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The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and
defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...
electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250,000 employees in the 1980s, and at its peak in the 1990s, made profits of over £1 billion a year. In June 1998, GEC sold its share of the joint venture GEC-Alsthom on the
Paris stock exchange Euronext Paris is France's securities market, formerly known as the Paris Bourse, which merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Brussels exchanges in September 2000 to form Euronext NV. As of 2022, the 795 companies listed had a combined market ...
. In December 1999, GEC's defence arm,
Marconi Electronic Systems Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), or GEC-Marconi as it was until 1998, was the defence arm of General Electric Company (GEC). It was demerged from GEC and bought by British Aerospace (BAe) on 30 November 1999 to form BAE Systems. GEC then renam ...
, was sold to
British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...
, forming
BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...
. The rest of GEC, mainly telecommunications equipment manufacturing, continued as
Marconi Communications Marconi Communications, the former telecommunications arm of Britain's General Electric Company plc (GEC), was founded in August 1998 through the amalgamation of GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) with other GEC subsidiaries: Marconi SpA, GE ...
. After buying several US telecoms manufacturers at the top of the market, losses following the bursting of the
dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...
in 2001 led to the restructuring in 2003 of Marconi plc into
Marconi Corporation plc Marconi Communications, the former telecommunications arm of Britain's General Electric Company plc (GEC), was founded in August 1998 through the amalgamation of GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) with other GEC subsidiaries: Marconi SpA, GEC ...
. In 2005,
Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...
acquired the bulk of that company. What was left of the business was renamed
Telent Telent Technology Services Limited (styled as telent) is a British radio, telecommunications, and digital infrastructure systems installation and services provision company. The name was used from 2006 for those parts of the United Kingdom and G ...
.


History


Early years (1886–88)

GEC had its origins in the G. Binswanger and Company, an electrical goods wholesaler established in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in the 1880s by a German-Jewish immigrant, Gustav Binswanger (later Gustav Byng). Regarded as the year GEC was founded, 1886 saw a fellow immigrant,
Hugo Hirst Hugo Hirst, 1st Baron Hirst (26 November 1863 – 22 January 1943), known as Sir Hugo Hirst, Bt, between 1925 and 1934, was a German-born British industrialist. Born near Munich, Hugo Hirsch became a naturalized British subject in 1883 and change ...
, join Byng, and the company changed its name to The General Electric Apparatus Company (G. Binswanger). Their small business found early success with its unorthodox method of supplying electrical components over the counter. Hugo Hirst was an entrepreneurial salesman who saw the potential of electricity and was able to direct the standardisation of an industry in its infancy. He travelled across Europe with an eye for the latest products, and in 1887 the company published the first electrical catalogue of its kind. The following year, the company acquired its first factory in
Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...
, where
electric bell An electric bell is a mechanical or electronic bell that functions by means of an electromagnet. When an electric current is applied, it produces a repetitive buzzing, clanging or ringing sound. Electromechanical bells have been widely used at r ...
s, telephones,
ceiling rose In the United Kingdom and Australia, a ceiling rose is a decorative element affixed to the ceiling from which a chandelier or light fitting is often suspended. They are typically round in shape and display a variety of ornamental designs. In mo ...
s and switches were manufactured.


Incorporation and expansion (1889–1913)

In 1889, the business was incorporated as a private company known as the General Electric Company Ltd. The company was expanding rapidly, opening new branches and factories and trading in 'everything electrical', a phrase that was to become synonymous with GEC. In 1893, it decided to invest in the manufacture of lamps. The resulting company, (to become
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 ...
in 1909), was to lead the way in lamp design, and the burgeoning demand for electric lighting was to make GEC's fortune. In 1900, GEC was incorporated as a
public limited company A public limited company (legally abbreviated to PLC or plc) is a type of public company under United Kingdom company law, some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth jurisdictions, and the Republic of Ireland. It is a limited liability company ...
, The General Electric Company (1900) Ltd (the '1900' was dropped three years later). In 1902, its first purpose-built factory, the Witton Engineering Works, was opened near
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
. In 1907 GEC set up the ''Peel-Connor Telephone Works'' to manufacture telephone exchanges and telephones for the GPO; GEC supplied a large CB manual exchange for Glasgow in 1910. The British telephone system had been taken over and was operated by the
General Post Office The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II in 1660. ...
(GPO or BPO, a government department). The telephone manufacturing section moved from Manchester to Coventry in 1919, and GEC was one of the "ring" of four (later five) companies supplying the GPO with Strowger automatic telephone exchanges (called "Step-by-Step" or SXS) in use from the 1920s to the 1960s. With the death of Gustav Byng in 1910, Hugo Hirst became the chairman as well as managing director, a position he had assumed in 1906. Hirst's shrewd investment in lamp manufacture was proving extremely profitable. In 1909, Osram began production of the most successful tungsten filament lamps in the industry. Rapidly growing private and commercial use of electricity created huge demand. The company expanded both at home and overseas, with the establishment of agencies in Europe, Japan, Australia, South Africa, and
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. It also did substantial trade with South America.


