Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** Co ...

corporation that was founded in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is still in Eindhoven. Philips was formerly one of the largest electronics companies in the world, but is currently focused on the area of health technology, having divested its other divisions. The company was founded in 1891 by Gerard Philips and his father Frederik, with their first products being

light bulb An electric light, lamp, or light bulb is an electrical component that produces light. It is the most common form of artificial lighting. Lamps usually have a base made of ceramic, metal, glass, or plastic, which secures the lamp in the soc ...

s. It currently employs around 80,000 people across 100 countries. The company gained its royal honorary title (hence the ''Koninklijke'') in 1998 and dropped the "Electronics" in its name in 2013, due to its refocusing from consumer electronics to healthcare technology. Philips is organized into three main divisions: Personal Health (formerly Philips Consumer Electronics and Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care), Connected Care, and Diagnosis & Treatment (formerly Philips Medical Systems). The lighting division was spun off as a separate company,

Signify N.V. Signify N.V., formerly known as Philips Lighting N.V., is a Dutch multinational lighting corporation formed in 2016 as a result of the spin-off of the lighting division of Philips, by means of an I.P.O. The company manufactures electric light ...

The company started making electric shavers in 1939 under the Philishave and Norelco brands, and post-war they developed the

Compact Cassette The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens ...

format and co-developed the Compact Disc format with Sony, as well as numerous other technologies. As of 2012, Philips was the largest manufacturer of lighting in the world as measured by applicable revenues. Philips has a primary listing on the

Euronext Amsterdam Euronext Amsterdam is a stock exchange based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Formerly known as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, it merged on 22 September 2000 with the Brussels Stock Exchange and the Paris Stock Exchange to form Euronext. The reg ...

stock exchange and is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50

stock market index In finance, a stock index, or stock market index, is an index that measures a stock market, or a subset of the stock market, that helps investors compare current stock price levels with past prices to calculate market performance. Two of the ...

. It has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Acquisitions include that of Signetics and Magnavox. It also founded a multidisciplinary sports club called PSV Eindhoven in 1913.

History

The Philips Company was founded in 1891, by

Dutch-Jewish The history of the Jews in the Netherlands began largely in the 16th century when they began to settle in Amsterdam and other cities. It has continued to the present. During the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany in May 1940, the ...

entrepreneur Gerard Philips and his father Frederik Philips. Frederik, a banker based in Zaltbommel, financed the purchase and setup of an empty factory building in Eindhoven, where the company started the production of carbon-filament lamps and other electro-technical products in 1892. This first factory has since been adapted and is used as a museum. Philipsfabriekje

In 1895, after a difficult first few years and near-bankruptcy, the Philipses brought in Anton, Gerard's younger brother by sixteen years. Though he had earned a degree in engineering, Anton started work as a sales representative; soon, however, he began to contribute many important business ideas. With Anton's arrival, the family business began to expand rapidly, resulting in the founding of Philips Metaalgloeilampfabriek N.V. (Philips Metal Filament Lamp Factory Ltd.) in Eindhoven in 1908, followed in 1912, by the foundation of Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken N.V. (Philips Lightbulb Factories Ltd.). After Gerard and Anton Philips changed their family business by founding the Philips corporation, they laid the foundations for the later multinational. In the 1920s, the company started to manufacture other products, such as vacuum tubes.

Radio

On 11 March 1927, Philips went on the air, inaugurating the shortwave radio station PCJJ (later PCJ) which was joined in 1929 by a sister station (Philips Omroep Holland-Indië, later PHI). PHOHI broadcast in Dutch to the

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...

(now Indonesia), and later PHI broadcast in English and other languages to the Eastern hemisphere, while PCJJ broadcast in English, Spanish and German to the rest of the world. The international program Sundays commenced in 1928, with host Eddie Startz hosting the '' Happy Station'' show, which became the world's longest-running shortwave program. Broadcasts from the Netherlands were interrupted by the German invasion in May 1940. The Germans commandeered the transmitters in Huizen to use for pro-

Nazi broadcasts The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation o ...

, some originating from Germany, others concerts from Dutch broadcasters under German control. Philips 930

In the early 1930s, Philips introduced the "Chapel", a radio with a built-in loudspeaker. Philips Radio was absorbed shortly after liberation when its two shortwave stations were nationalised in 1947 and renamed Radio Netherlands Worldwide, the Dutch International Service. Some PCJ programs, such as '' Happy Station'', continued on the new station.

Stirling engine

Philips was instrumental in the revival of the Stirling engine when, in the early 1930s, the management decided that offering a low-power portable generator would assist in expanding sales of its radios into parts of the world where mains electricity was unavailable and the supply of batteries uncertain. Engineers at the company's research lab carried out a systematic comparison of various power sources and determined that the almost forgotten Stirling engine would be most suitable, citing its quiet operation (both audibly and in terms of radio interference) and ability to run on a variety of heat sources (common lamp oil – "cheap and available everywhere" – was favoured). They were also aware that, unlike steam and internal combustion engines, virtually no serious development work had been carried out on the Stirling engine for many years and asserted that modern materials and know-how should enable great improvements. Encouraged by their first experimental engine, which produced 16 W of shaft power from a bore and stroke of , various development models were produced in a program which continued throughout World War II. By the late 1940s, the 'Type 10' was ready to be handed over to Philips's subsidiary Johan de Witt in Dordrecht to be produced and incorporated into a generator set as originally planned. The result, rated at 180/200 W electrical output from a bore and stroke of , was designated MP1002CA (known as the "Bungalow set"). Production of an initial batch of 250 began in 1951, but it became clear that they could not be made at a competitive price, besides the advent of transistor radios with their much lower power requirements meant that the original rationale for the set was disappearing. Approximately 150 of these sets were eventually produced. In parallel with the generator set, Philips developed experimental Stirling engines for a wide variety of applications and continued to work in the field until the late 1970s, though the only commercial success was the 'reversed Stirling engine'

cryocooler A refrigerator designed to reach cryogenic temperatures (below ) is often called a cryocooler. The term is most often used for smaller systems, typically table-top size, with input powers less than about 20 kW. Some can have input powers as lo ...

. However, they filed a large number of patents and amassed a wealth of information, which they later licensed to other companies.

Shavers

The first Philips shaver was introduced in 1939, and was simply called Philishave. In the US, it was called Norelco. The Philishave has remained part of the Philips product line-up until the present.

World War II

On 9 May 1940, the Philips directors learned that the German invasion of the Netherlands was to take place the following day. Having prepared for this,

Anton Philips Anton Frederik Philips (14 March 1874 – 7 October 1951) co-founded Royal Philips Electronics N.V. in 1912 with his older brother Gerard Philips in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. His father and Gerard had founded the Philips Company in 1891 as a f ...

and his son-in-law Frans Otten, as well as other Philips family members, fled to the United States, taking a large amount of the company capital with them. Operating from the US as the North American Philips Company, they managed to run the company throughout the war. At the same time, the company was moved (on paper) to the

Netherlands Antilles nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom" , national_anthem = , common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento , demonym = Netherlands Antillean , capital = Willemstad , year_start = 1954 , year_end = 2010 , date_start = 15 December , ...

to keep it out of German hands. On 6 December 1942, the British No. 2 Group RAF undertook

Operation Oyster Operation Oyster was a bombing raid made by the Royal Air Force (RAF) on 6 December 1942 upon the Philips works at Eindhoven, Netherlands. The Philips company was a major producer of electronics equipment, including vacuum tubes for radio communi ...

