IBM has undergone a large number of mergers and acquisitions during a corporate history lasting over a century; the company has also produced a number of spinoffs during that time.
The acquisition date listed is the date of the agreement between IBM and the subject of the acquisition. The value of each acquisition is listed in USD because IBM is based in the United States. If the value of an acquisition is not listed, then it is undisclosed.
Predecessor companies
Herman Hollerith initially did business under his own name, as The Hollerith Electric Tabulating System, specialising in punched card data processing equipment.Austrian, 1982, p. 153. In 1896 he incorporated as the Tabulating Machine Company.
1889 Bundy Manufacturing Company incorporated. 1891 Computing Scale Company incorporated. 1893 Dey Patents Company (soon renamed the Dey Time Register Company) incorporated. 1894 Willard & Frick Manufacturing Company (Rochester, New York) incorporated. 1896 Detroit Automatic Scale Company incorporated. Hollerith incorporates the Tabulating Machine Company. Will be reincorporated in 1905. 1899 Standard Time Stamp Company acquired by Bundy Manufacturing Company. 1900 International Time Recording Company incorporated, acquiring the time-recording business of the Bundy Manufacturing Company and the Willard & Frick Manufacturing Company (Rochester). Chicago Time-Register Company acquired by International Time Recording Company. Dayton Moneyweight Scale Company acquired by Computing Scale Company. Detroit Automatic Scale Company acquired by Computing Scale Company. 1905 Hollerith reincorporates as The Tabulating Machine Company.Engelbourg, 1954, p. 52. 1907 Dey Time Register Company acquired by International Time Recording Company. 1908 Syracuse Time Recorder Company acquired by International Time Recording Company.
List
Since the 1960s or earlier, IBM has described its formation as a merger of three companies: The Tabulating Machine Company (1880s origin in Washington, DC), the International Time Recording Company (ITR; 1900, Endicott), and the Computing Scale Company of America (1901, Dayton, Ohio).Austrian (1982) p.312Belden, Martin; Belden, Marva (1961). The Lengthening Shadow – The Life of Thomas J. Watson, Little, Brown; p.92 However, there was no merger, it was an amalgamation, and an amalgamation of four, not three, companies.NY Times June 10, 1911 Tabulating Concerns Unite: Flint & Co. Bring Four Together with $19,000,000 capital The 1911 CTR stock prospectus states that the Bundy Manufacturing Company was also included. While ITR had acquired its time recording business in 1900 Bundy had remained a separate entity producing an adding machine and other wares. The Tabulating Machine Company Computing Scale Corporation International Time Recording Company Bundy Manufacturing Company
CTR owned the stock of the four companies; CTR neither produced nor sold any product; the four companies continued to operate, as before, under their own names.
1917 American Automatic Scale Company acquired as International Scale Company. CTR consolidates three already-existing Canadian companies: The Canadian Tabulating Machine Co., Ltd, the International Time Recording Co. of Canada, Ltd., and the Computing Scale Co. of Canada, Ltd., in a new holding company, International Business Machines Co., Ltd.Moody's 1918 Manual of Railroads and Corporation Securities 1921 Pierce Accounting Machine Company (asset purchase). Ticketograph Company (of Chicago). 1923 Dehomag 1924 CTR was renamed "IBM". 1930 Automatic Accounting Scale Company. 1932 National Counting Scale Company. 1933 The separate companies were integrated in 1933 as IBM and the holding company eliminated. 1933 Electromatic Typewriters Inc. (See: IBM Electromatic typewriter) 1941 Munitions Manufacturing Corporation. 1959 Pierce Wire Recorder Corporation. 1964 Science Research Associates. 1974 CML Satellite Corporation; renamed Satellite Business Systems (SBS). 1984 ROLM 1986 RealCom Communications Corporation. 1993 CGI Informatique (France), bought in 1993, ran independently until 1996, and was then progressively absorbed by IBM, country by country, this process being achieved in 1999. 1994 Transarc (Transarc Corporation bought by IBM in 1994, became part of IBM proper in 1999 as the IBM Pittsburgh Lab) 1995 Lotus Development Corporation for $3.5 billion. Information Systems Management Canada (ISM Canada) K3 Group Ltd. Chrysler Systems Leasing (February 1995) 1996 Wilkerson Group Tivoli Systems, Inc. for $743 million. Data Sciences Ltd, prior to 1991 comprising Thorn EMI Software, Datasolve and the Corporate Management Services Division of Thorn EMI, for £95 million. Object Technology International (OTI) is acquired by IBM Cyclade Consultants (Netherlands) Fairway Technologies Professional Data Management, Inc. / LifePROPDMA Acquires LifePRO Assets from IBM (March 03 2001) 1997 Software Artistry for $200 million. Unison Software. Dominion Semiconductor (Manassas, VA) is created by forming a 50/50 joint venture with Toshiba to produce 64MB and 256MB DRAM chips. Administrative offices are located in Building 131 the former IBM Federal Systems campus now primarily owned by Lockheed Martin; the new state-of-the-art fabrication facility was built from on adjacent land. 1998 CommQuest Technologies. DataBeam Corporation, Lexington, KY Ubique Ltd., Israel 1999 Dascom Technologies (USA), A subsidiary of Dascom Holdings. Mylex Corporation. Sequent Computer Systems for $810 million.