Toshiba Corporation (株式会社東芝, Kabushiki-gaisha Tōshiba?) (TYO: 6502 ) is a Japanese high technology electrical and electronics manufacturing firm, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the 7th largest integrated manufacturer of electric and electronic equipment in the world.
In financial year 2000-01 the company generated sales of ¥ 5,951,357 million and net income of ¥ 96,168 million. The company employs 188,042 people (2001).
History
Toshiba was founded by the merging of two companies in 1939.
The first company, Tanaka Seizosho (Tanaka Engineering Works), was Japan's first manufacturer of telegraph equipment and was established by Hisashige Tanaka in 1875. In 1904, the company name was changed to Shibaura Seisakusho (Shibaura Engineering Works). Through the first part of the 20th century, Shibaura Engineering Works became a major manufacturer of heavy electrical machinery as Japan, modernized during the Meiji Era, became a world industrial power.
The second company, originally named Hakunetsusha, was established in 1890 and was Japan's first producer of incandescent electrical lamps. The company diversified into the manufacture of other consumer products, and in 1899 it was renamed Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric).
The merger in 1939 of Shibaura Seisakusho and Tokyo Denki created a new company called Tokyo Shibaura Denki. It was soon nicknamed Toshiba, but it wasn't until 1984 that the company was officially renamed Toshiba Corporation.
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