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Thomson, SA
Public: NYSE: TMS
Euronext: TMS
FoundedParis, France (1893)
HeadquartersBoulogne-Billancourt, France
Key peopleFrank E. Dangeard, Chairman/CEO
Jean-Charles Hourcade, SVP/CTO
Julian Waldron SVP/CFO
IndustryConsumer electronics
ProductsSee partial products listing.
Revenue€ 8.5 billion (2005)
Websitewww.thomson.net
This article is about the media and entertainment company. For other uses, see Thomson (disambiguation).


Thomson SA NYSE: TMS Euronext: TMS, formerly known as Thomson Multimedia is an international French electronics manufacturer and media services provider headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris. In 2004 it had almost 60,000 employees in 30 countries worldwide. In 2005 its consolidated revenues were € 8.5 billion.

History

Thomson is named after the electrical engineer Elihu Thomson, who was born in Manchester, England, on March 26, 1853. Thomson moved to Philadelphia at the age of 5, with his family.

Thomson formed the Thomson-Houston Electric Company in 1879 with Edwin Houston. The company merged with the Edison General Electric Company to become the General Electric Company in 1892. In 1893, the Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston (CFTH) was formed in Paris, a sister company to GE in the United States. It is from this company that the modern Thomson Group would evolve.

In 1966 CFTH merged with Hotchkiss-Brandt to form Thomson-Houston-Hotchkiss-Brandt (soon renamed Thomson-Brandt). In 1968 the electronics business of Thomson-Brandt merged with Compagnie Générale de Télégraphie Sans Fil (CSF) to form Thomson-CSF. Thomson Brandt maintained a significant shareholding in this company (approximately 40%).

In 1982 both Thomson-Brandt and Thomson-CSF were nationalized by François Mitterrand. Thomson-Brandt was renamed Thomson SA (Société Anonyme) and merged with Thomson-CSF.

In 1987, the state-run Thomson bought RCA and GE Consumer Electronics from GE.

In 1988 Thomson Consumer Electronics was formed, renamed Thomson Multimedia in 1995. The French government split the consumer electronics and defence businesses prior to privatisation in 1999, those companies being Thomson Multimedia and Thomson-CSF. Thomson-CSF went through a series of transactions, including with Marconi plc, before becoming Thales in 2000.

Like its American counterpart, the French Thomson has manufactured a variety of electrical, and later electronic, products for industrial, consumer, and military markets.

In 1998 Cirpack, a softswitch manufacturer, was incorporated and acquired in April 2005.

More than 4 million VoIP lines (July 2006) are being run over Cirpack softswitches, within Free Telecom, T-Online or Telecom Italia.

More than 80 voice services providers(carriers, cablos and ISPs)in 30 countries operate Cirpack softswitches.

In 2000, Thomson Multimedia purchased Technicolor from Carlton Television (owned by Carlton Communications) in the UK. Thomson also purchased Internet startup Singingfish from private owners. Thomson became a shareholder in the newly formed Celstream Technolgies, a product engineering services company, based in Bangalore, India.

In 2001, Thomson Multimedia purchased the Grass Valley Group from a private owner.

In 2002, Thomson Multimedia renamed itself Thomson.

In 2004, Thomson purchased the Moving Picture Company from ITV. Later in the same year, Thomson began a move into the broadcast management, facilities and services market, with the purchase of Corinthian Television. In the same year Thomson increased its stake in Bangalore, India based Celstream Technologies specializing in product engineering.

Later in 2004, Thomson set up a joint venture (TTE) with China's TCL, giving to TCL all manufacturing of RCA and Thomson television and DVD products and making TCL the global leader in TV manufacturing. (Thomson still controls the brands themselves and licenses them to TTE.) At the time, TCL was hailed as the first Chinese company to compete on the international stage with large international corporations. Thomson initially retained all marketing of TTE's products, but transferred that to TTE in 2005. Thomson sold its multimedia search engine Singingfish to AOL in late 2004.

In June 2005, Videocon Group India announced that it would acquire the colour picture tube manufacturing business from Thomson SA for Euro 240m. [1]

In July of 2005, Thomson agreed to purchase the independently-held PRN Corporation for $285 million dollars. PRN is the largest in-store television network in the United States.

In December 2005, Thomson re-purchased the Broadcast & Multimedia part from Thales Group. It also announced its intention to eventually sell off its Audio/Video and Accessories businesses, which includes all consumer electronics under the RCA and Thomson brands except TVs (now part of TTE) and communications products such as cordless phones (which it will keep).

Organization

Thomson operates under four strategic brands servicing a variety of global markets:
  • Thomson: Providing consumer electronics to Europe
  • Grass Valley: Providing equipment and services to broadcast industries throughout the world
  • Technicolor: Providing services to film industries throughout the world
In December 2006, Thomson agreed to sell its consumer electronics accessory business, including rights to the RCA name for consumer electronics accessories, to Audiovox.[2]

Thomson also uses the GE (under license) and other brands for consumer electronics in the United States and Canada. It uses both the Thomson and RCA brands for consumer electronics in Latin America, Asia and the Pacific Rim.

Thomson also controls the patents and licensing of the MP3 audio codec.

They also produce a TiVo-based personal video recorder.

