Westinghouse Electric Corporation Explained

Westinghouse Electric Corporation
Type:Public (1916–1997)[1]
Fate:Renamed "CBS Corporation" in 1997, then merged with Viacom in 2000
Founder:George Westinghouse
Location City:Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Location Country:U.S.
Area Served:Worldwide

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. The company acquired the CBS television network in 1995 and was renamed CBS Corporation until being acquired by Viacom in 1999, a merger completed in April 2000.[2] The CBS Corporation name was later reused for one of the two companies resulting from the split of Viacom in 2005.

The Westinghouse trademarks are owned by Westinghouse Electric Corporation,[3] and were previously part of Westinghouse Licensing Corporation.[4] The nuclear power business, Westinghouse Electric Company, was spun off from the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1999.

History

Beginnings

Westinghouse Electric was founded by George Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on January 8, 1886. Building on the advancement of AC technology in Europe,[5] 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[6] and Hamilton, Ontario, where they made turbines, generators, motors, and switch gear for the generation, transmission, and use of electricity. 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.

1990s

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.[7]

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.[8]

Westinghouse purchased CBS Inc. in 1994 for $5.4 billion.[9] Westinghouse Electric Corporation changed its name to and became the original CBS Corporation in 1997.[10] Also in 1997, the Power Generation Business Unit, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, was sold to Siemens AG of Germany.[11] A year later, CBS sold all of its commercial nuclear power businesses to British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL).[12] In connection with that sale, certain rights to use the Westinghouse trademarks were granted to the newly formed BNFL subsidiary, Westinghouse Electric Company. That company was sold to Toshiba in 2006.[13]

Patents

During the 20th century, Westinghouse engineers and scientists were granted more than 28,000 U.S. patents, the third most of any company.[14]

Products and sponsorships

Environmental incidents

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

1880s

1890s

1900s to 1920s

1930s and 1940s

1950s to 1970s

1980s

1990s to 2020s

Employees

CEOs

Other

Overseas subsidiaries

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

External links

Notes and References

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  2. Web site: CBS And Viacom Complete Merger. February 16, 2021. CBS News. April 26, 2000 . en-US.
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  4. Web site: Error. search.sunbiz.org.
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  6. Book: History of Tinicum Township (PA) 1643–1993. Tinicum Township Historical Society. 1993. https://web.archive.org/web/20150423202458/http://tthsdelco.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/History%20of%20Tinicum%20Twp.pdf. April 23, 2015. live.
  7. News: Massey. Steve. Who Killed Westinghouse? – Prologue . October 29, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130208080754/https://old.post-gazette.com/westinghouse/prologue.asp . February 8, 2013 . .
  8. News: March 29, 2017. Timeline: Westinghouse Electric Co.. September 6, 2021 . Pittsburgh Business Journal.
  9. News: Fabrikant. Geraldine. August 2, 1995. CBS Accepts Bid by Westinghouse; $5.4 Billion Deal . en-US. The New York Times. October 29, 2020. 0362-4331.
  10. News: December 1, 1997. Westinghouse Electric to Become CBS Today. October 29, 2020. . en-US.
  11. News: November 14, 1997. Westinghouse Agrees to Sell Power Business to Siemens. en-US. . October 29, 2020. 0099-9660.
  12. News: June 26, 1998. CBS Sells Last of Westinghouse For $238 Million Cash, Plus Debt. en-US. Wall Street Journal. October 29, 2020. 0099-9660.
  13. News: Macalister. Terry. Milner. Mark. January 24, 2006. Toshiba to buy BNFL's Westinghouse. October 29, 2020. . en.
  14. 2009 Westinghouse corporate profile
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  19. Web site: TECO-Westinghouse Motor Company, a world leader in manufacturing electric motors and generators, supplying motor controls, and providing engineering services, genuine Westinghouse renewal parts and large motor repairs.
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  27. Web site: Sunnyvale Superfund Site. September 4, 2015. EPA.
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  44. Stein. Kenneth J.. July 14, 1986. Westinghouse/Airships Industries joint venture targets Navy program. Aviation Week & Space Technology. 144, 145, 147, 149.
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  51. News: Edwin Herr Dies in East . . December 25, 1932 . 4.
  52. Web site: Herr Quits as Westinghouse Head. The Pittsburgh Press . June 26, 1929. July 29, 2015.
  53. Web site: New Westinghouse Head Is Optimistic. The Pittsburgh Press . February 25, 1938. July 29, 2015.
  54. Web site: Gwilym Price, Retired Westinghouse Leader, Dies. The Pittsburgh Press . June 2, 1985. July 29, 2015.
  55. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1985-06-04/news/0300310281_1_university-of-pittsburgh-pittsburgh-national-bank-westinghouse Gwilym A. Price, 89, a high school dropout who became...
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