This post is part of a series on some of the most memorable companies that have disappeared.

Pan American World Airways, or Pan Am, was an international airline that was in business from 1927 through 1991, when it ceased its operations after over a decade of mounting financial losses and having to declare for bankruptcy.

The company, despite being defunct for seventeen years, is still well remembered in pop culture. The blue circular logo has made such an impression that it is put on designer travel bags to signify traveling in luxury today.

Beyond that, Pan Am will always be remembered as the airline that brought the Beatles to New York City in 1964, as well as the airline that con man Frank Abagnale, Jr., passed himself off as a pilot for, which was later immortalized in the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can.

Pan Am was featured prominently in a number of other films. One of the most notable appearances was the Pan Am "space clipper" in Stanley Kubrick's science fiction masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Pan Am brand was also displayed in the movie Blade Runner, and the company is said to be one of many, along with Atari, Cuisinart, and others, that suffered from the "Blade Runner curse" -- companies whose logos were featured in the movie experienced disasters and have since gone defunct.

Continue reading Companies that vanished: Pan Am, cultural icon

Companies that vanished: Pan Am, cultural icon originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This reminds me of the Steven Spielberg flick Catch Me if You Can which starred Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale Jr. who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor. Abagnale did some prison time and then went to work for the FBI with the agent who caught him, Carl Hanratty (played in the movie by Tom Hanks).

Granted, the analogy is not perfect. But I will be sure not to recommend Lemaire's firm to any of my clients. Naturally, A lawyer for Société Générale, Jean Veil, said that he was "delighted" that Kerviel had found employment. "It means he will be in a position to start repaying the bank." Sure -- assuming that Lemaire pays Kerviel $1 billion a year -- his debt should be paid off in a mere eight years.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.

French trader who hid $7.1 billion loss gets IT consulting job originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.