As if the fact that it's been around for nearly 350 years isn't impressive enough, Hudson's Bay Company total assets currently equal $12.65 billion according to MarketWatch. Its big turning point as a company came in the late 19th century after the Gold Rush, when it became clear that trading fur was no longer a viable business, for now customers "shopped with cash and not with skins," according to the HBC website. Once the fur trade became a dying business, Hudson's Bay started focusing on selling other wares and expanding the kind of outerwear it would sell to include products that weren't exclusively fur. Hudson's Bay presence in the world of clothing continued on to the point where it owns some of the biggest clothing retailers in North America.