Westinghouse Electric Corporation
Formerly
  • Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company (1886–1945)
  • Westinghouse Electric Corp. (1945–1997)
  • CBS Corporation (1997–2000)
Company typePublic (1916–1997)[1]
NYSE: WX (1916–1997)[1]
FoundedAugust 8, 1886; 138 years ago (1886-08-08)
FounderGeorge Westinghouse
DefunctApril 26, 2000; 24 years ago (2000-04-26)
FateRenamed "CBS Corporation" in 1997, then merged with Viacom in 2000
Successor
Headquarters
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
,
U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Divisions
Subsidiaries

The Westinghouse Electric Corporation (later CBS Corporation) was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse and headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in 1945. Through the early and mid-20th century, Westinghouse Electric was a powerhouse in heavy industry, electrical production and distribution, consumer electronics, home appliances and a wide variety of other products.

A series of downturns and management missteps in the 1970s and 80s combined with large cash balances led the company to enter the financial services business. This suffered significant losses in the late 1980s, and in 1992 they announced a major restructuring and the liquidation of their credit operations. In 1995, in a major change of direction, the company acquired the CBS television network in 1995 and was renamed CBS Corporation. CBS Corp was acquired by Viacom in 1999, a merger completed in April 2000.[9] The CBS Corporation name was later reused for one of the two companies resulting from the split of Viacom in 2005.

One of the few remaining original lines of business to survive this process was the nuclear power division, which was sold to Siemens in 1998 and re-formed as Westinghouse Electric Company. The Westinghouse trademarks are owned by Westinghouse Electric Corporation,[10] and were previously part of Westinghouse Licensing Corporation.[10][11]

History

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Beginnings

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The evolution of Paramount
1886Westinghouse Electric Corporation is founded as Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company
1912Famous Players Film Company is founded
1913Lasky Feature Play Company is founded
1914Paramount Pictures is founded
1916Famous Players and Lasky merge as Famous Players–Lasky and acquire Paramount
1927Famous Players–Lasky renamed to Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation; CBS is founded with investment from Columbia Records
1929Paramount acquires 49% of CBS
1930Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation renamed to Paramount Publix Corporation
1932Paramount sells back its shares of CBS
1934Gulf+Western is founded as the Michigan Bumper Corporation
1935Paramount Publix Corporation renamed to Paramount Pictures
1936National Amusements is founded as Northeast Theater Corporation
1938CBS acquires Columbia Records
1950Desilu is founded and CBS distributes its television programs
1952CBS creates the CBS Television Film Sales division
1958CBS Television Film Sales renamed to CBS Films
1966Gulf+Western acquires Paramount
1967Gulf+Western acquires Desilu and renames it Paramount Television (now CBS Studios)
1968CBS Films renamed to CBS Enterprises
1970CBS Enterprises renamed to Viacom
1971Viacom is spun off from CBS
1987National Amusements acquires Viacom
1988CBS sells Columbia Records to Sony
1989Gulf+Western renamed to Paramount Communications
1994Viacom acquires Paramount Communications
1995Westinghouse acquires CBS
1997Westinghouse renamed to CBS Corporation
2000Viacom acquires UPN and CBS Corporation
2005Viacom splits into second CBS Corporation and Viacom
2006CBS Corporation shuts down UPN and replaces it with The CW
2017CBS Corporation sells CBS Radio to Entercom (now Audacy)
2019CBS Corporation and Viacom re-merge as ViacomCBS
2022ViacomCBS renamed to Paramount Global
2024Skydance Media and Paramount Global agree to merge
George Westinghouse, founder

Westinghouse Electric was founded by George Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on January 8, 1886. Building on the advancement of AC technology in Europe,[12] the firm became active in developing alternating current (AC) electric infrastructure throughout the United States. The company's largest factories were located in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Lester, Pennsylvania[13] and Hamilton, Ontario, where they made turbines, generators, motors, and switch gear for the generation, transmission, and use of electricity.[14] In addition to George Westinghouse, early engineers working for the company included Frank Conrad, Benjamin Garver Lamme, Bertha Lamme (first woman mechanical engineer in the United States), Oliver B. Shallenberger, William Stanley, Nikola Tesla, Stephen Timoshenko, and Vladimir Zworykin.

