The Thomson Group draws its origins from an agreement reached between a group of French industrialists and the American Thomson Houston Electric Corporation on December 31st 1892. The latter was the international promotion division of a Connecticut company, the Thomson Houston Electric Corporation, which had perfected processes for the various uses of electricity (electric traction, lighting, etc...).
The contract provided the constitution for a French limited liability company which was to have access to all the patents belonging to its American partner. Thus it was in Paris, on February 27th 1893, that the Compagnie Francaise THOMSON-HOUSTON (C.F.T.H.) was born.
General Electric (GECo) having, a few years later, taken over the Thomson Houston Electric Corporation, it was left to the French company to perpetuate the names of the two eminent physicists, Elihu THOMSON and Edwin M. HOUSTON, whose work had provided the basis for these large industrial groups.
The original American capital, which was always a minority share, left the French company definitively in 1953.
As early as 1894, the associates decided to broaden the company's scope to include the development of all companies producing, applying or using electrical power. The company thus found itself entering an almost unlimited field, the benefits of which it is still reaping today.
In the early stages, it devoted itself to the electrification of tramway and railroad systems and to the creation of power stations.
Developing for this purpose powerful industrial means, it obtained, without recourse to external capital, the necessary resources for it's expansion thanks to the participation taken in numerous development companies.
DIVERSIFICATION 1920 - 1940
INDUSTRIAL REDEPLOYMENT 1945 - 1965
CHANGE OF SCALE 1966 - 1969
INTERNATIONAL DEPLOYMENT 1970 - 1980
RECENT HISTORY 1980 - 1998
DIVERSIFICATION 1920 - 1940
1920
First diversification. In the domestic appliances sector, then still in its infancy, the C.F.T.H took over the Société des Usines du Pied-Selle, a manufacturer of heating and kitchen equipment.
1921
In the realm of lighting, the C.F.T.H. grouped with its own activities that of several medium sized enterprises and established, in a join venture with the Compagnie Générale d'Electricité (CGE), the Compagnie des Lampes.
1925
The C.F.T.H restructured its telephone sector, then electromechanical, where it had been present since its origin. This led to the creation, with the American International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, of the Compagnie des Téléphones Thomson-Houston. This subsidiary was ceded to the American partner two years later. It is in 1976 that the company once again enters this field, with the take over of LMT and STE. It then became one of the world leaders in the realm of electronic telephone switching. In the same year, 1925, the company established itself in the sphere of finance with the creation of the Société Financière pour le Développement de l'Electricité en France, "Financière Electricité" for short, which was to become, in 1972, the Société Financière Electrique de Banque. Two years later, in 1927, the Crédit Electrique et Gazier was established and it is still today one of France's major consumer credit organisations.
1928
A crucial year. Economic diffficulties drew the C.F.T.H. towards an agreement with the Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques and so, to the création of ALSTHOM, which from then on took over the manufacture of all electrical equipment -industrial and domestic-. The Alsthom was to remain within THOMSON's orbit for almost 50 years.
1929
The C.F.T.H. took over the Etablissements DUCRETET which were to form the basis for the Company's development in the field of radio and television receivers.
1931
The Compagnie des Lampes, in a joint venture with Philips, established a lamp manufacturing firm (the FRLE -Fabriques Réunis de Lampes Electriques). This allowed for the development of mass production.
1934
The C.F.T.H. acquired the Tréfileries, Laminoirs et Fonderies de Chauny, bringing it to a notable position within the copper processing industry and contributing to the security of its supply flows.
1936
Acquisition of the Etablissement KRAEMER, a manufacturer of radio broadcasting equipment. This marks the point of departure into the field of so called "professional electronics", whose rapid expansion was to transform the Company.
1938
The C.F.T.H. took over the CGR (Compagnie Générale de Radiologie) of which it had been a shareholder since 1930.
INDUSTRIAL REDEPLOYMENT 1945 - 1965
1945
From the end of the second world war, the C.F.T.H. took control of the domestic appliances sector exploited by alsthom since 1928, and the FRIGECO trade mark. It is at this point that the "consumers goods" activities began their industrial take-off.
