Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company (French: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson), abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" ("La Baie" in French) is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada and the United States including the Bay, Zellers, Home Outfitters and Lord & Taylor. The company head office is in the Simpson Tower in Toronto, Ontario.

The company was incorporated by English royal charter in 1670 as The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay and functioned as the de facto government in parts of North America before European states and later the United States laid claim to those territories. It was at one time the largest landowner in the world, with Rupert's Land having 15% of North American acreage. From its long-time headquarters at York Factory on Hudson Bay, the company controlled the fur trade throughout much of British-controlled North America for several centuries. Undertaking early exploration, its traders and trappers forged early relationships with many groups of First Nations/Native Americans. Its network of trading posts formed the nucleus for later official authority in many areas of Western Canada and the United States. In the late 19th century, its vast territory became the largest component in the newly formed Dominion of Canada, in which the company was the largest private landowner.

With the decline of the fur trade, the company evolved into a mercantile business selling vital goods to settlers in the Canadian West. The Hudson's Bay Company Archives, a collection of the company's many records and maps, are located in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

In July 2008, the company after a series of change of ownership was eventually acquired by the American private equity firm, NRDC Equity Partners, which also owned department store chain Lord & Taylor. From 2008 to 2012, HBC was run through a holding company of NRDC, Hudson's Bay Trading Company, which was dissolved on 23 January 2012. HBC is now directly managed by NRDC and it oversees the operations of Lord & Taylor in the United States in addition to its Canadian subsidiaries the Bay, Zellers and Home Outfitters.