World Wars and post-WWII (1914–60)

The outbreak of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
transformed GEC into a major player in the electrical industry. It was heavily involved in the war effort, with products such as radios,
signal lamp Signal lamp training during World War II A signal lamp (sometimes called an Aldis lamp or a Morse lamp) is a semaphore system using a visual signaling device for optical communication, typically using Morse code. The idea of flashing dots and ...
s, and the arc-lamp
carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...
s used in
searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...
s. Between the wars, GEC expanded to become a global corporation and national institution. The takeover of Fraser and Chalmers in 1918 took GEC into heavy engineering and bolstered their claim to supply 'everything electrical'. In the same year, the maker of electricity meters, Chamberlain and Hookham, was also acquired by GEC. In 1917, GEC created the Express Lift Company in
Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...
, England. In 1919, GEC merged its radio valve manufacturing interests with those of the
Marconi Company The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that did business under that name from 1963 to 1987. Its roots were in the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 ...
to form the Marconi-Osram Valve Company. In the 1920s, the company was heavily involved in the creation of the UK-wide National Grid. The opening of a new purpose-built company headquarters (Magnet House) in
Kingsway, London The A4200 is a major thoroughfare in central London. It runs between the A4 at Aldwych, to the A400 Hampstead Road/ Camden High Street, at Mornington Crescent tube station. Kingsway Kingsway is a major road in central London, designa ...
in 1921, and the pioneering industrial research laboratories at
Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
in 1923 (later named the
Hirst Research Centre The Hirst Research Centre, also known as the GEC Hirst Research Centre or GEC Research Laboratories, was established in 1919 at Wembley, Middlesex, by the General Electric Company. History Formally opened in 1923, the site at East Lane, Wembley ...
), were symbolic of the continuing expansion of both GEC and the electrical industry. In
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, GEC was a major supplier to the military of electrical and engineering products. Significant contributions to the war effort included the development in 1940 of the
cavity magnetron The cavity magnetron is a high-power vacuum tube used in early radar systems and currently in microwave ovens and linear particle accelerators. It generates microwaves using the interaction of a stream of electrons with a magnetic field while ...
for
radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
, by the scientists John Randall and
Harry Boot Henry Albert Howard Boot (29 July 1917 – 8 February 1983) was an English physicist who with Sir John Randall and James Sayers developed the cavity magnetron, which was one of the keys to the Allied victory in the Second World War. Biography ...
at the
University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
, as well as advances in communications technology and the ongoing mass production of
valves A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fittings ...
, lamps and lighting equipment. The post-war years saw a decline in GEC's expansion. After the death of Hugo Hirst in 1943, his son-in-law Leslie Gamage (elder son of the founder of
Gamages Gamages was a department store in Holborn, London. Trading between 1878 and 1972, it was particularly well known for its toy and hardware departments. History Gamages began life in 1878 in a rented watch repair shop and, after quickly becoming ...
), along with Harry Railing, took over as joint managing directors. Despite the huge demand for electrical consumer goods, and large investments in heavy engineering and
nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...
, profits began to fall in the face of competition and internal disorganisation.


