Big Four

Big Four may refer to:

Beauty pageant

• The Big Four international beauty pageants for women: Miss Earth, Miss International, Miss Universe and Miss World

Companies

• Big Four airlines (American Airlines, Eastern Air Lines, Trans World Airlines and United Airlines), the four U.S. air carriers which dominated air travel prior to the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978
• Big Four accounting firms, the largest international accountancy and professional services firms
• Big Four (British railway companies), the companies formed after the Grouping Act in 1922
• Big Four (banking), several groupings of banks in different countries
• Big Four Railroad, a nickname of the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (CCC&StL) in the Midwestern United States
• Big Four, the four largest national registered agent service providers in the United States
• Big Four in US broadcast television, the traditional Big Three television networks of ABC, CBS and NBC plus Fox
• Big Four in the United States wireless communications service providers: AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Corporation and T-Mobile US
• Japanese Big Four, the four largest Japanese motorcycle manufacturers: Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha
• Big Four, the most influential international technology companies^[1][2][3][4] Amazon.com, Apple, Facebook and Google

International relations

• The Big Four (World War I), the four major Allied powers and their leaders at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919: France, Italy, Britain and the United States
• The Four Policemen or Big Four, a proposed post-World War II council expected to guarantee world peace (China, Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States), that eventually became, with the addition of France, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council
• Big Four (European Union): France, Germany, Italy and the UK
• Big Four Conference, various conferences between the victorious nations after World War I and World War II

Music

• The Big 4 Live from Sofia, Bulgaria concert recording with thrash metal bands Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax
• Big Four (band), a Chinese male pop group
• Big Four (Eurovision), the four main sponsoring countries of the Eurovision Song Contest
• Big Four (Grammy Awards) or the General Field, four standard Grammy Awards spanning all genres
• The Big Four, the name for the top music industry record labels from 2004 through 2011
• The Big Four (Grunge), used to describe, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains, arguably the four most popular bands on the grunge scene in the early nineties
• The Big Four (Thrash metal), used to describe Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax, arguably the most popular and recognisable bands on the thrash metal scene in the eighties and early nineties.
• The Big Teutonic Four, used to describe Kreator, Sodom, Destruction, and Tankard, the German equivalent to the American Big Four of thrash metal.

People

• The Big Four (Calgary), Alberta businessmen and philanthropists of the early 20th century
• Big Four (Central Pacific Railroad), US railroad entrepreneurs of the 19th century
• Big Four (debutantes), prominent Chicago debutantes in the early 20th century
• Big Four of Maryland Thoroughbred racing, four trainers who dominated the sport in the 1960s and 1970s
• Big Four (Najaf), the four leading Grand Ayatollahs in Iraq
• Big Four (Scotland Yard), in charge of the CID at Scotland Yard from about 1919 onwards

Places

• Big Four, West Virginia
• Big Four Bridge, Louisville, Kentucky
• Big Four Mountain, Snohomish County, Washington

Sports

• Big Four (tennis), top male tennis players Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray
• Big Four (English football), Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United domination in the Premier League
• Big Four (bowling), a type of split in ten pin bowling
• Big Four (polo), an American polo team of the early 20th century
• The Big Four, the four major marathon races among the five World Marathon Majors
• Big Four, the four leading major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada: NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL
• Big Four, the four leading professional association football leagues in Europe, Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Serie A
• Big Four, a nickname for WWE's major pay-per-view events, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble and WrestleMania
• Big Four, officially the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union, the forerunner to the Canadian Football League East Division

Other uses

• The Big Four (novel), by Agatha Christie
• Big Four (Indian snakes), four snake species responsible for the most snake-bites in India
• Big Four (White Star Line), a quartet of British ocean liners of the early 20th century
• Big 4 (lottery), an online game in the Pennsylvania Lottery
• Norton Big 4, a British motorcycle produced between 1907 and 1954
• Big Four (Motorcycle gang), four motorcycle clubs designated by police as outlaw gangs and liable for RICO prosecution
• Big 4 (sculpture), outside the Channel 4 headquarters in London
• The largest four known asteroids until 1910, when 704 Interamnia was discovered – 1 Ceres, 2 Pallas, 4 Vesta, and 10 Hygiea
• The Big Four of Birds, cardinals, pigeons, eagles, and blue jays

See also

• Big One (disambiguation)
• Big Two (disambiguation)
• Big Three (disambiguation)
• Big Five (disambiguation)
• Big Six (disambiguation)
• Big Seven (disambiguation)
• Big Eight (disambiguation)
• Big Ten (disambiguation)
• Big 11
• Big 12
• Core Four
• Fab Four
• Quadruple Alliance (disambiguation)

References

1. "Apple vs Google vs Facebook vs Amazon". WSJ. Dec 25, 2012.
2. "Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon: where do the big four go from here?". TechRadar. June 22, 2014.
3. "Schmidt calls tech a 4-way race: Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook". TechRepublic. June 1, 2011.
4. "How four companies took over the Internet". CNN Money. March 13, 2014.