Litton Industries

Last updated
Litton Industries
IndustryDefense
Founded1953
Defunct2001
FateAcquired by Northrop Grumman
SuccessorNorthrop Grumman
Headquarters Beverly Hills, California, U.S.

Litton Industries was a large defense contractor in the United States named after inventor Charles Litton Sr.

Contents

During the 1960s, the company began acquiring many unrelated firms and became one of the largest conglomerates in the United States. At its peak, in addition to many defense-related companies, it also owned both Royal Typewriters and Adler, Moffat major appliances, Stouffer's frozen foods, and various office equipment and furniture companies.

Like many conglomerates, the company suffered significant declines in the 1970s, selling off many of its unrelated brands and had largely returned to its defense roots by the 1980s. The company continued to shrink after the ending of the Cold War and by the late 1990s was a corporate takeover target. The company was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2001.

History

Litton Industries was originally established as an electronics company building navigation, communications and electronic warfare equipment. They diversified and became a much bigger business, with major shipyards, and manufacturing microwave ovens. [1]

It was founded in 1953 by American business executive Charles Bates "Tex" Thornton alongside his associates Roy Ash and Hugh Jamieson. [2] Headquartered in Beverly Hills, California, the original name of the company was 'Electro Dynamics Corporation.' [1] In 1954, with a loan from the Lehman Brothers, Thornton acquired the vacuum tube producer 'Litton Industries Inc' from its founder Charles Litton Sr. for $1.5 million [2] and subsequently adopted its name. [1]

Although Litton Industries lacked capital in the beginning, Thornton thought that the U.S. Department of Defense would need more sophisticated weapons and that the demand for another large electronics company would increase. During the years, Litton Industries acquired several other smaller companies and had merged with Monroe Calculating Machine. Monroe used Litton's technological assets and Litton required Monroe's sales and service outlets. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, 50% of Litton's business was with the U.S. Government; besides calculators, they were also producing inertial guidance systems for aircraft, potentiometers, duplexers, etc. [2]

In 1961, Litton acquired Ingalls Shipbuilding for $8 million [3] and subsequently ventured into the production of submarines and oil-drilling equipment. [2] By 1963, Litton Industries reached $500 million [2] with a revenue of $393.8 million. [4]

In December 1964, Litton acquired Royal McBee.

In 1969, the company acquired Triumph-Adler, a major typewriter manufacturer based in Germany and the sixth-largest European office equipment manufacturer at the time. [5]

In 1973, after several years of disappointing sales, Thornton replaced Ash with Fred O'Green as president of the company. With the new strategy, Litton sold some of its profit-losing subsidiaries and focused on the profitable ones. The company also succeeded to make a $1.6 billion deal with the Saudi Arabian Air Force.

The profits of the company increased from $44 million in 1979 to $78 million in 1983. [2]

During the 1980s, Litton dropped its businesses in publishing, medical products, office furniture, and microwaves and shifted the production to sophisticated technology. As a result of that, the company bought the electronic firms Itek Corp. and Core Laboratories. In the early 1990s, Litton Industries split into separate military and commercial companies. The US$2 billion commercial business, which included Litton's oilfield services, business, and automated assembly line operations, was named Western Atlas, Inc. [2]

In 1998, Litton Industries bought TASC, Inc. [6] In 2000, TASC sold three stand-alone commercial operations: Adesso Software, WSI (Weather Services International) Corporation [7] and Emerge. The company reported sales of $5.6 billion and a net income of $218 million for the 2000 fiscal year. On December 21, 2000, in a joint statement, Litton Industries and Northrop Grumman announced that the latter will acquire Litton Industries shares in a transaction worth $5.1 billion. [8] The transaction was completed on May 31, 2001 and Northrop Grumman officially acquired Litton Industries. [9]

Divisions

A provisional list of Litton Industries' major divisions:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General Dynamics</span> Defense manufacturing conglomerate

General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and fifth largest in the United States by total sales. The company is a Fortune 100 company, and was ranked No. 94 in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grumman</span> 1929–1994 aerospace manufacturer

The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 1994 with Northrop Corporation to form Northrop Grumman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northrop Grumman</span> Aerospace and defense technology corporation

Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 95,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military technology providers. The firm ranked No. 101 on the 2022 Fortune 500 list of America's largest corporations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westinghouse Electric Corporation</span> Defunct American manufacturing company

The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. 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. The CBS Corporation name was later reused for one of the two companies resulting from the split of Viacom in 2005.

Orbital Sciences Corporation was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other government customers. In 2014, Orbital merged with Alliant Techsystems to create a new company called Orbital ATK, Inc., which in turn was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2018. The remnants of the former Orbital Sciences Corporation became a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, known as Northrop Grumman Space Systems.

