was a Japanese

consumer electronics Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic ( analog or digital) equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Usuall ...

company that was established in 1958 in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. Their devices were branded as "Orion". The company used to be called Orion Electric, until Brain and Capital Holdings, Inc. (Japanese company) acquired it in 2019. From 1984 to their acquisition, their headquarters were based in

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, Japan. Products manufactured and sold under the Orion brand included transistor radios, radio/cassette recorders, car stereos, and home stereo systems. Before their acquisition, they were of the world's largest OEM television and video equipment manufacturers, primarily supplying major-brand OEM customers. Orion produced around six million televisions and twelve million DVD player and TV combo units each year until 2019. Most of their products were manufactured in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. The Orion Group employed in excess of 9,000 workers. They had factories and offices in Japan, Thailand, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Orion's flagship factories in Thailand were one of Thailand’s top exporters, and they were recognized with an award from the Thai Government for their contribution.{{citation needed, date=April 2014 Orion manufactured products primarily for

Memorex Memorex Corp. began as a computer tape producer and expanded to become both a consumer media supplier and a major IBM plug compatible peripheral supplier. It was broken up and ceased to exist after 1996 other than as a consumer electronics bran ...

, Otake,

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, Emerson, and Sansui. In the North American market, Orion manufactured many televisions and VCRs for

Emerson Radio Emerson Radio Corporation is one of the United States' largest volume consumer electronics distributors and has a recognized trademark in continuous use since 1912. The company designs, markets, and licenses many product lines worldwide, i ...

during the 1980s and 1990s, but when

went bankrupt in 2000, the Emerson brand and their assets were bought by Orion’s primary competitor,

Funai is a Japanese consumer electronics company headquartered in Daitō, Osaka. Apart from producing its own branded electronic products, it is also an OEM providing assembled televisions and video players/recorders to major corporations such as S ...

. During the 1990s, Orion and another of their brand names, World, were exclusively sold by

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

. The products sold consisted of discounted televisions, TV/VCR combos, and VHS players. In 2001, Orion partnered with

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, ...

to manufacture smaller CRT and LCD televisions and DVD/VCR combos for the North American until 2009. In 2011, Orion licensed the

name for televisions. Until 2019, all

televisions were designed, produced, and supported by Orion. Orion also manufactured OEM televisions for

. Most of these TVs were sold at

and

Sam's Club Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam’s Wholesale Club. , Sam's C ...

stores. Orion also operated Orion Sales, headquartered in

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, for the North American market, using their privately-owned Sansui brand, and their recently licensed

television brand. Orion Sales ceased to exist in 2016, and was sold to Elitelux Technologies. On March 31, 2015, Orion Electric Co., Ltd. had reached insolvency and appointed provisional liquidators, due to poor sales by severe low price competition worldwide. However, on April 1, 2015, the "new" Orion Electric Co., Ltd. was established, and took over previous Orion Electric business. On January 19, 2019, Orion Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the Doshisha Corporation in

, took over the Orion brands and businesses. On May 20, 2019, Orion Electric Co., Ltd. had once again reached insolvency. Due to the lack of continuing funds, the Orion Electric Co., Ltd. ceased to exist, with all assets and holdings presumably owned by the Doshisha Corporation.

External links

en/ Orion Electric Co., Ltd.
(English) Electronics companies established in 1958 Display technology companies Japanese companies established in 1958 Electronics companies of Japan Radio manufacturers