, which heavily damaged the Philips Radio factory in Eindhoven with few casualties among the Dutch workers and civilians. The Philips works in Eindhoven was bombed again by the RAF on 30 March 1943. Frits Philips, the son of Anton, was the only Philips family member to stay in the Netherlands. He saved the lives of 382 Jews by convincing the Nazis that they were indispensable for the production process at Philips. In 1943, he was held at the internment camp for political prisoners at Vught for several months because a strike at his factory reduced production. For his actions in saving the hundreds of Jews, he was recognized by Yad Vashem in 1995 as a " Righteous Among the Nations".

1945–1999

After the war, the company was moved back to the Netherlands, with their headquarters in

In 1949, the company began selling television sets. In 1950, it formed Philips Records, which eventually formed part of

PolyGram PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

in 1962. Philips introduced the

audio tape format in 1963, and it was wildly successful. Cassettes were initially used for dictation machines for office typing stenographers and professional journalists. As their sound quality improved, cassettes would also be used to record sound and became the second mass media alongside vinyl records used to sell recorded music. PHILIPS D6350

Philips introduced the first combination portable radio and cassette recorder, which was marketed as the "radio recorder", and is now better known as the boom box. Later, the cassette was used in telephone answering machines, including a special form of cassette where the tape was wound on an endless loop. The C-cassette was used as the first mass storage device for early personal computers in the 1970s and 1980s. Philips reduced the cassette size for professional needs with the Mini-Cassette, although it would not be as successful as the

Olympus Olympus or Olympos ( grc, Ὄλυμπος, link=no) may refer to: Mountains In antiquity Greece * Mount Olympus in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology * Mount Olympus (Lesvos), located in Les ...

Microcassette. This became the predominant dictation medium up to the advent of fully digital dictation machines. Philips continued with computers through the early 1990s (see separate article: Philips Computers). In 1972, Philips launched the world's first home video cassette recorder, in the UK, the N1500. Its relatively bulky video cassettes could record 30 minutes or 45 minutes. Later one-hour tapes were also offered. As the competition came from Sony's

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...

and the VHS group of manufacturers, Philips introduced the N1700 system which allowed double-length recording. For the first time, a 2-hour movie could fit onto one video cassette. In 1977, the company unveiled a special promotional film for this system in the UK, featuring comedy writer and presenter Denis Norden. The concept was quickly copied by the Japanese makers, whose tapes were significantly cheaper. Philips made one last attempt at a new standard for video recorders with the Video 2000 system, with tapes that could be used on both sides and had 8 hours of total recording time. As Philips only sold its systems on the PAL standard and in Europe, and the Japanese makers sold globally, the scale advantages of the Japanese proved insurmountable and Philips withdrew the V2000 system and joined the VHS Coalition. Philips CD-100

Philips had developed a

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

early on for selling movies, but delayed its commercial launch for fear of cannibalizing its video recorder sales. Later Philips joined with

MCA MCA may refer to: Astronomy * Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars Aviation * Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways * Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gene ...

to launch the first commercial LaserDisc standard and players. In 1982, Philips teamed with Sony to launch the Compact Disc; this format evolved into the CD-R, CD-RW, DVD and later Blu-ray, which Philips launched with Sony in 1997 and 2006 respectively. schouhamerimmink

In 1984, the Dutch Philips Group bought out nearly a one-third share and took over the management of the German company Grundig. In 1984, Philips split off its activities on the field of photolithographic integrated circuit production equipment, the so-called wafer steppers, into a joint venture with ASM International, located in Veldhoven under the name ASML. Over the years, this new company has evolved into the world's leading manufacturer of chip production machines at the expense of competitors like Nikon and Canon. Philips partnered with Sony again later to develop a new "interactive" disc format called

CD-i The Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I, later CD-i) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage device, data storage format that was mostly developed and marketed by Dutch company Philips. It was created as an extension of Compact Disc Di ...

, described by them as a "new way of interacting with a television set". Philips created the majority of CD-i compatible players. After low sales, Philips repositioned the format as a video game console, but it was soon discontinued after being heavily criticized amongst the gaming community. In the 1980s, Philips's profit margin dropped below 1 percent, and in 1990 the company lost more than US$2 billion (biggest corporate loss in Dutch history). Troubles for the company continued into the 1990s as its status as a leading electronics company was swiftly lost. In 1985, Philips was the largest founding investor in TSMC which was established as a joint venture between Philips, the Taiwan government and other private investors. In 1991, the company's name was changed from N.V. Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken to Philips Electronics N.V. At the same time, North American Philips was formally dissolved, and a new corporate division was formed in the US with the name Philips Electronics North America Corp. In 1997, the company officers decided to move the headquarters from Eindhoven to Amsterdam along with the corporate name change to Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., the latter of which was finalized on 16 March 1998. In 1998, looking to spur innovation, Philips created an Emerging Businesses group for its Semiconductors unit, based in Silicon Valley. The group was designed to be an incubator where promising technologies and products could be developed.

2000s

The move of the headquarters to Amsterdam was completed in 2001. Initially, the company was housed in the

Rembrandt Tower Rembrandt Tower ( nl, Rembrandttoren, ) is an office skyscraper in Amsterdam. It has a height of 135 metres, 36 floors and it has a spire which extends its height to 150 metres. It was constructed from 1991 to 1994. The building's foundation requ ...

. In 2002, it moved again, this time to the Breitner Tower. Philips Lighting, Philips Research, Philips Semiconductors (spun off as NXP in September 2006), and Philips Design, are still based in Eindhoven. Philips Healthcare is headquartered in both Best, Netherlands (near Eindhoven) and Andover, Massachusetts, United States (near Boston). In 2000, Philips bought Optiva Corporation, the maker of Sonicare

electric toothbrush An electric toothbrush is a toothbrush that makes rapid automatic bristle motions, either back-and-forth oscillation or rotation-oscillation (where the brush head alternates clockwise and counterclockwise rotation), in order to clean teeth. Motio ...

es. The company was renamed Philips Oral Healthcare and made a subsidiary of Philips DAP. In 2001, Philips acquired Agilent Technologies' Healthcare Solutions Group (HSG) for EUR 2 billion. Philips created a computer monitors joint venture with LG called LG.Philips Displays in 2001. In 2001, after growing the unit's Emerging Businesses group to nearly $1 billion in revenue, Scott A. McGregor was named the new president and CEO of Philips Semiconductors. McGregor's appointment completed the company's shift to having dedicated CEOs for all five of the company's product divisions, which would in turn leave the Board of Management to concentrate on issues confronting the Philips Group as a whole. In February 2001 Philips sold its remaining interest in battery manufacturing to its then partner Matsushita (which itself became Panasonic in 2008). Philips sense and simplicity

In 2004, Philips abandoned the slogan "Let's make things better" in favour of a new one: "Sense and Simplicity". In December 2005, Philips announced its intention to sell or demerge its semiconductor division. On 1 September 2006, it was announced in Berlin that the name of the new company formed by the division would be

NXP Semiconductors NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXP) is a Dutch semiconductor designer and manufacturer with headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The company employs approximately 31,000 people in more than 30 countries. NXP reported revenue of $11.06 billion in 2 ...

