This week marks the 100th anniversary of IBM officially changing its name from the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. (CTR) to the current name. Although IBM was founded in 1911, it publicly announced the name change on February 15, 1924 (internally announced on February 13), with Thomas J. Watson Sr. as the CEO at that time.
During IBM’s early days, its key products consisted of weighing scales, time clocks, and tabulating machines used for summarizing data from punched cards.
The name IBM was used for its subsidiary companies in Canada as early as 1917 before eventually changing the names of all the companies within 7 years. However, even during the name change period, there was confusion as some business partners in the United States were unfamiliar with this new name. It took some suppliers requesting evidence from the previous company before extending credit. Nevertheless, CTR was already a large company prior to these changes.
IBM has undergone significant transformations over the past century. It holds the record for the most patents granted in the United States for 29 consecutive years before losing the title last year. Today, its major revenue source is enterprise-level software business.
TLDR: IBM officially changed its name from CTR to IBM in 1924, marking its 100th anniversary this week. Initially focused on weighing scales, time clocks, and tabulating machines, IBM has evolved into a software giant, holding numerous patents and dominating the enterprise software market.
(Source: IEEE Spectrum)
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