Further expansion (1961–83)

In 1961, GEC merged with Sir Michael Sobell's Radio & Allied Industries, and with it emerged the new power behind GEC, Sobell's son-in-law Arnold Weinstock, who became the managing director of GEC in 1963, and moved its headquarters from Kingsway to a new building at 1 Stanhope Gate in
Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...
. Weinstock embarked on a programme to rationalise the entire UK electrical industry, beginning with the internal rejuvenation of GEC. In a drive for efficiency, Weinstock made cut-backs and instigated mergers, resulting in new growth for the company. GEC returned to profit and the financial markets' confidence was restored. In the late 1960s, the electrical industry was revolutionised as GEC acquired
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 ...
(AEI) in 1967, which encompassed
Metropolitan-Vickers Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial el ...
,
British Thomson-Houston British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was a British engineering and heavy industrial company, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England, and founded as a subsidiary of the General Electric Company (GE) of Schenectady, New York, United States. They were kno ...
,
Edison Swan The Edison and Swan Electric Light Company Limited was a manufacturer of incandescent lamp bulbs and other electrical goods. It was formed in 1883 with the name Edison & Swan United Electric Light Company with the merger of the Swan United Elec ...
, Siemens Brothers & Co,
Hotpoint Hotpoint is a British brand of domestic appliances. Ownership of the brand is split between American company Whirlpool, which has the rights in Europe, and Chinese company Haier, which has the rights in the Americas through its purchase of GE A ...
,
William Thomas Henley William Thomas Henley (1814–1882) was a pioneer in the manufacture of telegraph cables. He was working as a porter in Cheapside in 1830, leaving after disputes with his employer, and working at the St Katherine Docks for six years. During those ...
and
Birlec Birlec Ltd. was an English manufacturer of industrial electric furnaces. Birlec was founded in 1927, as the Birmingham Electric Furnace Company, establishing a factory at Tyburn Road, Erdington, Birmingham. In 1954, Birlec's owner the Mond Nickel ...
. In 1968, GEC merged with
English Electric N.º UIC: 9094 110 1449-3 (Takargo Rail) The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, armistice of World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during th ...
, incorporating Elliott Brothers, the
Marconi Company The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that did business under that name from 1963 to 1987. Its roots were in the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 ...
,
Ruston & Hornsby Ruston & Hornsby was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, Lincoln, England founded in 1918. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow gauge railway, narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of ...
,
Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns Ltd (RSH) was a locomotive builder with works in North East England. History The company was formed in September 1937 when Robert Stephenson and Company, which was based in Darlington, took over the locomotive ...
, the
Vulcan Foundry The Vulcan Foundry Limited was an English locomotive builder sited at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire (now Merseyside). History The Vulcan Foundry opened in 1832, as Charles Tayleur and Company to produce girders for bridges, switches, crossi ...
,
Willans & Robinson Willans & Robinson Limited manufacturing engineers of Thames Ditton, Surrey. Later, from 1896, at Victoria Works, Rugby, Warwickshire, England. They were manufacturers of stationary reciprocating steam engines then steam turbines, Diesel motors and ...
and
Dick, Kerr & Co Dick, Kerr and Company was a locomotive and tramcar manufacturer based in Kilmarnock, Scotland and Preston, England. Early history W.B. Dick and Company was founded in 1854 in Glasgow by William Bruce Dick. The company were initially oil ref ...
. The Elliot computer company became
GEC Computers GEC Computers Limited was a British computer manufacturing company under the GEC holding company from 1968 until the 1990s. History Starting life as Elliott Automation, in 1967–68 the data processing computer products were transferred to I ...
, whose products were successful in academic computing and real-time process control in the 1970s and 1980s. The Witton works remained one of the company's biggest sites, producing high-voltage
switchgear In an electric power system, a switchgear is composed of electrical disconnect switches, fuses or circuit breakers used to control, protect and isolate electrical equipment. Switchgear is used both to de-energize equipment to allow work to be ...
and
transformer A transformer is a passive component that transfers electrical energy from one electrical circuit to another circuit, or multiple circuits. A varying current in any coil of the transformer produces a varying magnetic flux in the transformer' ...
s, small motors, mercury arc rectifiers and traction components, until the plant was gradually sold off by Weinstock in 1969. In 1969, a new subsidiary company was born, English Electric-AEI Traction Ltd. This new organisation slowly integrated together the traction divisions of both AEI and EE, culminating in 1972 when the company was renamed
GEC Traction GEC Traction Limited was a British industrial company formed in 1972 which designed and manufactured electric traction equipment for railway rolling stock. The company had manufacturing sites at Manchester, Preston and Sheffield and was a wholly ...
Ltd. Also added to the company was the industrial locomotive division of the former English Electric which was based at Vulcan Works,
Newton-le-Willows Newton-le-Willows is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. The population at the 2011 census was 22,114. Newton-le-Willows is on the eastern edge of St Helens, south of Wigan and north of Warrington. The ...
(this later became a separate company, GEC Industrial Locomotives Ltd). The company had manufacturing sites at
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, Preston and
Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
. The company continued to expand with the acquisition in 1979 of weighing machine maker
W & T Avery W & T Avery Ltd. (later GEC Avery) was a British manufacturer of weighing machines. The company was founded in the early 18th century and took the name W & T Avery in 1818. Having been taken over by GEC in 1979 the company was later renamed int ...
, renamed GEC Avery. In April 1981, GEC acquired Cincinnati Electronics (CE), in
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, Ohio, at the time owned by George J Mealey. CE was a leader in military radios and
infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...
technology, space electronics, and other high-security products, doing business throughout the world. (Now owned by L-3 Cincinnati Electronics.) In 1981, GEC acquired Picker Corporation, an American manufacturer of medical imaging equipment. GEC merged Picker with Cambridge Instruments,
GEC Medical GEC Medical was a unit of the General Electric Company that was headquartered in what was known as East Lane Industrial Estate in North Wembley, behind the Hirst Research Centre which fronted East Lane. The East Lane Industrial Estate boasted ...
, and American Optical to form Picker International (PI). GEC Medical was itself an amalgamation of Watson & Sons Ltd, formed in the early 20th century in London and long a part of GEC, and A E Dean & Co of
Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
. In 1982, PI introduced the first 1.0T
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) unit. In 1998, it acquired the CT division of
Elscint Elscint was an Israeli technology company that developed, manufactured and sold medical imaging solutions, including: Nuclear medicine, computed tomography magnetic resonance imaging and X-ray scanners. Elscint's shares traded on the NASDAQ as w ...
In 1999, the company changed its name to Marconi Medical Systems. In 2001,
Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
bought Marconi Medical Systems for $1.1 billion.


