History of Tesco The first person to establish Tesco was Jack Cohen who originally owned Tesco. Jack Cohen was the son of a Jewish sailor. On the first day of selling the shares on the market he made a profit of £1. When he earned money, he used the money to buy goods. He bought goods that other stores did not sell in their store. Jack Cohen was the person who founded the name of Tesco, after purchasing a large shipment of tea in 1924. He used the first three letters of the tea suppliers name "TE" and added his own surname, so this formed the "Tesco ". In 1939 he opened hundreds of stores. When he opened hundreds of stores he went to America for holidays, discovered that the stores there were self-service, he used this idea in his stores and this saved him a lot of money on the salaries of the store staff. When he discovered that this method was successful, he invited his son Critman to join his business. Recent history of TescoTesco is one of Britain's leading food retailers and has 586 stores across Great Britain. Since 1992 Tesco has grown significantly and increased its market share from 10.4% to 15.2%. This increase in customers also gave Tesco a large profit. Tesco has 164,500 shareholders. Tesco's profit is around £505m after tax; of this approximately 50% is then distributed to shareholders in the form of dividends. The rest, around £250m, is being retained for investment in stores and to improve customer services. The average shareholder owns between a thousand and a thousand shares, as well as banks, pension funds and construction wizardry; hold a large amount of shares. Tesco's share price has risen since February 1997, when it ranged between 349 pence and 586 pence on 21 April 1998. The shares reached a high of 603 pence. Thanks to this growth, Tesco is now the largest supermarket chain. Historical Background 1920s: Jack Cohen founded Tesco in 1924, the company grew and developed, responding to new opportunities and pioneering many innovations. He used this gratuity from his military service in the First World War to start selling groceries in London's East End market in 1919. The first Tesco opened in 1929, in Burnt Oak, Edgware. 1930s: The Tesco business prospered and grew in the inter-war years.