U.S. industrial giant · mega-cap · listed on the NYSE · headquartered in Virginia.
Clue 2 · The Numbers
Annual revenue of roughly $42 billion, with a workforce of about 100,000 people — most of whom have a security clearance and would rather not talk about their day.
Clue 3 · The History
Traces its roots to a 1952 merger involving an aircraft company founded by John Jay Hopkins, and has spent decades gobbling up defense contractors to become one of the Big Five U.S. defense primes.
Clue 4 · The Secret
It is one of the world's largest builders of nuclear-powered submarines and the sole maker of the Virginia-class sub — meaning the U.S. Navy basically can't say no to it.
Clue 5 · The Lore
It also makes the M1 Abrams tank and the Gulfstream family of private jets — so it simultaneously arms armies and ferries billionaires, which is quite the portfolio.
Clue 6 · The Giveaway
Two little letters on the NYSE — GD — for a company whose name sounds less like a corporation and more like a military rank combined with a physics class.