. On 2 August 2006, Philips completed an agreement to sell a controlling 80.1% stake in NXP Semiconductors to a consortium of private equity investors consisting of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR),

Silver Lake Partners Silver Lake is an American global private equity firm focused on investments in technology, technology-enabled and related industries. Founded in 1999, the firm is one of the largest technology investors in the world. Its investment holdings have ...

and AlpInvest Partners. On 21 August 2006, Bain Capital and Apax Partners announced that they had signed definitive commitments to join the acquiring consortium, a process which was completed on 1 October 2006. In 2006, Philips bought out the company Lifeline Systems headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts, in a deal valued at $750 million, its biggest move yet to expand its consumer-health business (M). In August 2007, Philips acquired the company Ximis, Inc. headquartered in El Paso, Texas, for their Medical Informatics Division. In October 2007, it purchased a Moore Microprocessor Patent (MPP) Portfolio license from The TPL Group. On 21 December 2007, Philips and Respironics, Inc. announced a definitive agreement pursuant to which Philips acquired all of the outstanding shares of Respironics for US$66 per share, or a total purchase price of approximately €3.6 billion (US$5.1 billion) in cash. On 21 February 2008, Philips completed the acquisition of VISICU in Baltimore, Maryland, through the merger of its indirect wholly-owned subsidiary into VISICU. As a result of that merger, VISICU has become an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Philips. VISICU was the creator of the eICU concept of the use of Telemedicine from a centralized facility to monitor and care for ICU patients. The Philips physics laboratory was scaled down in the early 21st century, as the company ceased trying to be innovative in consumer electronics through fundamental research.

2010s

Philips made several acquisitions during 2011, announcing on 5 January 2011 that it had acquired Optimum Lighting, a manufacturer of LED based luminaires. In January 2011, Philips agreed to acquire the assets of Preethi, a leading India-based kitchen appliances company. On 27 June 2011, Philips acquired Sectra Mamea AB, the mammography division of

Sectra AB Sectra AB is a Swedish company founded in 1978 active within medical technology and encrypted communication systems. Notable products include the communication system RAKEL which is used by Swedish organisations and institutions that provide v ...

. Because net profit slumped 85 percent in Q3 2011, Philips announced a cut of 4,500 jobs to match part of an €800 million ($1.1 billion) cost-cutting scheme to boost profits and meet its financial target. In 2011, the company posted a loss of €1.3 billion, but earned a net profit in Q1 and Q2 2012, however the management wanted €1.1 billion cost-cutting which was an increase from €800 million and may cut another 2,200 jobs until end of 2014. In March 2012, Philips announced its intention to sell, or demerge its television manufacturing operations to TPV Technology. Following two decades in decline, Philips went through a major restructuring, shifting its focus from electronics to healthcare. Particularly from 2011 when a new CEO was appointed, Frans van Houten. The new health and medical strategy have helped Philips to thrive again in the 2010s. On 5 December 2012, the antitrust regulators of the European Union fined Philips and several other major companies for fixing prices of TV

cathode-ray tube A cathode-ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing one or more electron guns, which emit electron beams that are manipulated to display images on a phosphorescent screen. The images may represent electrical waveforms (oscilloscope), pictur ...

s in two cartels lasting nearly a decade. On 29 January 2013, it was announced that Philips had agreed to sell its audio and video operations to the Japan-based Funai Electric for €150 million, with the audio business planned to transfer to Funai in the latter half of 2013, and the video business in 2017. As part of the transaction, Funai was to pay a regular licensing fee to Philips for the use of the Philips brand. The purchase agreement was terminated by Philips in October because of breach of contract and the consumer electronics operations remain under Philips. Philips said it would seek damages for breach of contract in the US$200-million sale. In April 2016, the International Court of Arbitration ruled in favour of Philips, awarding compensation of €135 million in the process. In April 2013, Philips announced a collaboration with Paradox Engineering for the realization and implementation of a "pilot project" on network-connected street-lighting management solutions. This project was endorsed by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC). In 2013, Philips removed the word "Electronics" from its name – becoming Royal Philips N.V. On 13 November 2013, Philips unveiled its new brand line "Innovation and You" and a new design of its shield mark. The new brand positioning is cited by Philips to signify company's evolution and emphasize that innovation is only meaningful if it is based on an understanding of people's needs and desires. On 28 April 2014, Philips agreed to sell their Woox Innovations subsidiary (consumer electronics) to Gibson Brands for $US135 million. On 23 September 2014, Philips announced a plan to split the company into two, separating the lighting business from the healthcare and consumer lifestyle divisions. It moved to complete this in March 2015 to an investment group for $3.3 billion. In February 2015, Philips acquired Volcano Corporation to strengthen its position in non-invasive surgery and imaging. In June 2016, Philips spun off its lighting division to focus on the healthcare division. In June 2017, Philips announced it would acquire US-based Spectranetics Corp, a manufacturer of devices to treat heart disease, for €1.9 billion (£1.68 billion) expanding its current image-guided therapy business. In May 2016, Philips' lighting division Philips Lighting went through a

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gove ...

process, and became an independent public company named Philips Lighting N.V. In 2017, Philips launched Philips Ventures, with a health technology venture fund as its main focus. Philips Ventures invested in companies including Mytonomy (2017) and DEARhealth (2019). In 2018, the independent Philips Lighting N.V. was renamed

However, it continues to produce and market Philips-branded products such as

Philips Hue Philips Hue is a line of color-changing LED lamps and white bulbs which can be controlled wirelessly. The Philips Hue line of bulbs was the first smart bulb of its kind on the market. The lamps are currently created and manufactured by Signify ...

color-changing LED light bulbs.

2020s

In 2022, Philips announced that

Frans Van Houten François Adrianus "Frans" van Houten (born 26 April 1960) is a Dutch businessman. He served as the CEO of Philips, Royal Philips Electronics (known universally as Philips) from 1 April 2011 to 16 August 2022. He succeeded Gerard Kleisterlee. B ...

, who had served as CEO for 12 years will be stepping down and is to be replaced by Philips's EVP and Chief Business Leader of Connected Care, Roy Jakobs, effective October 15, 2022.

Corporate affairs

CEOs

Past and present CEOs: * 1891–1922: Gerard Philips * 1922–1939:

* 1939–1961: Frans Otten * 1961–1971: Frits Philips * 1971–1977: * 1977–1981: Nico Rodenburg * 1981–1982: Cor Dillen * 1982–1986: Wisse Dekker * 1986–1990: Cor van der Klugt * 1990–1996: Jan Timmer * 1996–2001:

Cor Boonstra Cor Boonstra (Leeuwarden, 7 January 1938) is mainly known as president of the Board of Directors of Philips (1996–2001). Biography At the age of 16, he quit his study at the Hogere burgerschool and started to work for Unilever. In 1974 he st ...

* 2001–2011:

Gerard Kleisterlee Gerard Johannes Kleisterlee (born 28 September 1946) is a Dutch businessman and engineer. He is the chairman of Vodafone, and the former president and CEO of Philips. Early life Born in Germany in 1946 to Dutch and German parents, he was raised ...

* 2011–2022:

Frans van Houten François Adrianus "Frans" van Houten (born 26 April 1960) is a Dutch businessman. He served as the CEO of Philips, Royal Philips Electronics (known universally as Philips) from 1 April 2011 to 16 August 2022. He succeeded Gerard Kleisterlee. B ...

* 2022–present: Roy Jakobs CEOs lighting: *2003–2008: Theo van Deursen *2012–present: Eric Rondolat

CFOs

Past and present CFOs (chief financial officer) * 1960–1968: Cor Dillen * –1997:

Dudley Eustace Dudley Eustace is a British businessman, having many executive functions in Dutch companies. He is well known for his restructuring work being finance director of Philips and Ahold. Eustace is currently the Chairman of Aegon and VNU, now called ...

