Barclays in the context of "Gurney's Bank"

Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly known as enterprise, or activities involving enterprise customers.

The concept first rose in a symbolic sense after 1880 in connection with the combination movement that began in American business at that time. Some examples of American corporations that fall into the category of "big business" as of 2015 are ExxonMobil, Walmart, Google, Microsoft, Apple, General Electric, General Motors, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs; in the United States, big businesses in general are sometimes collectively pejoratively called "corporate America". The largest German corporations as of 2012 included Daimler AG, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens, and Deutsche Bank. SAP is Germany's largest software company. Among the largest companies in the United Kingdom as of 2012 are HSBC, Barclays, WPP plc, and BP. The latter half of the 19th century saw more technological advances and corporate growth in additional sectors, such as petroleum, machinery, chemicals, and electrical equipment (see Second Industrial Revolution).

745 Seventh Avenue (also known as the Lehman Brothers Building and Barclays Building) is a 575 ft (175 m), 38-story skyscraper in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York. Designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox and originally built in 2001 for financial services firm Morgan Stanley, it was instead purchased by competing firm Lehman Brothers and served as Lehman's headquarters until the bank's collapse in 2008. The building has since served as the headquarters of Barclays' investment banking division.

The 2004–05 FA Premier League (known as the FA Barclays Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th season of the Premier League. It began on 14 August 2004 and ended on 15 May 2005. Arsenal were the defending champions after going unbeaten the previous season. Chelsea won the title with a then record 95 points, which was previously set by Manchester United in the 1993–94 season, and later surpassed by Manchester City in the 2017–18 season (100), securing the title with a 2–0 win at the Reebok Stadium against Bolton Wanderers. Chelsea also broke a number of other records during their campaign, most notably breaking the record of most games won in a single Premier League campaign, securing 29 wins in the league in home and away matches, which they later surpassed in the 2016–17 season.

Dame Andrea Jacqueline Leadsom (/ˈlɛdsəm/; née Salmon; born 13 May 1963) is a British politician who served in various ministerial positions under Prime Ministers David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak between 2014 and 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, she was the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Northamptonshire from 2010 to 2024. Leadsom served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2016 to 2017, Leader of the House of Commons from 2017 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 2019 to 2020. She has twice run to become Leader of the Conservative Party, in 2016 and 2019.

Leadsom was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1963. After graduating with a degree in political science at the University of Warwick, she began a career in finance including working as Institutional Banking Director at Barclays, and later as Senior Investment Officer and Head of Corporate Governance at Invesco Perpetual. She was elected to the House of Commons at the 2010 general election. She served as Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister from 2014 to 2015 and Minister of State for Energy from 2015 to 2016. Leadsom was a prominent member of the Leave campaign during the 2016 referendum on EU membership, with some claiming that she had impressed in TV debates.

The Woolwich Equitable Building Society (later Woolwich Building Society or The Woolwich) was a British financial services company founded in Woolwich in 1847 and remained a local institution until after the First World War when it began a modest regional expansion. This accelerated after the Second World War and the period from 1960 was notable for its acquisitions. Following deregulation, the Society diversified and became one of the largest national building societies.

In 1997 it demutualised and became Woolwich PLC. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but was acquired by Barclays in 2000.