Acquisitions and mergers (1984–97)

GEC had become the UK's largest and most successful company and private employer, with about 250,000 employees. In 1984 it became one of the first companies in the new
FTSE 100 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest market ...
, ranking third in value behind British Petroleum and Shell Transport and Trading. In 1985 GEC acquired
Yarrow Shipbuilders Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also o ...
from
British Shipbuilders British Shipbuilders (BS) was a public corporation that owned and managed the shipbuilding industry in Great Britain from 1977 through the 1980s. Its head office was at Benton House in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. History The corporation was ...
. In 1988
GEC Plessey Telecommunications GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) was a British manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, notably the System X telephone exchange. The company was founded in 1988 as a joint venture between GEC and the British electronics, defence and t ...
(GPT) was created when GEC bought
Plessey The Plessey Company plc was a British electronics, defence and telecommunications company. It originated in 1917, growing and diversifying into electronics. It expanded after World War II by acquisition of companies and formed overseas compani ...
. The following year, GEC and
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
formed a joint company, GEC Siemens plc, to take over Plessey. As part of the deal, GEC took control of Plessey's avionics and naval systems businesses. In 1989 GEC and French company
Alsthom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...
merged their power generation and transport businesses in a new joint venture, GEC-Alsthom. In May 1989 GEC-Alsthom bought British rail vehicle manufacturer
Metro-Cammell Metro-Cammell, formally the Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon Company (MCCW), was an English manufacturer of railway carriages, locomotives and railway wagons, based in Saltley, and subsequently Washwood Heath, in Birmingham. Purchased ...
. In 1996 the
Otis Elevator Company Otis Worldwide Corporation (trade name, branded as the Otis Elevator Company, its former legal name) is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets elevators, escalators, moving walkways, and related equipment. Based in Farming ...
acquired The Express Lift Company from GEC. By the mid-1990s GEC was making profits of £1 billion, had cash reserves of £3 billion, and was valued at £10 billion. The move towards electronics and modern technology, particularly in the defence sector, was a departure from the domestic electrical goods market. GEC acquired the
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
based
Ferranti Ferranti or Ferranti International plc was a UK electrical engineering and equipment firm that operated for over a century from 1885 until it went bankrupt in 1993. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The firm was known ...
Defence Systems Group in 1990 as well as part of Ferranti International's assets in Italy. It also bought
Vickers Shipbuilding & Engineering Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, Ltd (VSEL) was a shipbuilding company based at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria in northwest England that built warships, civilian ships, submarines and armaments. The company was historically the Naval Construct ...
(VSE) in 1995. VSE was willing to participate in a merger with a larger company to reduce its exposure to cycles in warship production, particularly in light of the post-
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
"
Options for Change Options for Change was a restructuring of the British Armed Forces in summer 1990 after the end of the Cold War. Until this point, UK military strategy had been almost entirely focused on defending Western Europe against the Soviet Armed Forces, ...
" defence review. Following GEC's purchase, VSE became Marconi Marine. Lord Weinstock retired as managing director in 1996 and was replaced by George Simpson, who embarked on a number of US mergers and acquisitions. In July 1997, GEC announced the outcomes of a major review: it would move away from its joint ventures and focus on moving toward "global leadership" in defence and aerospace (
Marconi Electronic Systems Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), or GEC-Marconi as it was until 1998, was the defence arm of General Electric Company (GEC). It was demerged from GEC and bought by British Aerospace (BAe) on 30 November 1999 to form BAE Systems. GEC then renam ...
), industrial electronics (GEC Industrial Electronics), and communications ( GEC Communications). In February 1998
Marconi Instruments Marconi Instruments Limited (MI) was a British company, one of the Marconi group of companies, formerly part of GEC. Originally formed in 1936, there was a buyout of Marconi-Ekco Instruments to form the company Marconi Instruments in 1941. Th ...
, the test equipment arm of GEC, was sold to IFR Systems. In March 1998 GEC announced the merger of its radar and avionics business with Alenia Difesa to form
Alenia Marconi Systems Alenia Marconi Systems (AMS) was a major European integrated defence electronics company and an equal shares joint venture between BAE Systems and Finmeccanica (now Leonardo S.p.A.) until its dissolution on 3 May 2005. AMS was formed in 1998 by ...
. In June 1998 it completed the $1.4bn acquisition of major American
defence contractor The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and serv ...
Tracor Tracor was a major North American defense electronics contractor which was acquired by Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), a subsidiary of General Electric Company plc, in 1998. Following the purchase of MES by British Aerospace in November 1999 t ...
, which became part of MES. After most of its US acquisitions failed, GEC began to make a loss. The cash reserves Lord Weinstock had built up during the 1980s and early 90s had all but gone, and the company was heavily in debt.


