Grundig AG is a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
manufacturer of
consumer electronicsConsumer electronics include electronic equipment intended for everyday use. Consumer electronics are most often used in entertainment, communications and office productivity...
for home entertainment under
TurkishTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
control. Established in 1945 in
NurembergNuremberg is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal and is Franconia's largest city. It is located about 170 kilometres north of Munich, at 49.27° N 11.5° E. The population is...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
by
Max GrundigMax Grundig was the founder of electronics company Grundig AG. He was raised by his parents in Nuremberg, where he delayed his final school exams and completed training as an electrician. In 1930 he and a colleague opened a store selling radios under the name Fuerth, Grundig & Wurzer , generating...
the company changed hands several times before becoming part of the Turkish
Koç HoldingKoç Holding A.Ş. is the top industrial conglomerate in Turkey. The Koç family, Turkey's wealthiest dynasty, controls the company with its headquarter in Nakkaştepe, Istanbul...
group. In 2007, after buying control of the Grundig brand, Koc renamed its Beko Elektronik white goods and consumer electronics division Grundig Elektronik A.Ş., which has decided to merge with
Arçelik A.Ş.Arçelik A.Ş. is a household appliances manufacturer in Turkey. The Company engages in the production and marketing of durable goods, components, consumer electronics and after-sale services...
as declared on February 27, 2009.
The history of the company began in 1930 with the establishment of a store named Fuerth, Grundig & Wurzer (RVF), which sold radios.
Grundig AG is a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
manufacturer of
consumer electronicsConsumer electronics include electronic equipment intended for everyday use. Consumer electronics are most often used in entertainment, communications and office productivity...
for home entertainment under
TurkishTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
control. Established in 1945 in
NurembergNuremberg is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal and is Franconia's largest city. It is located about 170 kilometres north of Munich, at 49.27° N 11.5° E. The population is...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
by
Max GrundigMax Grundig was the founder of electronics company Grundig AG. He was raised by his parents in Nuremberg, where he delayed his final school exams and completed training as an electrician. In 1930 he and a colleague opened a store selling radios under the name Fuerth, Grundig & Wurzer , generating...
the company changed hands several times before becoming part of the Turkish
Koç HoldingKoç Holding A.Ş. is the top industrial conglomerate in Turkey. The Koç family, Turkey's wealthiest dynasty, controls the company with its headquarter in Nakkaştepe, Istanbul...
group. In 2007, after buying control of the Grundig brand, Koc renamed its Beko Elektronik white goods and consumer electronics division Grundig Elektronik A.Ş., which has decided to merge with
Arçelik A.Ş.Arçelik A.Ş. is a household appliances manufacturer in Turkey. The Company engages in the production and marketing of durable goods, components, consumer electronics and after-sale services...
as declared on February 27, 2009.
The history of the company began in 1930 with the establishment of a store named Fuerth, Grundig & Wurzer (RVF), which sold radios. After World War II Max Grundig recognized the need in Germany for radios and in 1947 produced a kit, while a factory and administration centre were under construction at
FürthThe city of Fürth is located in northern Bavaria, Germany in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the two cities being only 7 km apart....
. In 1951 the first televisions were manufactured at the new facility with the company and the surrounding area growing rapidly. At the time Grundig was the largest radio manufacturer in Europe. Divisions in Nuremberg,
FrankfurtFrankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2008 population of 670,000. The urban area had an estimated population of 2.26 million in 2001...
and
KarlsruheKarlsruhe is a city in the south west of Germany, in the Bundesland Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border....
were set up. In 1960 tape recorders were manufactured in
BelfastBelfast is the capital of and the largest city in Northern Ireland, a constituent country of the United Kingdom. It is the seat of devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly. It is the largest urban area in the province of Ulster, and the second largest city on the island of...
,
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, the first production by Grundig outside Germany.
In 1972, Grundig
GmbHGesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung is a type of legal entityvery common in Germany , Austria , Switzerland, and other Central European countries...
became Grundig
AGAktiengesellschaft is a German term that refers to a corporation that is limited by shares, i.e. owned by shareholders, and may be traded on a stock market...
