Yes, Fortune is old. The “93-year-old startup” is technically a member of the Silent Generation, predating the invention of not just the internet but also ZIP codes and crash test dummies, not to mention most of the Fortune 500 companies we cover. In fact, we’ve been covering monumental business events and the culture of capitalism for so long that we’ve forgotten some of our contributions to it. Take the phenomenon of “groupthink” or the curious midcentury investment vehicle the “hedge fund.” Fortune didn’t invent either of these things, but we were first to name them.
But how does one invent a word or a phrase, anyway?