Marconi Electronic Systems sale (1998–99)

Since October 1998, reports had been linking
British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...
(BAe) with the German aerospace group
DASA ''Dasa'' ( sa, दास, Dāsa) is a Sanskrit word found in ancient Indian texts such as the ''Rigveda'' and ''Arthasastra''. It usually means "enemy" or "servant" but ''dasa'', or ''das'', also means a "servant of God", "devotee," "votary" or "o ...
. GEC was also seen as a potential partner in a three-way merger with BAe and DASA. In December 1998, reports emerged that GEC was seeking a partner for MES, the value of which was greatly increased by the Tracor acquisition. Prospective partners included
Thomson-CSF Thomson-CSF was a French company that specialized in the development and manufacture of electronics with a heavy focus upon the aerospace and defence sectors of the market. Thomson-CSF was formed in 1968 following the merger of Thomson-Houst ...
(by 1998 on the path to privatisation) and various American defence contractors (e.g.
Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...
and TRW). GEC had already been active in pursuing consolidation in the defence business. In 1997, it made an ultimately unsuccessful bid to the French government to privatise Thomson-CSF and merge it with MES. A merger of UK companies soon became the most likely development. In mid-January 1999, GEC and British Aerospace confirmed they were holding talks. On 19 January, it was announced British Aerospace was to acquire Marconi Electronic Systems for £7.7bn ($12.75bn).


Marconi plc (1999–2002)

While the deal was yet to be completed, GEC used much of the anticipated proceeds of the MES sale to buy companies in 1999. This was part of a major realignment of the firm to focus on the burgeoning telecoms sector, and it became a radio, telecommunications and internet equipment manufacturer. In 1999, Marconi plc bought two American equipment-makers: RELTEC Corporation in March for £1.3bn, and
FORE Systems FORE Systems was a computer network switching equipment company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1990 to supply Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) cards for workstation computers, it soon branched out to become a major supplier in the AT ...
in April for £2.8bn, to complement the telecommunication business of its subsidiary
Marconi Communications Marconi Communications, the former telecommunications arm of Britain's General Electric Company plc (GEC), was founded in August 1998 through the amalgamation of GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) with other GEC subsidiaries: Marconi SpA, GE ...
. Later that year, GEC acquired Kvaerner's
Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south ba ...
shipyard. In April 2000, it acquired
Mobile Systems International Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ...
for £391m. These acquisitions were made at the height of the
dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...
, and the bursting of the bubble in 2001 took a heavy toll on Marconi. In July 2001, Marconi plc suffered a 54% drop in its share price following the suspension of trading of its shares, a profits warning, and redundancies. Its managing director Lord Simpson was forced to resign. Shares that had been worth £12.50 at GEC's peak had fallen to £0.04. Lord Weinstock's own stake, once worth £480 million, was reduced to £2 million.