. After this
PhilipsKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , most commonly known as Philips, is a Dutch electronics company.Philips is one of the largest electronics companies in the world. In 2007, its sales were €26.79 billion...
began to gradually accumulate
shareShare may refer to:use in market ----by bhavya* Sharing ; to make joint use of resources , or to "give something away"* Share , a man who writes Urdu poetry...
s in the company over the course of many years until assuming complete control in 1993. Philips resold it to a
BavariaBavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest state of Germany by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n consortium in 1998 due to unsatisfactory performance.
At the end of June 2000 the company relocated its
headquartersHeadquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The corporate headquarters is the entity at the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
in Fürth and
NurembergNuremberg is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal and is Franconia's largest city. It is located about 170 kilometres north of Munich, at 49.27° N 11.5° E. The population is...
, and Grundig took a loss of €1.281 million the following year. In the autumn of 2002, Grundig's banks did not extend the company's lines of
creditCredit is the provision of resources by one party to another party where that second party does not reimburse the first party immediately, thereby generating a debt, and instead arranges either to repay or return those resources at a later date. It is any form of deferred payment...
, leaving the company with an April 2003 deadline to announce
insolvencyInsolvency means the inability to pay one's debts as they fall due. Usually used in Business terms, insolvency refers to the inability for a company to pay off its debts.Business insolvency is defined in two different ways:...
. Grundig AG declared
bankruptcyBankruptcy is a legally declared inability or impairment of ability of an individual or organization to pay its creditors. Creditors may file a bankruptcy petition against a debtor in an effort to recoup a portion of what they are owed or initiate a restructuring...
in 2003, selling its satellite equipment division to
ThomsonThomson SA , formerly known as Thomson Multimedia is an French international provider of -- for the creation, management, delivery and access of video, for the Communication, Media and Entertainment industries. Thomson’s headquarters are located in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris...
. In 2004, Britain's
Alba plcHarvard International plc is a consumer electronics company, based in the United Kingdom.-Product range:Argos now owns Alba and Bush hence the reason why the name has changed....
and Koc's Beko jointly
took overIn business, a takeover is the purchase of one company by another . In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to the acquisition of a private company.- Friendly takeovers :Before a bidder makes an offer for another...
Grundig Home InterMedia System, Grundig's consumer electronics division. In 2007, Alba sold its half of the business to Beko for US$50.3 million, although it would retain the licence to use the Grundig brand in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
until 2010 and in Australasia until 2012.
In the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, products marketed under the Grundig
brandA brand is a name or trademark connected with a product or producer. Brands have become increasingly important components of culture and the economy, now being described as "cultural accessories and personal philosophies".-Concepts:...
are manufactured by the
Eton CorporationEtón Corporation is an American company based in Palo Alto, California formerly known as Lextronics. It is famous for its line of shortwave and emergency crank radios...
(formerly Lextronix), based in
Palo Alto, CaliforniaPalo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, USA. It is named after a tree called El Palo Alto...
. Spain's
Grupo VitelcomVitelcom Group is a Spanish manufacturer and distributor of consumer electronics, concentrating on the home entertainment and mobile phone markets...
is licensed to manufacture mobile telephones using the
Grundig MobileGrundig mobile is a Spanish manufacturer of mobile phones and accessories.Grundig mobile was born in 2005 as a collaboration agreement between Grundig and Vitelcom Mobile Technology....
brand - and auto parts company
DelphiDelphi is an automotive parts company headquartered in Troy, Michigan, USA. Delphi is one of the world's largest automotive parts manufacturers and has approximately 146,600 employees ....
manufactures car radios branded Grundig.
In 2007,
Grundig MobileGrundig mobile is a Spanish manufacturer of mobile phones and accessories.Grundig mobile was born in 2005 as a collaboration agreement between Grundig and Vitelcom Mobile Technology....
announced a
LinuxLinux is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed,...
powered cell phone called U900.
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