* 1997–2005: Jan Hommen * 2015–present: Abhijit Bhattacharya

Current Executive Committee

*CEO: Roy Jakobs *CFO: Abhijit Bhattacharya *COO: Willem Appelo & Sophie Bechu *Chief ESG & Legal Officer: Marnix van Ginneken *Chief Business Leader (Connected Care): Roy Jakobs *Chief Business Leader (Personal Health): Deeptha Khanna *Chief Business Leader (Image Guided Therapy): Bert van Meurs *Chief Business Leader (Precision Diagnosis): Kees Wesdorp *CEO Philips Domestic Appliances: Henk Siebren de Jong *Chief of International Markets: Edwin Paalvast *Chief Medical, Innovation & Strategy Officer: Shez Partovi *Chief Market Leader (China): Andy Ho *Chief Market Leader (North America): Vitor Rocha *Chief Human Resources Officer: Daniela Seabrook

Acquisitions

Companies acquired by Philips through the years include ADAC Laboratories, Agilent Healthcare Solutions Group,

Amperex Amperex Electronic Corporation was a manufacturer of vacuum tubes and semiconductors.Knight (2007) Brooklyn, New York Originally located at 79 Washington Street in Brooklyn, New York, Amperex was a long-established manufacturer of transmitting t ...

, ATL Ultrasound, EKCO, Lifeline Systems, Magnavox, Marconi Medical Systems, Philips Medical purchased Intermagnetics based out of Latham, New York for 1.3 billion in 2006, Optiva, Preethi, Pye, Respironics, Inc., Sectra Mamea AB, Signetics, VISICU, Volcano, VLSI, Ximis, portions of Westinghouse and the consumer electronics operations of Philco and Sylvania. Philips abandoned the Sylvania trademark which is now owned by

Havells Sylvania Havells Sylvania (now Feilo Sylvania) and formerly SLI (Sylvania Lighting International), is an international designer and manufacturer of lighting products, trading as Sylvania. It has plants throughout Europe, Asia, North Africa and Central and So ...

except in Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and the US where it is owned by

Osram Osram Licht AG is a German company that makes electric lights, headquartered in Munich and Premstätten (Austria). Osram positions itself as a high-tech photonics company that is increasingly focusing on sensor technology, visualization and tre ...

. Formed in November 1999 as an equal joint venture between Philips and Agilent Technologies, the light-emitting diode manufacturer Lumileds became a subsidiary of Philips Lighting in August 2005 and a fully owned subsidiary in December 2006. An 80.1 percent stake in Lumileds was sold to Apollo Global Management in 2017. On 19 September 2018, Philips reported that it had acquired US-based Blue Willow Systems, a developer of a cloud-based senior living community resident safety platform. On 7 March 2019, Philips announced that was acquiring the Healthcare Information Systems business of Carestream Health Inc., a US-based provider of medical imaging and healthcare IT solutions for hospitals, imaging centers, and specialty medical clinics. On 18 July 2019, Philips announced that it has expanded its patient management solutions in the US with the acquisition of Boston-based start-up company Medumo. On 27 August 2020, Philips announced the acquisition of Intact Vascular, Inc., a U.S.-based developer of medical devices for minimally invasive peripheral vascular procedures. On 18 December 2020, Philips and BioTelemetry, Inc., a leading U.S.-based provider of remote cardiac diagnostics and monitoring, announced that they had entered into a definitive merger agreement. On 19 January 2021, Philips announced the acquisition of Capsule Technologies, Inc., a provider of medical device integration and data technologies for hospitals and healthcare organizations. On 9 November 2021, Philips announced the acquisition of Cardiologs, an AI-powered cardiac diagnostic technology developer, to expand its cardiac diagnostics and monitoring portfolio.

Operations

Philips is registered in the Netherlands as a naamloze vennootschap (public corporation) and has its global headquarters in Amsterdam. At the end of 2013, Philips had 111 manufacturing facilities, 59 R&D facilities across 26 countries and sales and service operations in around 100 countries. Philips is organized into three main divisions: Philips Consumer Lifestyle (formerly Philips Consumer Electronics and Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care), Philips Healthcare (formerly Philips Medical Systems), and Philips Lighting (Former). Philips achieved total revenues of €22.579 billion in 2011, of which €8.852 billion were generated by Philips Healthcare, €7.638 billion by Philips Lighting, €5.823 billion by Philips Consumer Lifestyle and €266 million from group activities. At the end of 2011, Philips had a total of 121,888 employees, of whom around 44% were employed in Philips Lighting, 31% in Philips Healthcare and 15% in Philips Consumer Lifestyle. The lighting division was spun out as a new company called Signify, which uses the Philips brand under license. Philips invested a total of €1.61 billion in research and development in 2011, equivalent to 7.10% of sales. Philips Intellectual Property and Standards is the group-wide division responsible for licensing, trademark protection and patenting. Philips currently holds around 54,000 patent rights, 39,000 trademarks, 70,000 design rights and 4,400 domain name registrations. In the 2021 review of WIPO's annual World Intellectual Property Indicators Philips ranked 5th in the world for its 95 industrial design registrations being published under the

Hague System The Hague Agreement Concerning the International Deposit of Industrial Designs, also known as the '' Hague system'' provides a mechanism for registering an industrial design in several countries by means of a single application, filed in one lan ...

during 2020. This position is down on their previous 4th-place ranking for 85 industrial design registrations being published in 2019.

Asia

Thailand

Philips Thailand was established in 1952. It is a subsidiary that produces healthcare, lifestyle, and lighting products. Philips started manufacturing in Thailand in 1960 with an incandescent lamp factory. Philips has diversified its production facilities to include a fluorescent lamp factory and a luminaries factory, serving Thai and worldwide markets.

Hong Kong

Philips Hong Kong began operations in 1948. Philips Hong Kong houses the global headquarters of Philips' Audio Business Unit. It also house Philips' Asia Pacific regional office and headquarters for its Design Division, Domestic Appliances & Personal Care Products Division, Lighting Products Division and Medical System Products Division. In 1974, Philips opened a lamp factory in Hong Kong. This has a capacity of 200 million pieces a year and is certified with ISO 9001:2000 and

ISO 14001 ISO 14000 is a family of standards related to environmental management that exists to help organizations (a) minimize how their operations (processes, etc.) negatively affect the environment (i.e. cause adverse changes to air, water, or land); (b ...

. Its product portfolio includes prefocus, lensend and E10 miniature light bulbs.

China

Philips established its first Chinese factory in Zhuhai, Guangdong, in 1990. The site mainly manufactures Philishaves and healthcare products. In early 2008, Philips Lighting, a division of Royal Philips Electronics, opened a small engineering center in Shanghai to adapt the company's products to vehicles in Asia. Today Philips has 27 WOFE/JVs in China, employing >17,500 people. China is its second largest market.

India

Philips began operations in India in 1930, with the establishment of Philips Electrical Co. (India) Pvt Ltd in Kolkata as a sales outlet for imported Philips lamps. In 1938, Philips established its first Indian lamp manufacturing factory in Kolkata. In 1948, Philips started manufacturing radios in Kolkata. In 1959, a second radio factory was established near Pune. This was closed and sold around 2006. In 1957, the company converted into a public limited company, renamed "Philips India Ltd". In 1970, a new consumer electronics factory began operations in Pimpri near Pune. This is now called the 'Philips Healthcare Innovation Centre'. Also, a manufacturing facility 'Philips Centre for Manufacturing Excellence' was set up in Chakan, Pune in 2012. In 1996, the Philips Software Centre was established in Bangalore, later renamed the Philips Innovation Campus. In 2008, Philips India entered the water purifier market. In 2014, Philips was ranked 12th among India's most trusted brands according to the Brand Trust Report, a study conducted by Trust Research Advisory. Now Philips India is one of the most diversified health care company & broadly focusing on Imaging, Utlrasound, MA & TC products & Sleep & respiratory care products. Philips is aspiring to touch life of 40 Million patients in India by next 2 years. In 2020, Philips introduced mobile ICUs in order to support clinicians to meet the rising demand of ICU beds due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Israel

Philips has been active in Israel since 1948 and in 1998, set up a wholly owned subsidiary, Philips Electronics (Israel) Ltd. The company has over 700 employees in Israel and generated sales of over $300 million in 2007. Philips Medical Systems Technologies Ltd. ( Haifa) is a developer and manufacturer of

Computerized Tomography A computed tomography scan (CT scan; formerly called computed axial tomography scan or CAT scan) is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers ...