Marconi Corporation plc and break-up (2002–05)

On 19 May 2003, Marconi plc underwent a restructuring and became
Marconi Corporation plc Marconi Communications, the former telecommunications arm of Britain's General Electric Company plc (GEC), was founded in August 1998 through the amalgamation of GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) with other GEC subsidiaries: Marconi SpA, GEC ...
, advised by
Lazard Lazard Ltd (formerly known as Lazard Frères & Co.) is a financial advisory and asset management firm that engages in investment banking, asset management and other financial services, primarily with institutional clients. It is the world's lar ...
and
Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...
. Marconi shareholders received one Marconi Corporation share for every 559 Marconi shares. In a
debt-for-equity swap Debt restructuring is a process that allows a private or public company or a sovereign entity facing cash flow problems and financial distress to reduce and renegotiate its delinquent debts to improve or restore liquidity so that it can continue ...
, the firm's creditors received 99.5% of the new company's shares. In 2005, the company failed to secure any part of BT's
21st Century Network The 21st Century Network (21CN) programme is the data and voice network transformation project, under way since 2004, of the UK telecommunications company BT Group plc. It was intended to move BT's telephone network from the AXE/ System X Public Sw ...
(21CN) programme, surprising commentators and sending the company's shares tumbling. Before the announcement, the investment bank
Dresdner Kleinwort Kleinwort Hambros is a private bank owned by Société Générale that offers financial services from offices throughout the United Kingdom and Channel Islands. Kleinwort Hambros focuses on private banking, providing a range of services for high ...
had said, " arconi isso advanced with its products and so entrenched with BT Group plc that its selection looks certain." Various bids were received for the business, including one from
Huawei Technologies Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smart ...
, with whom Marconi already had a joint venture. Until the collapse of the Marconi group in 2005 and 2006, the company was a major supplier of
Asynchronous Transfer Mode Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a telecommunications standard defined by American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and ITU-T (formerly CCITT) for digital transmission of multiple types of traffic. ATM was developed to meet the needs of ...
,
Gigabit Ethernet In computer networking, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE or 1 GigE) is the term applied to transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second. The most popular variant, 1000BASE-T, is defined by the IEEE 802.3ab standard. It came into use i ...
, and
Internet Protocol The Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet. IP h ...
products. The majority of Marconi Corporation's businesses (including
Marconi Communications Marconi Communications, the former telecommunications arm of Britain's General Electric Company plc (GEC), was founded in August 1998 through the amalgamation of GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) with other GEC subsidiaries: Marconi SpA, GE ...
and the rights to the Marconi name) were sold to
Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...
in 2005, and the remainder was renamed
Telent Telent Technology Services Limited (styled as telent) is a British radio, telecommunications, and digital infrastructure systems installation and services provision company. The name was used from 2006 for those parts of the United Kingdom and G ...
plc. On 27 October 2006, the company folded voluntarily.


See also

*
Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom The aerospace industry of the United Kingdom is the second-largest national aerospace industry in the world (after the United States) and the largest in Europe by turnover, with a global market share of 17% in 2019. In 2020, the industry employed ...
* GEC-Marconi scientist deaths conspiracy theory * National Lift Tower – a lift test tower built by The Express Lift Company


References


Further reading

* *


External links


The History of the General Electric Company up to 1900 – Part 1 – ''GEC Review'', Volume 14, No. 1, 1999
* ttps://archive.today/2013.04.11-013332/https://googledrive.com/host/0B-UggpdTDpJER2M5Z0VhT294Tkk/roots.html The Roots of GEC 1670 – 1999br>The former GEC Archives Collection – archived website
* {{Authority control Defunct companies of the United Kingdom Manufacturing companies established in 1886 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1999 Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange 1886 establishments in England 1999 disestablishments in England British companies established in 1886 British companies disestablished in 1999 Radio manufacturers