McDonald's Corp., known for the ubiquitous golden arches of its hamburger restaurants, reports it enjoyed a golden decade in the 1980s.
The Oak Brook, Ill., company reported record earnings for the year of $727 million, $1.95 a share, up from $646 million, $1.71 per share, in 1988.For the fourth quarter, profits rose to a record $171 million, 46 cents a share, up from $152 million, 40 cents a share.
The company listed a number of accomplishments for the previous decade, including:
- Systemwide sales more than tripled to $17.3 billion in 1989 from $5.4 billion in 1979, a compound annual growth rate of 12 percent.
- Sales outside the United States grew nearly six times to $5.3 billion in 1989 from $900 million in 1979, a compound annual growth rate 19 percent.
- Average sales for a McDonald's restaurant open at least one year increased to $1.62 million in 1989 from $1.0 million in 1979, a compound annual growth rate of 5 percent.
- The company added 5,415 new restaurants through the decade, which works out to one every 16 hours.
- It served its 75 billionth burger in 1989 compared with some 30 billion served at the beginning of the decade.
- By 1989, the company was serving 22 million customers a day in 51 countries compared with 12 million a day in 27 countries in 1980.
- One share of McDonald's stock purchased at the beginning of the 1980s for $43.50 would have split five times for a value of $345 at the end of the decade.
- During the decade, McDonald's opened its first restaurants on a ferry dock, in a subway, in a YMCA, in a train station, on a military base, in an airport, on a tollway and on a riverboat.