Based in Province, Rhode Island Textron was founded by Royal Little in the year 1923 as a textile company. The name of the company was then Special Yarns Company. The revenue of the company was only $75,000 in its first year. But, textile Industry saw a boom during the World War II bringing an era of prosperity and growth for textile companies. The name of the company was changed to Atlantic Rayon Corporation. The orders during the war were mostly of parachutes. As the World War II was nearing its end the company started facing challenges. But that didnt unfazed Little who developed a vertically integrated company and quickly switched from making parachutes to clothing. The company was listed on NYSE in 1947 and the sales of the company reached approximately $68 million in the year 1949. The company faced another hardship in 1952 due to the decline in demand for textiles. He quickly realized the need to diversify the business and in 1953 bought its first non-textile company called Burkat Mfg. Co. Over the next few years the company steadily acquired new companies and built a conglomerate. But the diversification policy of Textron faced a test in the year 1958 when sales of the company declined. But that didnt deter Textron from buying another firm called Bell Aerospace which mostly does government work. Bell still is a part of the company making golf cars. Era of Acquisitions Royal Little retired from the company in the year 1960, leaving the company with nearly $380 million yearly sales. The chairman post was taken over by Rupert Thompson, he together with President of the company G. William Miller took the company to new heights. Textron sold its last textile company in 1963. The company thrived in consumer product business during 60s and 70s and some of the important acquisitions during this period included Speidel, maker of watchbands, Sheaffer Pen, Staple and nail gun maker Bostich and Rhode Island silver company Gorham. Through 80s the companys management philosophy had no changes and the corporate office controlled the operations and business units worked independently. Textron acquired another company called Avco Corporation in 1985, doubling the size of the company. Divestment and Consolidation Under the chairmanship of James F. Hardymon who was appointed in 1989, the company divested its military contracts, insurance and consumer products to core business. They acquired more companies and invested in aircraft, automotives, industrial and finance business. They also went international and by 1997 the company had nearly doubled its international sales. The company began consolidating its companies in the year 1994, by consolidating six automotive companies into one division called Textron Automotive Company. Similarly Textron fastening Company was formed by combining five fastening companies which created the worlds largest company for the production of fastening products in the world. The company got its new CEO in 1998, Lewis B. Campbell who continued where his predecessors left. He proved his mettle by divesting Avco Financial Services, which was sold for whopping $3.9 billion. The company continued its divestment and consolidation process over the next few years, the most significant divestment being the fastening systems business, which the company divested in August of 2006 and ended its long tenure in fastening business.
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Recent updates:
Fluid Division divested 12/2008.
Scott Donnelly named President/COO 1/2009.
