GEC
 GEC    | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Formation | 1886 |
| Extinction | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Coventry, England |
| Type | weapons manfacturer |
| Historical British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. | |
Not to be confused with the US company General Electric.
The General Electric Company, or GEC, was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250,000 employees in the 1980s, and at its peak in the 1990s, made profits of over £1 billion a year. The Company was was renamed Marconi Corporation in 1999 after its defence arm was sold to British Aerospace. In 2005-6 Ericsson purchased the bulk of Marconi and the remaining businesses were renamed Telent plc.[1][2]
Ronald Grierson was Vice-Chairman from 1968 to 1996.
History
1886: H. Hirst joined G. Binswanger to form the General Electric Apparatus Company in London.[3]
1889: Name changed to the General Electric Company Ltd (GEC).[3]
1900: GEC was floated as a public limited company.[3]
1961: GEC took over Radio and Allied Industries.[3]
1963: Arnold Weinstock became managing director of GEC.[3]
1964: GEC acquired Cannon Cookers.[3]
1974-1987: GEC acquired Yarrow Shipbuilders, Avery, Picker, and Creda.[3]
1989: GEC and Siemens took over Plessey. GEC acquired Plessey's naval systems and avionics business.v
1990: GEC acquired parts of Ferranti.[3]
1995: GEC acquired Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd.[3]
1996: Weinstock retired. George Simpson became managing director.[3]
1999: GEC acquired Kvaerner's Govan shipyard, RELTEC, and FORE Systems.[3]
2000: General Electric Company was renamed the Marconi Corporation plc.[3] Marconi Corporation acquired SCITEC's Australian Communications Solutions business, MSI, Systems Management Specialists, Davies Industrial Communications, Albany Partnership, Mariposa Technology, the transmission business of Splice do Brazil, AMTEC SpA, and Telit Networks SpA.[3]
2006: Ericsson took over the Marconi Corporation. Name changed to Telent plc.[3]
Related Document
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:Extract from 'Written in Flames' | book extract | 1987 |
References
- ↑ IPD Group GEC History, accessed 10 March 2009
- ↑ Ericsson buys Marconi: £1.2bn for assets and name By John Oates The Register, 25th October 2005 09:24 GMT
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o https://web.archive.org/web/20090830164546/http://homepages.tesco.net/~martin.batesuk/marconi/company_timeline.htm
