscribers. In 1892, Puskás patented, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a telephone switchboard that included relay equipment used to simultaneously transmit telephonic sounds to multiple locations, describing his invention as "A new method of organizing and fitting
5481-552: The opera, poetry readings, concerts, lectures (including repeats of Academy lectures by notable literary figures), and linguistic lessons (in English, Italian and French). Thomas S. Denison wrote in 1901 that the service began transmitting at 10:30 AM, and generally ended at about 10:30 PM, although it ran later in the case of a concert or some other night event. Stock exchange quotations were transmitted from 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM, 11:00 AM to 11:15 AM, 11:30 AM to 11:45 AM, and again in
5568-465: The person of somebody who is really the directing mind and will of the corporation, the very ego and centre of the personality of the corporation. This 'directing will' is embodied in a corporate Board of Directors. The legal personality has two economic implications. It grants creditors (as opposed to shareholders or employees) priority over the corporate assets upon liquidation. Second, corporate assets cannot be withdrawn by its shareholders, and assets of
5655-414: The plan has so many advantages, that we shall probably soon see it in operation on this side of the ocean, with the improvements that Yankee ingenuity will be sure to devise. In 1901, the expenses of the newspaper ranged between 9,000 and 10,000 krones per month (a krone was about 42 U.S. cents at that time). The fixed charges (telegrams, salaries, rent etc.) were about 7000 krones a month, and varied with
5742-426: The profits represented by the dividend have already been taxed. The company profit being passed on is thus effectively taxed only at the rate of tax paid by the eventual recipient of the dividend. In other systems, dividends are taxed at a lower rate than other income (for example, in the US), or shareholders are taxed directly on the corporation's profits, while dividends are not taxed (for example, S corporations in
5829-457: The provisions of the Act No. XXXXI of 1888. Included was a request to be assigned 50 years of exclusive rights for operation within the city of Budapest, although the government was eventually unwilling to approve this portion of the request. Tividar Puskás died on 16 March 1893, just one month after the Telefon Hírmondó had been launched. His brother, Albert Puskás, took over responsibility for
5916-417: The public limited company is called akciová společnost ( a.s. ) and its private counterpart is called společnost s ručením omezeným ( s.r.o. ). Their Slovak equivalents are called akciová spoločnosť ( a.s. ) and spoločnosť s ručením obmedzeným ( s.r.o. ). Germany , Austria , Switzerland and Liechtenstein recognize two forms of company limited by shares:
6003-467: The public. It is the delight of women and children, and is a real entertainment to the sick in their homes, to patients in hospitals, the blind, and all those who have neither time nor money to go to theater, concert, or opera. — W. G. Fitz-Gerald, Scientific American 1907. Telefon Hírmondó began operations in 1893 with 60 subscribers, a total that grew to 700 in 1894, 4915 in 1895, 7629 in 1899, around 6200 in 1901, and 15,000 by 1907. Some of
6090-478: The right to establish the first radio broadcasting station in Budapest, which began operating on 1 December 1925. The combined operations were now known as the Magyar Telefon Hirmondó és Rádió . The services were offered in parallel for some time, both on radio waves and telephone wires. By 1930, Telefon Hírmondó had started other services, and it had 91,079 subscribers. During World War II ,
6177-432: The seasons. The annual subscription price of the service was 18 krones (the price of 10 kg sugar or 20 kg coffee in Budapest at that time). A receiver would be put into the subscriber's house at the company's expense. The subscriber was obliged to give security for a year's subscription, one-third of which had to be paid when the equipment was ready for use. The balance had to be paid in two equal installments, at
6264-409: The service, moved the center of operations to 24 Ersébet street, and resumed talks with the government for the formal operating authorization. Included in these discussions were any fees that should be paid to the government, plus limits on the operation's profits. Because the initial design had subscribers using their existing telephones to call the Telefon Hírmondó , there was a question as to how much
6351-497: The summer. The staff consisted of a business manager, an editor-in-chief, four assistant editors, and nine reporters. The only ladies among the staff were those who sang in the concerts. At this time the service employed six stentors in the winter: four for duty, and two for alternates. Due to the effort required to speak loudly into the transmitters, readers took turns of ten minutes each. The stentors had strong and clear voices with distinct articulation to maintain clarity of sound over
6438-419: The telephone company should be compensated for the use of its lines. While these negotiations were ongoing, Albert Puskás sold the Telefon Hírmondó , along with the associated patent rights, to a local engineer, István Popper. Effective 26 September 1894, Popper accepted the governmental authorization conditions. The permission to operate included the provision that the Telefon Hírmondó staff would write down