Avondale Shipyard was an independent shipbuilding company, acquired by Litton Industries, in turn acquired by Northrop Grumman Corporation. In 2011, along with the former Ingalls Shipbuilding, the yard was part of Huntington Ingalls Industries. It closed in October 2014. The yard was located on the west bank of the Mississippi River in an area called Bridge City, about 20 miles (32 km) upriver from New Orleans near Westwego, Louisiana. It was the site of the modernization of the battleship USS Iowa in the early 1980s and also constructed some of the lighter aboard ships (LASH). At one time, it was the largest employer in Louisiana, with about 26,000 employees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decca Radar</span> Former British manufacturer of radar systems

The Decca Radar company was a British manufacturer of radar systems. There were originally two divisions, Marine and Heavy Radar, with separate product lines. The latter was sold to Plessey in 1965, and the term "Decca Radar" normally refers to the Marine division. That division remained with Decca until 1979 when it purchased by Racal to form Racal-Decca. After a series of further mergers and purchases, from 2000 the division is part of Northrop Grumman.

Ronald D. Sugar is an American business executive. He served as the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the Northrop Grumman Corporation from 2003 to 2009. On August 1, 2018 he was unanimously elected as independent Chairman of Uber.

Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems (NGES) was a business segment of Northrop Grumman from 1996 to 2015 until a reorganization on January 1, 2016, merged other Northrop Grumman businesses into NGES to form a new segment called Mission Systems. NGES had originally been created by Northrop Grumman's acquisition of Westinghouse Electronic Systems Group in 1996. The Electronic Systems sector was a designer, developer, and manufacturer of a wide variety of advanced defense electronics and systems. The division had 120 locations worldwide, including 72 international offices, and approximately 24,000 employees; accounting for 20% of company sales in 2005.

Sterling Software was an American software company founded in Dallas, Texas, in 1981 by Sterling Williams and brothers Sam and Charles Wyly. The company was acquired by Computer Associates International in 2000 in a stock-for-stock transaction worth $3.3 billion. Computer Associates sold Sterling Software's Federal Systems Group to Northrop Grumman in 2000.

Avnet, Inc. is a distributor of electronic components headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, named after Charles Avnet, who founded the company in 1921. After its start on Manhattan's Radio Row, the company became incorporated in 1955 and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1961. On May 8, 2018, Avnet changed stock markets to Nasdaq, trading under the same ticker AVT.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TRW Automotive</span> American industrial company

TRW Automotive Holdings Corp. was an American global supplier of automotive systems, modules, and components to automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and related aftermarkets. Tracing its roots from TRW Inc. it was originally headquartered in Livonia, Michigan. It was created in 2002 when the aerospace company Northrop Grumman purchased TRW and sold its automotive division to Blackstone Group.

Stellant Systems Inc. is a manufacturer of microwave devices for ground-based, airborne and satellite communications and radar. In October 2021, Stellant systems was formed from L3Harris Technologies' Electron Devices and Narda Microwave-West divisions when both were sold to Arlington Capital Partners, a Washington D.C. based private equity firm. The company was initially formed from the former Electron Devices Division (EDD) of the Industrial Electronics Group of the Hughes Aircraft Company, and from Litton Industries' Electron Division, both of which were acquired by L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. L-3 later merged with Harris Corporation in 2019 to form L3Harris Technologies which was followed shortly by both divisions' sale to Arlington in 2021. Stellant is known for their traveling-wave tubes (TWTs), traveling-wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs), microwave power modules (MPMs) and electronic power conditioners (EPCs) as well as xenon gas ion propulsion systems (XIPS). Since its inception, EDD has produced tens of thousands of TWTs. They are the only U.S. supplier of space-qualified TWTs and TWTAs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">US Foods</span> American foodservice distributor

US Foods Holding Corp. is an American food service distributor founded in 1989. With approximately $24 billion in annual revenue, US Foods was the 10th largest private company in the US until its IPO. Many of the entities that make up US Foods were founded in the 19th century, including one that sold provisions to travelers heading west during the 1850s gold rush. US Foods offers more than 350,000 national brand products and its own "exclusive brand" items, ranging from fresh meats and produce to prepackaged and frozen foods. The company employs approximately 25,200 people in more than 60 locations nationwide, and provides food and related products to more than 250,000 customers, including independent and multi-unit restaurants, healthcare and hospitality entities, government and educational institutions. The company is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois, and is a publicly traded company trading under the ticker symbol USFD on the New York Stock Exchange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TASC, Inc.</span>

TASC, Inc., formerly known as The Analytic Sciences Corporation, is an American private defense contractor based outside Washington, D.C., in Chantilly, Virginia. Northrop Grumman owned TASC from 2001 to 2009, when it sold the unit to comply with new government conflict of interest rules.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stu Shea</span>

Stu Shea is an American business executive and leader and intelligence professional serving in a leadership capacity to public and private companies, as well as an advisor to government agencies, private equity investors, and academic institutions. Shea is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Peraton, a national security technology company. He is the former president and chief operating officer of Leidos, chief operating officer of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), and founder and emeritus chairman of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation.

Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) was a sector of Northrop Grumman from 2018 through 2019. It was formed from Orbital ATK Inc. a company which resulted from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alliant Techsystems in 2015. Orbital ATK was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2018. Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems designed, built, and delivered space, defense, and aviation-related systems to customers around the world both as a prime contractor and as a merchant supplier. It had a workforce of approximately 12,000 employees dedicated to aerospace and defense including about 4,000 engineers and scientists; 7,000 manufacturing and operations specialists; and 1,000 management and administration personnel. With Northrop Grumman's reorganization of its divisions effective January 1, 2020, NGIS was split, with most of the sector merging with other Northrop Grumman businesses into a new Space Systems sector.

Wesley G. Bush is an American systems engineer and business executive. He is the former CEO and chairman of Northrop Grumman, and he is currently a director of General Motors, Dow Inc., and Cisco.

Veritas Capital Fund Management, L.L.C. is a New York–based private-equity firm founded in 1992 that invests in companies providing critical products and services, primarily technology-enabled products and services, to government and commercial customers worldwide. The firm's first fund closed in 1998. They closed an eighth flagship fund in 2022; in all, Veritas has approximately $45 billion of assets under management. Veritas is led by Ramzi Musallam, the firm's Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner.

Peraton Inc. is a privately held American national security and technology company formed in 2017. It is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Its service areas include space, intelligence, cyber, defense, homeland security, citizen security, and health. The company's applied research organization, Peraton Labs, is sited in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Litton Industries Inc". Encyclopædia Britannica . Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "History of Litton Industries, Inc". Funding Universe. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  3. ↑ United States Congress House Committee on Science and Astronautics (1962). Mergers and Superconcentration: Acquisitions of 500 Largest Industrial and 50 Largest Merchandising Firms . Retrieved May 2, 2020.
  4. ↑ "Fortune 500: Litton Industries". Fortune . Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  5. ↑ Staff writer (2 April 1975). "Litton Wins Reversal of FTC Order to Shed Unit in West Germany". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company.
  6. ↑ "Litton Acquires Information Company". Los Angeles Times . April 7, 1998. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Weather Channel Owner Buying WSI from Litton". Aviation Week & Space Technology . February 14, 2000. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Northrop Grumman to acquire Litton Industries for $80 per share cash". Sperry Marine Northrop Grumman. May 3, 2020. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Northrop Grumman Announces Completion of Merger with Litton Industries Inc". Northrop Grumman. May 31, 2001. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  10. ↑ "General Terms and Conditions of Purchase" (PDF). Northrop Grumman. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  11. 1 2 "Litton Industries - Archived 4/2002". Forecast International. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Litton Aero Products Division in Moorpark". Los Angeles Times. January 1991. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  13. ↑ Commerce Business Daily. 2000. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  14. ↑ Schmeck Jr, Harold M (June 25, 1972). "Litton to Run Cancer Research Lab". The New York Times. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  15. ↑ "Litton Systems, Inc., Litton Computer Services Division,plaintiff-appellant, v. the United States, Defendant-appellee, 36 F.3d 1111 (Fed. Cir. 1994)". Justia . Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Litton Data Systems - Company Profile and News". Bloomberg News . Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  17. ↑ "About Us". L3Harris. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  18. ↑ "Litton Encoders". Encoders UK. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  19. ↑ "Litton Systemc Inc. Guidance & Control Systems". Los Angeles Times. 24 May 1994. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  20. ↑ "Litton Industries Potentiometer Div". USA.com. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  21. 1 2 "Northrop Grumman Appoints Allison to Lead Newly-Formed Navigation Systems Division". Northrop Grumman. July 20, 2001. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  22. ↑ "Kester Solder Co Division Of Litton Industries, Newark, NJ". Cylex US. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  23. ↑ "Litton Changes Name of FiberCom Division". Los Angeles Times. May 26, 1998. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  24. ↑ Shaki Trimble, Paula (December 5, 2000). "Litton PRC divided in reorganization". The Business of Federal Technology. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  25. ↑ "Litton to Complete Avondale Purchase For $529 Million". The New York Times. August 2, 1999. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  26. ↑ Chinnock, Chris (February 1, 1998). "And then there were two: Litton Systems Canada closes display fab". Military & Aerospace Electronics. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  27. ↑ "Litton Adds Japanese Solder Company to Stable". Los Angeles Times. April 6, 1999. Retrieved May 6, 2020.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.