(CT), diagnostic and

Medical Imaging Medical imaging is the technique and process of imaging the interior of a body for clinical analysis and medical intervention, as well as visual representation of the function of some organs or tissues (physiology). Medical imaging seeks to rev ...

systems. The company was founded in 1969 as Elscint by Elron Electronic Industries and was acquired by Marconi Medical Systems in 1998, which was itself acquired by Philips in 2001. Philips Semiconductors formerly had major operations in Israel; these now form part of

. On 1 August 2019, Philips acquired Carestream HCIS division from Onex Corporation. As part of the acquisition, Algotec Systems LTD (Carestream HCIS R&D) located in Raanana Israel changed ownership in a share deal. In addition to that, Algotec changed its name to Philips Algotec and is part of Philips HCIS. Philips HCIS is a provider of medical imaging systems.

Pakistan

Philips has been active in Pakistan since 1948 and has a wholly owned subsidiary, Philips Pakistan Limited (Formerly Philips Electrical Industries of Pakistan Limited). The head office is in Karachi with regional sales offices in Lahore and

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

Singapore

Philips began operations in Singapore in 1951, initially as a local distributor of

import An import is the receiving country in an export from the sending country. Importation and exportation are the defining financial transactions of international trade. In international trade, the importation and exportation of goods are limited ...

ed Philips products. Philips later established manufacturing sites at

Boon Keng Road Boon Keng (, ta, பூன் கெங்) is a subzone within the planning area of Kallang, Singapore, as defined by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). The smallest in terms of physical area among the nine subzones that make up Kallang, B ...

and Jurong Industrial Estate in 1968 and 1970 respectively. Since 1972, its regional headquarters has been based in the central HDB town of Toa Payoh, which from the 1990s until the early 2010s consisted of four interconnected buildings housing offices and factory spaces. In 2016, a new Philips APAC HQ building was opened on the site of one of the former 1972 buildings.

Europe

Denmark

Philips Denmark was founded in Copenhagen in 1927, and is now headquartered in Frederiksberg. In 1963, Philips established the Philips TV & Test Equipment laboratory in

Brøndby Municipality Brøndby Kommune (), a municipality ( da, kommune) in the former Copenhagen County (now Region Hovedstaden), is on the east coast of the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in eastern Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and has a total po ...

which was where engineers Erik Helmer Nielsen and

Finn Hendil The word Finn (''pl.'' Finns) usually refers to a member of the majority Balto-Finnic ethnic group of Finland, or to a person from Finland. Finn may also refer to: Places * Finn Lake, Minnesota, United States * Finn Township, Logan County, Nor ...

( da; 1939–2011) created and developed some of Philips' most iconic television test cards, such as the monochrome PM5540 and the colour PM5544 and

TVE test card The TVE colour test card (Spanish: Carta de ajuste color TVE) was an electronic analogue TV test card adopted by Televisión Española (TVE - Spanish national television) with the introduction of PAL colour broadcasts in 1975.* It is notable for i ...

s. Between 2000 and 2012, Philips TV & Test Equipment gradually became independent from Philips and renamed itself a
ProTelevision Technologies
now under the umbrella of the Italian compan
Elenos Group

France

Usine Philips Suresnes 41-43 rue de Verdun

Philips France has its headquarters in Suresnes. The company employs over 3600 people nationwide. Philips Lighting has manufacturing facilities in

Chalon-sur-Saône Chalon-sur-Saône (, literally ''Chalon on Saône'') is a city in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the largest city in the department; h ...

( fluorescent lamps),

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...

(automotive lighting), Lamotte-Beuvron (architectural lighting by LEDs and professional indoor lighting), Longvic (lamps), Miribel (outdoor lighting), Nevers (professional indoor lighting).

Germany

Philips Germany was founded in 1926 in Berlin. Now its headquarters is located in Hamburg. Over 4900 people are employed in Germany. * Hamburg ** Distribution center of the divisions Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle, and Lighting. ** Philips Medical Systems DMC. ** Philips Innovative Technologies, Research Laboratories. * Aachen ** Philips Innovative Technologies. ** Philips Innovation Services. * Böblingen ** Philips Medical Systems, patient monitoring systems. * Herrsching ** Philips Respironics. * Ulm ** Philips Photonics, development and manufacture of vertical laser diodes (VCSELs) and photodiodes for sensing and data communication.

Greece

Philips' Greece is headquartered in Halandri, Attica. As of 2012, Philips has no manufacturing plants in Greece, although previously there have been audio, lighting and telecommunications factories.

Italy

Philips founded its Italian headquarter in 1918, basing it in Monza (Milan) where it still operates, for commercial activities only.

Hungary

Philips founded PACH (Philips Assembly Centre Hungary) in 1992, producing televisions and consumer electronics in

Székesfehérvár Székesfehérvár (; german: Stuhlweißenburg ), known colloquially as Fehérvár ("white castle"), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the regional capital of Central Transdanubia, and the centre of Fejér ...

. After TPV entering the Philips TV business, the factory was moved under TP Vision, the new joint-venture company in 2011. Products have been transferred to Poland and China and factory was closed in 2013. By Philips acquiring PLI in 2007 another Hungarian Philips factory emerged in Tamási, producing lamps under the name of Philips IPSC Tamási, later Philips Lighting. The factory was renamed to Signify in 2017, still producing Philips lighting products.

Poland

Philips' operations in Poland include: a European financial and accounting centre in Łódź; Philips Lighting facilities in Bielsko-Biała, Piła, and Kętrzyn; and a Philips Domestic Appliances facility in

Białystok Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...

Portugal

Philips started business in Portugal in 1927, as "Philips Portuguesa S.A.R.L.". Currently, Philips Portuguesa S.A. is headquartered in Oeiras near

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. There were three Philips factories in Portugal: the FAPAE lamp factory in Lisbon; the Carnaxide magnetic-core memory factory near Lisbon, where the Philips Service organization was also based; and the Ovar factory in northern Portugal making camera components and remote control devices. The company still operates in Portugal with divisions for commercial lighting, medical systems and domestic appliances.

Sweden

Philips Sweden has two main sites, Kista, Stockholm County, with regional sales, marketing and a customer support organization and Solna, Stockholm County, with the main office of the mammography division.

United Kingdom

Philips UK has its headquarters in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

. The company employs over 2,500 people nationwide. * Philips Healthcare Informatics, Belfast develops healthcare software products. * Philips Consumer Products, Guildford provides sales and marketing for televisions, including High Definition televisions, DVD recorders, hi-fi and portable audio, CD recorders, PC peripherals, cordless telephones, home and kitchen appliances, personal care (shavers, hair dryers, body beauty and oral hygiene ). * Philips Dictation Systems, Colchester. * Philips Lighting: sales from Guildford and manufacture in Hamilton. * Philips Healthcare, Guildford. Sales and technical support for X-ray, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, patient monitoring, magnetic resonance, computed tomography, and resuscitation products. * Philips Research Laboratories, Cambridge (Until 2008 based in

Redhill, Surrey Redhill () is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead within the county of Surrey, England. The town, which adjoins the town of Reigate to the west, is due south of Croydon in Greater London, and is part of the London commuter belt. The ...

