Is E Corp from Mr. Robot a reference to a real company?

Question

What's the closest real equivalent to E Corp from Mr. Robot? Not necessarily that they're super evil, but that they are present in many different industries and their products are commonplace.

Is there any further evidence inside the show or commentary from its makers if this company is a reference to a specific real company?

Are you looking for ideas of what such big companies in the real world could be or for actual hints inside the show as to what real world company it's alluding to? In the former case this seems quite a bit too broad and opinion-based, and in the latter case you might want to flesh out the question a little more in this regard. — Napoleon Wilson, Jul 29 '15 at 10:56
@close-voters Since the question has attracted a significant number of "primarily opinion-based" close-votes already, I tried to reword it into a more on-topic direction. Feel free to retract your close-votes if you agree with the new version. — Napoleon Wilson, Jul 31 '15 at 09:13
another thing in the devil and Daniel jhonston, a documentary of an crazy musician, this guy its obsesed about the E type, even the E shape. And he says it is the sign of evil — , Jan 18 '16 at 14:11

score 21 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 30 '15 at 07:51

21

According to this article, which quotes the words of the creator of the show (Sam Esmail), the Evil Corp is based on Enron.

And by the way, Esmail told us that the “E” in Evil Corp is “totally the Enron logo.” Then he laughed. “It’s not like they’re going to sue us for it.”

answered Jul 30 '15 at 07:51

bartuosz

1,068
1
8
11

This was my immediate thought, to be honest. The rocked back E is such a clear reference. – Catija Jul 30 '15 at 17:07
5

The first company I thought of when I saw the E was Dell, especially seeing it on all the computers and monitors. – sanpaco Jul 31 '15 at 16:37

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 27 '16 at 00:37

Did anyone think of Apple or Samsung because when Elliot says about Evil corp for the first time in season 1 premiere they show a monitor, phone, laptop and tablet. Where the Tablet and Laptop looks like an iPad and a Macbook and the Monitor and Phone can be compared to Samsung Monitor and Phones.

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 01 '15 at 01:54

While they use a logo similar to Enron's, the nature of the company's size and reach is much closer to General Eectric. The toxic waste scandal which they reference is akin to the large environmental mess that GE caused and is addressing in the Hudson among others.

Is E Corp from Mr. Robot a reference to a real company?

3 Answers3