Portfolio

  • Consumer electronics
  • Scenium range of HDTV and EDTV TV systems
  • LiFE range of low cost 4:3 CRT TV systems
  • Scenium DVD and home-theatre systems
  • Lyra personal media players
  • Digital TV receivers
  • Satellite receivers (division acquired from Grundig)
  • GE digital and analog telephones
  • SpeedTouch range of ADSL modems and IP phones
  • Film services
  • Film processing
  • Post production and special effects
  • VHS, DVD and film-reel authoring and distribution
  • Digital cinema
  • Broadcast equipment and services
  • Video disk recorders and servers
  • Digital news production
  • Cameras
  • Routers and control surfaces
  • Video switchers
  • Broadcast facilities
  • Digital media asset management
  • Analogue and digital radio broadcasting equipment
  • Cable modems

References



In December 2006, the European subsidiary of TTE closed its operations in France and TTE lost the right to use the Thomson brand on TV sold in Europe

External links

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Euronext N.V. is a pan-European stock exchange based in Paris[1] and with subsidiaries in Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. In addition to equities and derivatives markets, the Euronext group provides clearing and information services.
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Ville de Paris

City flag City coat of arms

Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur
(Latin: "Tossed by the waves, she does not sink")

The Eiffel Tower in Paris, as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro.
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Industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent, industrious"), is the segment of economy concerned with production of goods. Industry began in its present form during the 1800s, aided by technological advances, and it has continued to develop to this day.
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Consumer electronics include electronic equipment intended for everyday use. Consumer electronics are most often used in entertainment, communications and office productivity.
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Aspinwall Classification System (Leo Aspinwall, 1958) classifies and rates products based on five variables:
  1. Replacement rate (How frequently is the product repurchased?)
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Revenue is a business term for the amount of money that a company receives from its activities in a given period, mostly from sales of products and/or services to customers.
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A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN.
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Thomson has several meanings:

People named Thomson

  • Alexander Thomson (1817–1875), Scottish architect
  • Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress

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New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the "Big Board", is a New York City-based stock exchange. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume and, with 2,764 listed securities[1], has the second most securities of all stock exchanges.
..... Click the link for more information.
Euronext N.V. is a pan-European stock exchange based in Paris[1] and with subsidiaries in Belgium, France, Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. In addition to equities and derivatives markets, the Euronext group provides clearing and information services.
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Motto
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
Anthem
"La Marseillaise"


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Commune of
Boulogne-Billancourt

Typical street in Boulogne.

Location

Paris and inner ring départements
Coordinates

Administration
Country
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Ville de Paris

City flag City coat of arms

Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur
(Latin: "Tossed by the waves, she does not sink")

The Eiffel Tower in Paris, as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro.
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Elihu Thomson (March 29, 1853 – March 13, 1937) was an engineer and inventor who was instrumental in the founding of major electrical companies in the United States, United Kingdom and France.
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City of Manchester
Manchester City Centre

Coat of Arms of the City Council
Nickname: "Capital of the North", "Cottonopolis", "Madchester", "Second city"
Motto: "Concilio Et Labore"
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Motto
Dieu et mon droit   (French)
"God and my right"
Anthem
No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the Queen".
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March 26 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

Events

  • 1026 - Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor.

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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1820s  1830s  1840s  - 1850s -  1860s  1870s  1880s
1850 1851 1852 - 1853 - 1854 1855 1856

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Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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Flag
Seal
Nickname: "City of Brotherly Love", "The City that Loves you Back", "Cradle of Liberty", "The Quaker City", "The Birthplace of America", "Philly".
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Thomson-Houston Electric Company was formed in 1883 from the merger of the Elihu Thomson's American Electric Company and the interests of Edwin Houston.

Thomson-Houston merged with the Edison General Electric Company to form the General Electric Company in 1892.
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8th century - 9th century - 10th century
850s  860s  870s  - 880s -  890s  900s  910s
885 886 887 - 888 - 889 890 891

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Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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Edwin J. Houston (1847–1914) was an American electrical inventor. He helped design an arc light generator with Elihu Thomson.

See also

  • Thomson-Houston Electric Company

References

  • Lighting a Revolution . Retrieved on 2006-02-10.

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Thomas Alva Edison (February 11 1847 – October 18 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph and a long lasting light bulb.
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General Electric Co.

Public (NYSE:  GE )
Founded 1878 in Menlo Park, New Jersey
Founder Thomas Alva Edison
Headquarters Fairfield, Connecticut,[1] USA

Key people Jeff Immelt, Chairman & CEO
Keith Sherin, Vice Chairman, CFO
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General Electric Co.

Public (NYSE:  GE )
Founded 1878 in Menlo Park, New Jersey
Founder Thomas Alva Edison
Headquarters Fairfield, Connecticut,[1] USA

Key people Jeff Immelt, Chairman & CEO
Keith Sherin, Vice Chairman, CFO
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1860s  1870s  1880s  - 1890s -  1900s  1910s  1920s
1889 1890 1891 - 1892 - 1893 1894 1895

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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1860s  1870s  1880s  - 1890s -  1900s  1910s  1920s
1890 1891 1892 - 1893 - 1894 1895 1896

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19th century - 20th century - 21st century
1930s  1940s  1950s  - 1960s -  1970s  1980s  1990s
1963 1964 1965 - 1966 - 1967 1968 1969

Year 1966 (MCMLXVI
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