. Originally these were the Mullard Research Laboratories.) In the past, Philips UK also included: * Consumer product manufacturing in Croydon * Television Tube Manufacturing Mullard Simonstone * Philips Business Communications, Cambridge: offered voice and data communications products, specialising in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications, IP Telephony, data networking, voice processing, command and control systems and cordless and mobile telephony. In 2006 the business was placed into a 60/40 joint venture with NEC. NEC later acquired 100 per cent ownership and the business was renamed NEC Unified Solutions. * Philips Electronics Blackburn; vacuum tubes, capacitors, delay-lines, Laserdiscs, CDs. * Philips Domestic Appliances Hastings: Design and Production of Electric kettles, Fan Heaters plus former EKCO brand "Thermotube" Tubular Heaters and "Hostess" Domestic Food Warming Trolleys. * Mullard Southampton and

Hazel Grove Hazel Grove is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, close to the Peak District national park. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Cheshire, the area was kno ...

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

. Originally brought together as a joint venture between Mullard and

GEC GEC or Gec may refer to: Education * Gedo Education Committee, in Somalia * Glen Eira College, in Caulfield East, Victoria, Australia * Goa Engineering College, India * Government Engineering College (disambiguation) * Guild for Exceptional ...

as ''Associated Semiconductor Manufacturers''. They developed and manufactured

rectifiers A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current (AC), which periodically reverses direction, to direct current (DC), which flows in only one direction. The reverse operation (converting DC to AC) is performed by an inver ...

, diodes, transistors, integrated circuits and electro-optical devices. These became Philips Semiconductors before becoming part of NXP. * London Carriers, logistics and transport division. * Mullard Equipment Limited (MEL) which produced products for the military * Ada (Halifax) Ltd, maker of washing machines and spin driers, refrigerators * Pye TVT Ltd of Cambridge * Pye Telecommunications Ltd of Cambridge * TMC Limited of Malmesbury

North America

Canada

Philips Canada was founded in 1941 when it acquired Small Electric Motors Limited. It is well known in medical systems for diagnosis and therapy, lighting technologies, shavers, and consumer electronics. The Canadian headquarters are located in Markham, Ontario. For several years, Philips manufactured lighting products in two Canadian factories. The London, Ontario, plant opened in 1971. It produced A19 lamps (including the "Royale" long life bulbs), PAR38 lamps and T19 lamps (originally a Westinghouse lamp shape). Philips closed the factory in May 2003. The Trois-Rivières, Quebec plant was a Westinghouse facility which Philips continued to run it after buying Westinghouse's lamp division in 1983. Philips closed this factory a few years later, in the late 1980s.

Mexico

Philips Mexico Commercial SA de CV is headquartered in Mexico City. This entity was incorporated in FY2016 to sales consumer lifestyle and healthcare portfolios in the market.

United States

Philips' Electronics North American headquarters is in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Philips Lighting has its corporate office in Somerset, New Jersey; with manufacturing plants in

Danville, Kentucky Danville is a home rule-class city in Boyle County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 17,236 at the 2020 Census. Danville is the principal city of the Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes ...

; Salina, Kansas; Dallas and Paris, Texas and distribution centers in Mountain Top, Pennsylvania; El Paso, Texas; Ontario, California; and Memphis, Tennessee. Philips Healthcare is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and operates a health-tech hub in Nashville, Tennessee, with over 1,000 jobs. The North American sales organization is based in

Bothell, Washington Bothell () is a city in King and Snohomish counties in the U.S. state of Washington. It is part of the Seattle metropolitan area, situated near the northeast end of Lake Washington. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 48,161 resident ...

. There are also manufacturing facilities in Bothell, Washington;

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

;

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

; Foster City, California;

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

; Milpitas, California; and

Reedsville, Pennsylvania Reedsville is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Kishacoquillas Valley of Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 641 at the 2010 census. Reedsville has a high Amish population. General information * ZIP code: 17084 *A ...

. Philips Healthcare also formerly had a factory in Knoxville, Tennessee. Philips Consumer Lifestyle has its corporate office in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

. Philips Lighting has a Color Kinetics office in

Burlington, Massachusetts Burlington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 26,377 at the 2020 census. History It is believed that Burlington takes its name from the English town of Bridlington, Yorkshire, but this has never b ...

. Philips Research North American headquarters is in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2007, Philips entered into a definitive merger agreement with North American luminaires company Genlyte Group Incorporated, which provides the company with a leading position in the North American luminaires (also known as "

lighting fixture A light fixture (US English), light fitting (UK English), or luminaire is an electrical device containing an Lamp (electrical component), electric lamp that provides Lighting, illumination. All light fixtures have a fixture body and one or more ...

s"), controls and related products for a wide variety of applications, including

solid state lighting Solid-state lighting (SSL) is a type of lighting that uses semiconductor light-emitting diodes (LEDs), organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), or polymer light-emitting diodes (PLED) as sources of illumination rather than electrical filaments, pl ...

. The company also acquired Respironics, which was a significant gain for its healthcare sector. On 21 February 2008, Philips completed the acquisition of Baltimore, Maryland-based VISICU. VISICU was the creator of the

eICU 220px, Intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensiv ...

concept of the use of Telemedicine from a centralized facility to monitor and care for ICU patients. In April 2020, the United States Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) entered into a contract with Philips Respironics for 43,000 bundled Trilogy Evo Universal ventilator (EV300) hospital ventilators. This included the production and delivery of ventilators to the

Strategic National Stockpile The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), originally called the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile (NPS), is the United States' national repository of antibiotics, vaccines, chemical antidotes, antitoxins, and other critical medical supplies. Its w ...

—about 156,000 by the end of August 2020 and 187,000 more by the end of 2020. During the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in March 2020, in response to an international demand, Philips increased production of the ventilators fourfold within five months. Production lines were added in the United States with employees working around the clock in factories producing ventilators, in Western Pennsylvania and California, for example. In March 2020, ProPublica published a series of articles on the Philips ventilator contract as negotiated by trade adviser Peter Navarro. In response to the ProPublica series, in August, the United States House of Representatives undertook a "congressional investigation" into the acquisition of the Philips ventilators. The lawmakers investigation found "evidence of fraud, waste and abuse".—the deal negotiated by Navarro had resulted in an over-payment to Philips by the US government of "hundreds of millions".

Oceania

Australia and New Zealand

Philips Australia was founded in 1927 and is headquartered in North Ryde, New South Wales, and also manages the New Zealand operation from there. The company currently employs around 800 people. Regional sales and support offices are located in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Auckland. Current activities include: Philips Healthcare (also responsible for New Zealand operations); Philips Lighting (also responsible for New Zealand operations); Philips Oral Healthcare, Philips Professional Dictation Solutions, Philips Professional Display Solutions, Philips AVENT Professional, Philips Consumer Lifestyle (also responsible for New Zealand operations); Philips Sleep & Respiratory Care (formerly Respironics), with its ever-increasing national network of Sleepeasy Centres; Philips Dynalite (Lighting Control systems, acquired in 2009, global design and manufacturing centre) and Philips Selecon NZ (Lighting Entertainment product design and manufacture).

