One of the largest media companies on the planet, the Universal Music Group posesses a market share of almost a quarter of all global music sales. The story of Universal is one rife with mergers and acquisitions, although it can be traced back to 1898 with Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. The consolidation is too lengthy to list here, but today's Universal has been built on formerly independent companies like Deutsche Grammophon, Music Corporation of America (MCA), Polydor, Decca, Philips, PolyGram, Verve, ABC, Chess, Island, Def Jam, Geffen, Motown, Rodven, Interscope and Mercury among others.