1959
The C.F.T.H. took its place among the leading french manufacturers of radio and television thanks to an agreement reached with PATHE-MARCONI, which reinforced the industrial potential derived from the Etablissement Ducretet.
1960
The C.F.T.H. created the SODETEG (Société d'Etudes Techniques et d'Entreprises Générales), which, in a few years, gained a leading position among french general consultant engineering firms.
1962
Acquisition of the Etablissements BONNET (founded in 1830) which, in particular, reinforced THOMSON's competence in the field of food refrigeration by extending it to commerce (refrigerated, displays) and institutions (hospitals, schools, industry...)
1963
Start of the CGR's industrial and commercial redeployement in Europe with successive take overs in west Germany (1963), Belgium (1965), Italy (1967), and Spain (1968).
1965
The Compagnie des Lampes decided to develop a "lighting equipment" sector through the creation of the ETA company. In 1967 she took over PROJELUX (public lighting equipment) and later, in 1970, LITA (lighting fixtures) followed by ROON (plastics) in 1971. Present in Spain since its creation through the CGEE (Compania Generale Espanola de electricidad), the Compagnie des Lampes now moved into other European countries, namely Italy and Belgium in 1965, West Germany and Great Britain in 1966.
CHANGE OF SCALE 1966 - 1969
1966
THOMSON-HOUSTON merged with HOTCHKISS-BRANDT, giving birth to Thomson-Houston-Hotchkiss-Brandt, quickly renamed THOMSON-BRANDT. Hotchkiss-Brandt had itself been the result of a merger, in 1956, between two companies, Hotchkiss and brandt. - The Hotchkiss company, dating back to 1867, specialised in the production of automobiles and military equipment. - The Brandt company, founded in 1926, had developed, from a basis in metalwork, a very active armaments branch, to which had been added in 1949 a domestic appliances division. It was the latter, when joined with the similar activities within THOMSON-HOUSTON, which allowed for the establishment of a "Consumer Goods" division of national scale.
1967
Hotchkiss-Brandt-Mécanisation was created. This company, derived from the "Postal Machines Research" departement established by Brandt in 1955, was merged in 1976 with Sogeme (originally from the Société Générale du Vide, created in 1961) to become HOTCHKISS-BRANDT-SOGEME, a company which specialises in automated postal sorting equipment and industrial nuclear proofing.
1968
A major year in two ways In the "consumer good" sector, THOMSON-BRANDT absorbed the CLARET group whose major subsidiaries were L'Unité Hermétique (hermetic refrigerator compressors), the SMEN and RAGONOT (smal engines) and ESSWEIN (dishwashers) This move consolidated the Group's leading position on the french market, with as major trade marks THOMSON, BRANDT, VEDETTE, and later, CONTINENTAL EDISON, from the CGE. In the sphere of professional electronics, it was the merger of THOMSON-BRANDT and C.S.F. which led to the creation THOMSON-C.S.F.. The C.S.F. (Compagnie Générale de T.S.F.) had been established in 1918 to take control of the S.F.R. (Société Française Radioélectrique) which ,since 1910, had been involved in the field of microwave transmission,wich was then developing rapidly. Prior to the second world war, C.S.F. and S.F.R. played a particularly important role in the development of radio-broadcasting. short-wave radiocommunications, elctroacoustics, and already television. But it was from the 1950's onwards that C.S.F, which was to take over S.F.R. in 1957, considerably reinforced its means of intervention and started to explore ever-more diversified technics: electron tube, components and semi-conductors, microwave relays, professional television, radar, computers... Development of this activities gave birth to numerous subsidiaries, notably: - CRM -Cie Radio-Maritime in 1919 (installation and development of radioelectric equipment onboard ships); - Radiotechnique in 1920 (radio broadcasting and reception, household radio receivers -this company was ceded to Philips in 1947); - Cie Radio-France in 1921 (development of radiotelegraphic instalations); - Cie Française de Radiophonie in 1923 (development of the private radio station Radio-Paris - this company was nationalised in 1933 and became the Compagnie Française de Radio-Diffusion); - Cie Radio-Cinema in 1929 (movie equipment and precision mechanics -has become the Cie d'Applications Méchanique à l'Electronique, au Cinéma et à l'Atomistique, CAMECA); - Cie Française de Télévision in 1936 (charged with the promotion of the SECAM procedure); - LCC -Le Condensateur Céramique in 1948 (ceramic condensers); - COFELEC -Cie des Ferrites Electroniques in 1957 (electronic ferrites); - CETT -Cie Européene de tubes téléphoniques in 1969 (electron tubes); - CAE -Cie Européenne d'Automatisme Electronique in 1960 (digital computers -whose activities were regrouped with those of other companie in 1967 through the creation of CII -Cie Internationale pour l'Informatique, which was at the basis ofthe part played by Thomson in the industrial build-up of the first french "plan calcul"); - CICE -Cie industrielle des Céramiques Electroniques in 1967 (electronic ceramics); The growth in the field of professional electronics also gave rise to a number of take overs; to mention a few: Sté indépendante de télégraphie sans fil in 1936 (professional radio equipment); - SADIR-CARPENTIER in 1957 (professional electronic equipment and relays); - SOCAPEX in 1958 (connectors); - CLARVILLE in 1962 (record players and tape recorders as well as radio and television sets). It was the drawing together of all these activities with their counterparts within TOMSON-BRANDT (SNERI Sté Nouvelle d'Electronique et de Radio-Industrie -SESCO Sté Européenne de semi-conducteurs -Thomson Varian -TIV Thomson Informatique et Visualisation...) which allowed THOMSON-CSF to become the french leader and one of the major world groups in the sphere of tubes and components, and electronic equipment and systems.
1969
Following a general agreement between THOMSON and the CGE, THOMSON withdrew from the sphere of heavy electrical engineering, conceding its shares in alsthom to the CGE, while the latter recognised THOMSON's leadership in the field of television and electroacoustic on the one hand, and data processing on the other.
INTERNATIONAL DEPLOYMENT 1970 - 1980
Following these operations, the human, industrial,and financial ressources of LE GROUPE THOMSON were considerably enlarged, and thus enabled it to move into the international arena The workforce for example, which had numbered around 7,000 after the war, had grown to almost 30,000 by 1965 and 90,000 by 1969. Simultaneously the consolidated sales had grown from 3,7 billion francs in 1965 to almost 10 billion in 1970, and is of the order by 35 billion by 1980.
1971
Creation by THOMSON, in a joint venture with the american group RCA, of VIDEOCOLOR, a company to specialise in a production of "black and white" and color cathodique tubes for television. Videocolor grew rapidly first in France and then in Europe particularly in West-Germany with the take over, in 1980, of the "tubes" division of AEG telefunken. It also benefited from the absorption, by the "consumer goods" division, of foreign television manufacturers.
1973
THOMSON moved into the field of specialised electrical engineering (on board equipment for the aeronautics industry) with the establishment, in conjunction with the british lucas group, of the THOMSON-LUCAS holding whose main industrial arm is AUXILEC. In 1980, the Group took over the BRONZAVIA company (hydraulic and pneumatic equipment for the aeronautics industry).
1974
International growth of the "consumer goods division". The first step was the establishment of THOMSON ESPAGNOLA ( by the take over of the industrial and commercial activities of the GECo in Spain); then of ESE (European Standart Electronics) in Singapore in 1975 (domestic electronics components and small television sets). it was, most importantly, the take over in west Germany of the second manufacturer of domestic electronics, NORDMENDE (1978-1979, and the purchase, from the americangroup GTE, in 1980, of the SABA company (televisions, video recorders). With an annual production of 1,6 millions television sets, THOMSON thus became second in the League of European manufacturers and one of the major world groups in this sector.
1975
After the establishment by the French authorities of an industrial entity which was to bring together all the "main frame" computer activities (to which THOMSON-CSF ceded its share in CII), the Group took on the leadership of the french microprocessing industry. THOMSON-CSF was thus led to join to its own activities those of certains of its competitors (like the mini-computer division of the Telemecanique Co) and to take over certain computer service companies. These operations brought about the establishment of an "Electronic data processing division (data processing systems, micro processing, computer peripherals, military and aerospace EDP), which allowed THOMSON-CSF INFORMATIQUE to become one of the most important European companies in this field.