South America

Brazil

Philips do Brasil was founded in 1924 in Rio de Janeiro. In 1929, Philips started to sell radio receivers. In the 1930s, Philips was making its light bulbs and radio receivers in Brazil. From 1939 to 1945, World War II forced Brazilian branch of Philips to sell

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

refrigerator A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...

s and

insecticide Insecticides are substances used to kill insects. They include ovicides and larvicides used against insect eggs and larvae, respectively. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and by consumers. Insecticides are claimed to b ...

s. After the war, Philips had a great industrial expansion in Brazil, and was among the first groups to establish in

Manaus Manaus () is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about . Located at the east center of the s ...

Free Zone. In the 1970s, Philips Records was a major player in Brazil recording industry. Nowadays, Philips do Brasil is one of the largest foreign-owned companies in Brazil. Philips uses the brand Walita for domestic appliances in Brazil.

Colour television

Colour television was introduced in South America by then

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

, Cor Dillen.

Former operations

Philips subsidiary manufactured pharmaceuticals for human and veterinary use and products for crop protection. Duphar was sold to Solvay in 1990. In subsequent years, Solvay sold off all divisions to other companies (crop protection to UniRoyal, now Chemtura, the veterinary division to Fort Dodge, a division of Wyeth, and the pharmaceutical division to

Abbott Laboratories Abbott Laboratories is an American multinational medical devices and health care company with headquarters in Abbott Park, Illinois, United States. The company was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888 to formulate known dr ...

, Philips' music television and movies division, was sold to Seagram in 1998; merged into Universal Music Group. Philips Records continues to operate as record label of UMG, its name licensed from its former parent. In 1980, Philips acquired

Marantz Marantz is a company that develops and sells high-end audio products. The company was founded in New York, but is now based in Japan. The first Marantz audio product was designed and built by Saul Marantz in his home in Kew Gardens, New York. ...

, a company renowned for high-end audio and video products, based at Kanagawa, Japan. In 2002, Marantz Japan merged with Denon to form D&M Holdings and Philips sold its remaining stake in D&M Holdings in 2008. Origin, now part of Atos Origin, is a former division of Philips. ASM Lithography is a spin-off from a division of Philips.

Hollandse Signaalapparaten Thales Nederland B.V. (formerly Hollandse Signaalapparaten B.V. or in short Signaal) is a subsidiary of the France, French Multinational corporation, multinational company Thales Group based in the Netherlands. The firm was founded as ''NV Hazeme ...

was a manufacturer of military electronics. The business was sold to Thomson-CSF in 1990 and is now Thales Nederland.

, formerly known as Philips Semiconductors, was sold a consortium of private equity investors in 2006. On 6 August 2010, NXP completed its IPO, with shares trading on

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

. Ignis, of Comerio, in the

province of Varese The province of Varese ( it, provincia di Varese) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. Its capital is the city of Varese (population of 80,857 inhabitants), but its largest city is Busto Arsizio. The head ...

, Italy, produced washing machines, dishwashers and microwave ovens, was one of the leading companies in the domestic appliance market, holding a 38% share in 1960. In 1970, 50% of the company's capital was taken over by Philips, which acquired full control in 1972. Ignis was in those years, after Zanussi, the second largest domestic appliance manufacturer, and in 1973 its factories numbered over 10,000 employees only in Italy. With the transfer of ownership to the Dutch multinational, the corporate name of the company was changed, which became "IRE SpA" (''Industrie Riunite Eurodomestici''). Thereafter Philips used to sell major household appliances ( whitegoods) under the name Philips. After selling the Major Domestic Appliances division to Whirlpool Corporation it changed from Philips Whirlpool to Whirlpool Philips and finally to just Whirlpool. Whirlpool bought a 53% stake in Philips' major appliance operations to form Whirlpool International. Whirlpool bought Philips' remaining interest in Whirlpool International in 1991. Philips Cryogenics was split off in 1990 to form the Stirling Cryogenics BV, Netherlands. This company is still active in the development and manufacturing of Stirling cryocoolers and cryogenic cooling systems. North American Philips distributed

AKG Acoustics AKG Acoustics (originally Akustische und Kino-Geräte Gesellschaft m.b.H., en, Acoustic and Cinema Equipment L.L.C.) is an acoustics engineering and manufacturing company. It was founded in 1947 by Rudolf Görike and Ernest Plass in Vienna, Au ...

products under the AKG of America, Philips Audio/Video, Norelco and AKG Acoustics Inc. branding until AKG set up its North American division in

San Leandro, California San Leandro (Spanish for " St. Leander") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; between Oakland to the northwest, and Ashland, Castro Valley, and Hayward to the sou ...

, in 1985. (AKG's North American division has since moved to Northridge, California.) Polymer Vision was a Philips spin-off that manufactured a flexible e-ink display screen. The company was acquired by Taiwanese contract electronics manufacturer Wistron in 2009 and it was shut down in 2012, after repeated failed attempts to find a potential buyer.

Products

Philips' core products are consumer electronics and electrical products (including small domestic appliances, shavers, beauty appliances, mother and childcare appliances, electric toothbrushes and coffee makers (products like Smart Phones, audio equipment, Blu-ray players, computer accessories and televisions are sold under license); and healthcare products (including

CT scan A computed tomography scan (CT scan; formerly called computed axial tomography scan or CAT scan) is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers ...

ners, ECG equipment, mammography equipment, monitoring equipment, MRI scanners, radiography equipment, resuscitation equipment, ultrasound equipment and X-ray equipment); In January 2020 Philips announced that it is looking to sell its domestic appliances division, which includes products like coffee machines, air purifiers and airfryers.

Lighting products

* Professional indoor luminaires * Professional outdoor luminaires * Professional lamps * Lighting controls and control systems * Digital projection lights * Horticulture lighting * Solar LED lights * Smart office lighting systems * Smart retail lighting systems * Smart city lighting systems * Home lamps * Home fixtures * Home systems (branded as

) * Automotive Lighting

Audio products

* Hi-fi systems * Wireless speakers * Radio systems * Docking stations *

Headphones Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound. Headphones let a single user listen to an au ...

* DJ mixers *

Alarm clock An alarm clock (or sometimes just an alarm) is a clock that is designed to alert an individual or group of individuals at a specified time. The primary function of these clocks is to awaken people from their night's sleep or short naps; they ar ...

Healthcare products

Philips healthcare products include:

Clinical informatics

* Cardiology informatics (IntelliSpace Cardiovascular, Xcelera) * Enterprise Imaging Informatics (IntelliSpace PACS, XIRIS) * IntelliSpace family of solutions

Imaging systems

* Cardio/Vascular X-Ray Wires and Catheters (Verrata) *

Computed tomography A computed tomography scan (CT scan; formerly called computed axial tomography scan or CAT scan) is a medical imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers ...

(CT) * Fluoroscopy *

Magnetic resonance imaging Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio wave ...

(MRI) *

Mammography Mammography (also called mastography) is the process of using low-energy X-rays (usually around 30 kVp) to examine the human breast for diagnosis and screening. The goal of mammography is the early detection of breast cancer, typically through d ...

* Mobile

C-Arm An X-ray image intensifier (XRII) is an image intensifier that converts X-rays into visible light at higher intensity than the more traditional fluorescent screens can. Such intensifiers are used in X-ray imaging systems (such as fluoroscopes) ...

s * Nuclear medicine * PET (

Positron emission tomography Positron emission tomography (PET) is a functional imaging technique that uses radioactive substances known as radiotracers to visualize and measure changes in Metabolism, metabolic processes, and in other physiological activities including bl ...

) *

PET/CT Positron emission tomography–computed tomography (better known as PET-CT or PET/CT) is a nuclear medicine technique which combines, in a single gantry, a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner and an x-ray computed tomography (CT) scanner ...

