- Thomson-CSF
Thomson-CSF was a major electronics and
defense contractor . In December2000 it was renamedThales Group .History
In
1879 Elihu Thomson andEdwin Houston formed theThomson-Houston Electric Company in theUnited States .On
April 15 1892 Thomson-Houston and theEdison General Electric Company merged to formGeneral Electric (GE). Also in 1892 the company formed a French subsidiary, Thomson Houston International.In
1893 Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston (CFTH) was set up as a partner to GE. It is from this company that the modern Thomson companies would evolve.In
1966 CFTH merged withHotchkiss-Brandt to form Thomson-Houston-Hotchkiss-Brandt (soon renamed Thomson-Brandt). In1968 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 byFrançois Mitterrand . Thomson-Brandt was renamed Thomson SA (Société Anonyme) and merged with Thomson-CSF.From
1983 to1987 a major reorganisation of Thomson-CSF was undertaken, with divestitures to refocus the group on its core activities (electronics and defence). Thomson-CSF Téléphone and the medical division were sold toAlcatel and GE respectively. The semiconductor businesses of Thomson CSF was merged withFinmeccanica . Thomson acquired General Electric’sRCA and GE consumer electronics business in 1987.In 1988 Thomson Consumer Electronics was formed, renamed Thomson Multimedia in
1995 . The French government split the consumer electronics and defence businesses prior toprivatisation in1999 , those companies being Thomson Multimedia (todayThomson SA ) and Thomson-CSF (todayThales Group ).Thomson-CSF independence
Following the privatisation of the Thomson Group Thomson-CSF explored the possibility of merging with
Marconi Electronic Systems , howeverBritish Aerospace was successful in that aim, formingBAE Systems .In 2000 Thomson-CSF went through a series of transactions, including with
Marconi plc . The major acquisition at this time was the £1.3 billion purchase of the British defence electronics firm,Racal . This made Thomson-CSF the second largest participant in the UK defence industry after BAE. Racal was renamed Thomson-CSF Racal plc.On
December 6 2000 the group was renamed Thales.Bibliography
* "L'entreprise partagée ? Une pratique différente des relations sociales : l'expérience Thomson-CSF", Robert Thomas (pseudonym for a team-work with Pierre Beretti and Jean-Pierre Thiollet), Paris, Maxima-Laurent du Mesnil Ed., 1999
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