1976
Since before the war, and thus for the last 40 years, the copper and cables sector of THOMSON had pushed its development by leaning on two fields: the production of copper threads thanks to the establishment of a rolling mill at Chauny, and the use of a continuous vulcanisation procedure for the production of isolated cables with the establishment of the Bohain factory. To further reinforce its independence in the sphere of raw material supplies, the Group decided, in 1976, to build a continuous copper rod-casting plant at Chauny. This installation, which was established in conunction with the Zambian copper industry, gave THOMSON a first rank position in France and in Europe in the process of copper transformation.
In order to attain a leading position in the technical development of electronic telephone switching and transmission, and to complete its range of traditional activities in this field, THOMSON-CSF took over LMT (Le matériel Electronique) and the Société des Téléphones STE, followed in 1978 by LTT (Lignes Télégraphiques et Téléphoniques). In 1980, THOMSON-CSF TELEPHONE is established, a world specialist in the field of electronic time-division switching techniques.
1980
Having become third in the world in the field of radiology, after Philips and Siemens, thanks to new and important holdings in foreign companies notably in the U.S.A. (CGR Medical Corporation) and Belgium (purchase of GEM from GECo), the CGR now must facenew commercial and technological developments.
The rapid introduction of electronic and data processing techniques in the field of medical diagnosis and therapy equipment, the arrival of new methods such as ultrasound and nuclear medicine, led to a drawing together of the activities of the creation of a "medical activities" division within the latter.
RECENT HISTORY 1980 - 1998
1981
Thomson-Brandt and Thomson-CSF were merged and Jean-Pierre Bouyssonnie was appointed chairman.
1982
The nationalization bill included Thomson, and the government appointed a new Chairman, Alain Gomez.
1983
Agreement between Thomson-CSF Téléphone and CGE was signed: telephones were exchanged for CGE's professional and consumer electronics and components businesses. The Group was set up a financial holding company, Thomson S.A. Birth of Thomson Grand Public. Philips quickly bought up lamps, including the well-known Mazda brand.
1985
A cooperation agreement was signed between Thomson with Thorn from the U.K. and JVC from Japan. G.E. took over RCA
1986
RCA acquired by GE. A year-and-a-half later, General Electric sold its RCA and GE consumer electronics business to Thomson.
1987
Câbles de Lyon, a CGE subsidiary, bought Thomson-Cuivre Agreement between Thomson and the nationalized Italian group IRI to set up a subsidiary specializing in civil semiconductor, SGS-Thomson Microelectronics. Thomson bought the last British consumer electronics manufacturer Ferguson from Thorn. General Electric took over CGR. Thomson absorbed GE-RCA consumer product.
1988
Thomson completes purchase of RCA and GE consumer electronics businesses from General Electric, creating Thomson Consumer Electronics. Thus Thomson Grand Public became Thomson Consumer Electronics (TCE) with Pierre Garcin as Chairman.
1989
RCA's 50 millionth color TV set was produced in Bloomington, Indiana.
1990
Proscan, a new high-end brand, is introduced by Thomson, Nipper and Chipper began selling RCA consumer electronics. Nipper was joined by a smaller canine companion named Chipper, who represents the semi-conductor-based future of digital consumer electronics.
1992
Ground was broken for the new Americas headquarters in Indianapolis.
1993
CinemaScreen, the " Television Made For Movies ", became the first widescreen TV available in the U.S. Thomson helped form the Digital HDTV Grand Alliance. RCA opened a television assembly plant in Circleville, Ohio.
1994
As the new Americas headquarters opened, the RCA Digital Satellite System ushered in a new age in digital home entertainment.
1995
Thomson Consumer Electronics changed its name to Thomson multimedia. Thomson multimedia integrated Thomson Broadcast Systems, in order to be positioned in systems of image production, processing, transport and distribution.
1997
Thierry Breton became new Chairman of Thomson multimedia.
1998
THOMSON multimedia opened its capital to four industrial strategic partners (Microsoft, NEC, Alcatel, DirecTV).
1999
THOMSON multimedia was quoted for the first time on November 3 in Paris (Bourse de Paris) and New-York (New York Stock Exchange).
Taken from the Thomson Group web site 2000