6525-488: The telephone lines. In the summer, four stentors sufficed. In cases where only two stentors were on duty, they took turns of half an hour maximum. By 1907, the system had a staff of over two hundred people, including two business managers, two principal editors, six sub-editors, twelve reporters, and eight stentors. The "Telefon-Hirmondo" has proved a real boon to this great city. For one thing it gives news of great importance far sooner than any printed daily can put it before
6612-467: The transmission is by wire or wireless. Another factor is the ongoing evolution of the technologies used for the electronic distribution of news and entertainment, including the introduction of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s, followed by wired systems such as cable TV, and still later by hybrid approaches including audio streaming over the Internet. A 1929 Chicago Daily News article that reviewed
6699-428: The value of their individual investments varied considerably, as much as eightfold. Likewise, each party's share of the profits varied greatly, evidently in proportion to its overall share in the total investment. While social and family ties may have shaped the circle of potential coinvestors, they affected little, if at all, an investor's eventual share of the profits, or losses. Finding the earliest joint-stock company
6786-539: The wire network was destroyed, resulting in the cessation of telephone news services. The Telefon Hírmondó' s technology was patented in a number of countries, and in 1910 the rights to its use was licensed for the establishment of the Araldo Telefonico (Italian for "Telephone Herald") in Rome, Italy . By 1914 Araldo Telefonico surpassed 1300 subscribers. The service was interrupted during World War I , and
6873-499: The world will start its victorious journey. For the initial transmissions, individuals who had telephones called into a central office to listen to Telefon Hírmondó reports that were updated hourly. At this time newspapers published in the Austro-Hungarian Empire had to be authorized by the government. The contemporary press laws did not apply to a telephone newspaper, and government officials were wary that
6960-419: Was founded by Tivadar Puskás (a few reviews translated his name as "Theodore Buschgasch"), an engineer and inventor who had worked with Thomas Edison . In view of the ever-increasing pace of living, especially in major cities, Puskás recognized that daily newspapers, even with multiple editions, could no longer effectively keep up with developing events. He decided that this problem could be rectified through
7047-631: Was granted in 1555. The most notable joint-stock company from the British Isles was the East India Company , which was granted a royal charter by Queen Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600 with the intention of establishing trade on the Indian subcontinent . The charter effectively granted the newly formed Honourable East India Company a fifteen-year monopoly on all English trade in the East Indies . Soon afterwards, in 1602,
7134-623: Was possible by royal charter or private act , and it was limited because of the government's jealous protection of the privileges and advantages thereby granted. As a result of the rapid expansion of capital-intensive enterprises in the course of the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the United States, many businesses came to be operated as unincorporated associations or extended partnerships , with large numbers of members. Nevertheless, membership of such associations
7221-403: Was proofread by an assistant editor, with help of a copyholder. The verified sheet comprised part of the daily programme, and was added to the day's file along with the other sheets. A duplicate was cut up into convenient strips for the reading by the stentors. Although the Telefon Hírmondó had much in common with newspaper publications, it had no leading articles or editorials. The editor alone
7308-639: Was re-launched in 1922, under the name Fonogiornale . Manley M. Gillam, a former advertising manager of the New York Herald , encountered the Telefon Hírmondó while touring Hungary, and obtained the American rights. In 1909 he established the United States Telephone Herald Company , which supported associate companies established throughout the United States. Two of these briefly conducted commercial operations:
7395-629: Was regulated by another patented device. Vacuum-tube amplification would not be developed until the 1910s, so there were limited means for producing signals strong enough to be heard throughout the system. Therefore, for transmitting the news, announcers with especially loud voices — known as stentors — were hired and instructed to speak as forcefully as possible into specially designed double-receivers. Home installations normally consisted of two earphone telephone receivers, connected to long, flexible wires. A subscriber could listen using both earphones, or, alternately, two persons could listen by each using
7482-461: Was responsible in case of action against the paper for libel. By 1901, there had been two or three lawsuits against the editor, and he had prevailed in all the cases. The service exchanged reports with the city newspapers, and the editors and managers of the Telefon Hírmondó received the same usual courtesies extended to the newspapers, such as passes and free tickets. In 1901, the Telefon Hírmondó employed about 180 people during winter and 150 in
7569-399: Was usually for a short term so their nature was constantly changing. Consequently, registration and incorporation of companies, without specific legislation, was introduced by the Joint Stock Companies Act 1844 . Initially, companies incorporated under this Act did not have limited liability, but it became common for companies to include a limited liability clause in their internal rules. In
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