Early on, Westinghouse was a rival to Thomas Edison's electric company. In 1892, Edison was merged with Westinghouse's chief AC rival, the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, making an even bigger competitor, General Electric. Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company changed its name to Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1945.[citation needed]

1990s

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In 1990, Westinghouse experienced a serious setback when the corporation lost over one billion dollars due to bad high-risk, high-fee, high-interest loans made by its Westinghouse Credit Corporation lending arm.[15]

In an attempt to revitalize the corporation, the board of directors appointed outside management in the form of CEO Michael H. Jordan, who brought in numerous consultants to help re-engineer the company in order to realize the potential that they saw in the broadcasting industry. Westinghouse reduced the workforce in many of its traditional industrial operations and made further acquisitions in broadcasting to add to its already substantial Group W network, including Infinity Broadcasting, TNN, CMT, American Radio Systems, and rights to NFL broadcasting. These investments cost the company over fifteen billion dollars. To recoup its costs, Westinghouse sold many other operations, including its defense electronics division, its metering and load control division (which was sold to ABB), its residential security division, the office furniture company Knoll, and Thermo King.[16]

Westinghouse purchased CBS Inc. in 1994 for $5.4 billion.[17] Westinghouse Electric Corporation changed its name to and became the original CBS Corporation in 1997.[18] Also in 1997, the Power Generation Business Unit, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, was sold to Siemens AG of Germany.[19] A year later, CBS sold all of its commercial nuclear power businesses to British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL).[20] In connection with that sale, certain rights to use the Westinghouse trademarks were granted to the newly formed BNFL subsidiary, Westinghouse Electric Company.[20] That company was sold to Toshiba in 2006.[21]

Patents

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During the 20th century, Westinghouse engineers and scientists were granted more than 28,000 U.S. patents, the third most of any company.[22]

Products and sponsorships

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Environmental incidents

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There have been a number of Westinghouse-related environmental incidents in the US. Below is a short list of these. All of these are chemical pollution incidents; none of them involve nuclear reactors or nuclear pollution.

Timeline of company evolution

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1880s

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1888 Westinghouse brochure advertising their Alternating system
Share of the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, issued March 31, 1910

1890s

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1900s to 1920s

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1924 book on protective relays for AC and DC electrical systems by the company

1930s and 1940s

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1950s to 1970s

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Logo designed by Paul Rand in 1959

1980s

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1990s to 2020s

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Logo used by original CBS Corp

Employees

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CEOs

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Other

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Overseas subsidiaries

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Westinghouse established subsidiary companies in several countries including British Westinghouse and Società Italiana Westinghouse in Vado Ligure, Italy. British Westinghouse became a subsidiary of Metropolitan-Vickers in 1919 and the Italian Westinghouse factory was taken over by Tecnomasio in 1921.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Dow Jones Industrial Average - Historical Components" (PDF). www.djindexes.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 2, 2017. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  2. ^ "W.G. Bryant Dies; Bridgeport Banker – Chairman of Electrical Company and Inventor Succumbs at 66 in Colorado Springs – Started Own Firm in 1889 – Business Grew From $5,000 Plant to Manufacture His Devices to $3,000,000 Enterprise". The New York Times. July 6, 1930. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  3. ^ "Industrial Hamilton -- A Trail to the Future - Canadian Westinghouse Company, Limited". epe.lac-bac.gc.ca.
  4. ^ Kamen, Robin (November 24, 1997). "To Infinity and Beyond: Mel Takes on CBS". Crain's New York Business: 1.
  5. ^ "Viacom-CBS SEC Report".
  6. ^ "Westinghouse Bids for Role In the Remake: CBS Deal Advances TV's Global Reach". The New York Times. August 2, 1995.
  7. ^ Katz, Michael (February 17, 1997). "CBS makes cable a 'core business;' with purchase of TNN and CMT, network doubles its cable holdings". Broadcasting & Cable.
  8. ^ Fabrikant, Geraldine (February 11, 1997). "Westinghouse To Buy Units From Gaylord For $1.5 Billion". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  9. ^ "CBS And Viacom Complete Merger". CBS News. April 26, 2000. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  10. ^ a b c "Sale of Trademarks". Paramount Global. p. 93. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  11. ^ "Error". search.sunbiz.org.
  12. ^ Brusso, Barry; Allerhand, Adam (January 2021). "A Contrarian History of Early Electric Power Distribution". IEEE Industry Applications Magazine. IEEE.org: 12. doi:10.1109/MIAS.2020.3028630. Archived from the original on December 12, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  13. ^ a b History of Tinicum Township (PA) 1643–1993 (PDF). Tinicum Township Historical Society. 1993. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 23, 2015.
  14. ^ a b "Steam Hammer, Westinghouse Works, 1904". World Digital Library. 1904. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
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