* Radiography * Radiation oncology Systemsroots * Ultrasound

Diagnostic monitoring

* Diagnostic ECG

Defibrillators

* Accessories * Equipment * Software

Consumer

Elsa_Victory_Erazor-AGP-4_-_Philips_74HCT14D-7515

* Philips AVENTil

Patient care and clinical informatics

* Anesthetic gas monitoring *

Blood pressure Blood pressure (BP) is the pressure of circulating blood against the walls of blood vessels. Most of this pressure results from the heart pumping blood through the circulatory system. When used without qualification, the term "blood pressure" r ...

* Capnography * D.M.E. * Diagnostic sleep testing * ECG * Enterprise patient informatics solutions *:OB TraceVue *:Compurecord *:ICIP *:eICU program *:Emergin * Hemodynamic * IntelliSpace Cardiovascular * IntelliSpace PACS * IntelliSpace portal * Multi-measurement servers * Neurophedeoiles * Pulse oximetry * Tasy * Temperature * Transcutaneous gases * Ventilation * ViewForum * Xcelera * XIRIS * Xper Information Management

Logo evolution

The famous Philips logo with the stars and waves was designed by Dutch architect Louis Kalff (1897–1976), who stated that the emblem had been created as a coincidence so he did not know how a radio system worked. File:Philips history shield.jpg, 1938–68 File:Philips old logo.svg, 1968–2008 File:Philips Shield blue.svg, 2008–13 File:Philips shield (2013).svg, 2013–present File:Philips logo.svg, Wordmark (1968–2008) File:Philips logo new.svg, Wordmark (2008–present)

Slogans

* Untuk Hiburan Jang Bermutu (Indonesia only) * Pilihan Tepat! (Indonesia only) * Untuk Anda Yang Terbaik (Indonesia only) * Trust In Philips Is Worldwide (1960-1974) * Simply Years Ahead (1974-1981) * We Want You To Have The Best (1981-1985) * Take a Closer Look (1985-1995) * Let's Make Things Better (1995–2004) * Sense & Simplicity (2004–2013) * Innovation & You (2013–present)

Sponsorships

In 1913, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands, Philips founded ''Philips Sports Vereniging'' (Philips Sports Club, now commonly known as PSV). The club is active in numerous sports but is now best known for its football team, PSV Eindhoven, and swimming team. Philips owns the naming rights to Philips Stadium in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,F1 partnership with AT&T Williams. Philips owns the naming rights to the ''Philips Championship'', the premier basketball league in Australia, traditionally known as the National Basketball League. From 1988 to 1993, Philips was the principal sponsor of the Australian rugby league team

The Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995–96) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in ...

and Indonesian football club side Persiba Balikpapan. From 1998 to 2000, Philips sponsored the Winston Cup No. 7 entry for Geoff Bodine Racing, later Ultra Motorsports, for drivers Geoff Bodine and

Michael Waltrip Michael Curtis Waltrip (born April 30, 1963) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, racing commentator, and published author. He competes full time in the Camping World Superstar Racing Experience. He is the younger brother o ...

. From 1999 to 2018, Philips held the naming rights to Philips Arena in Atlanta, home of the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association and former home of the defunct

Atlanta Thrashers The Atlanta Thrashers were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta. Atlanta was granted a franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL) on June 25, 1997, and became the League's 28th franchise when it began play in the 1999–2000 seaso ...

of the National Hockey League. Outside of sports, Philips sponsors the international ''Philips Monsters of Rock festival''.

Environmental record

Circular economy

Philips and its CEO,

, hold several global leadership positions in advancing the

circular economy A circular economy (also referred to as circularity and CE) is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. CE aims ...

, including as a founding member and co-chair of the board of directors for the

Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system o ...

(PACE), applying circular approaches in its capital equipment business, and as a global partner of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Planned obsolescence

Philips was a member of the

Phoebus cartel The Phoebus cartel was an oligopoly that controlled the manufacture and sale of incandescent light bulbs. They appropriated market territories and lowered the useful life of such bulbs. Corporations based in Europe and the United States founded t ...

along with

, Tungsram,

Associated Electrical Industries Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) was a British holding company formed in 1928 through the merger of the British Thomson-Houston Company (BTH) and Metropolitan-Vickers electrical engineering companies. In 1967 AEI was acquired by GEC, to c ...

, ,

Compagnie des Lampes La Compagnie des Lampes ("The Lamp Company") was a name used by several French companies all in the area of electrical products particularly lighting. La Compagnie des Lampes (1888) The original ''Compagnie des Lampes'' was set up at Ivry-sur-Se ...

, International General Electric, and the GE Overseas Group, holding shares in the Swiss corporation proportional to their lamp sales. The cartel lowered operational costs and worked to standardize the life expectancy of light bulbs at 1,000 hours (down from 2,500 hours), and raised prices without fear of competition. The cartel tested their bulbs and fined manufacturers for bulbs that lasted more than 1,000 hours.

Green initiatives

Philips also runs the EcoVision initiative, which commits to a number of environmentally positive improvements, focusing on energy efficiency. Also, Philips marks its "green" products with the Philips Green Logo, identifying them as products that have a significantly better environmental performance than their competitors or predecessors.

L-Prize competition

In 2011, Philips won a $10 million cash prize from the US Department of Energy for winning its L-Prize competition, to produce a high-efficiency, long operating life replacement for a standard 60-W incandescent lightbulb.Margery Conner, EE Times
"$10M L Prize goes to Philips for 60W replacement LED bulb"
. 3 August 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2011. The winning

LED lightbulb An LED lamp or LED light bulb is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps are significantly more energy-efficient than equivalent incandescent lamps and can be significantly more efficient than m ...

, which was made available to consumers in April 2012, produces slightly more than 900 lumens at an input power of 10 W.

Greenpeace ranking

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

's 2012 Guide to Greener Electronics that ranks electronics manufacturers on sustainability, climate and energy and how green their products are, Philips ranks 10th place with a score of 3.8/10. The company was the top scorer in the Energy section due to its energy advocacy work calling upon the EU to adopt a 30% reduction for greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. It is also praised for its new products which are free from PVC plastic and BFRs. However, the guide criticizes Philips' sourcing of fibres for paper, arguing it must develop a paper procurement policy which excludes suppliers involved in deforestation and illegal logging. Philips have made some considerable progress since 2007 (when it was first ranked in this guide), in particular by supporting the Individual Producer Responsibility principle, which means that the company is accepting the responsibility for the toxic impacts of its products on e-waste dumps around the world.

Publications

* A. Heerding: ''The origin of the Dutch incandescent lamp industry''. (Vol. 1 of ''The history of N.V. Philips gloeilampenfabriek''). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986. * A. Heerding: ''A company of many parts''. (Vol. 2 of ''The history of N.V. Philips' gloeilampenfabrieken''). Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1988. * I.J. Blanken: ''The development of N.V. Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken into a major electrical group''. Zaltbommel, European Library, 1999. (Vol. 3 of ''The history of Philips Electronics N.V.''). * I.J. Blanken: ''Under German rule''. Zaltbommel, European Library, 1999. (Vol. 4 of ''The history of Philips Electronics N.V'').

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Electronics companies established in 1891 Companies in the Euro Stoxx 50 Companies listed on Euronext Amsterdam Consumer electronics brands Display technology companies Dutch brands Eindhoven Guitar amplification tubes Headphones manufacturers Home appliance manufacturers of the Netherlands Kitchenware brands Light-emitting diodes Lighting brands Medical technology companies of the Netherlands Mobile phone manufacturers Personal care brands Portable audio player manufacturers Vacuum tubes Videotelephony Dutch companies established in 1891 Radio manufacturers