Ericsson

Erickson Living provides a full continuum of care, moving, and relocation services.Ericsson is a provider of technology and services to telecom operators. It offers 2G, 3G, and 4G mobile technologies, and provides support for networks with over 2 billion subscribers and has the leading position in managed services. The company's portfolio comprises mobile and fixed network infrastructure, telecom services, software,broadband and multimedia solutions for operators, enterprises, and the media industry. The Sony Ericsson and ST-Ericsson joint ventures provide consumers with feature-rich personal mobile devices. Ericsson is advancing its vision of being the "prime driver in an all-communicating world" through innovation, technology, and sustainable business solutions. Working in 175 countries, more than 80,000 employees generated revenue of SEK 206.5 billion (USD 27.1 billion) in 2009. Founded in 1876 with the headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, Ericsson is listed on OMX NASDAQ, Stockholm and NASDAQ New York.

1876: In 1876, at the age of 30, he started a telegraph repair shop with help from his friend Carl Johan Andersson in central Stockholm and repaired foreign-made telephones.

1877: At first, Ericsson only worked with telegraph equipment, but that changed in 1877 when the newly invented telephone reached Sweden.

1878: In 1878 Ericsson began making and selling his own telephone equipment. The first telephones manufactured by Ericsson were presented in 1878. 1878: LM Ericsson begins manufacturing telephones. In 1878 he made an agreement to supply telephones and switchboards to Sweden's first telecommunications operating company, Stockholms Allmänna Telefonaktiebolag.

1879: At the end of the year he started to manufacture telephones of his own, much in the image of the Siemens telephones, and the first product was finished in 1879.

1880: In 1880, he launched the first wall-mounted telephone and delivered the first switchboard, called the Crossing Bars.

1883: AT&T's Bell subsidiaries faced no serious competition in Sweden until 1883, when engineer Henrik Tore Cedergren founded Stockholms Allmä-a Telefonaktiebolag (SAT) to provide telephone service and purchased his equipment from LM Ericsson.

1884: In 1884, a technician named Anton Avén at Stockholms Allmänna Telefonaktiebolag had combined the earpiece and the mouthpiece of a (by then) standard telephone into a handset.

1886: The company was run by the two partners for ten years, but in 1886, Lars Magnus Ericsson took over as the sole owner. 1886: The firm incorporates as Aktiebolaget LM Ericsson & Company.

1891: As early as 1891, Ericsson established a health plan in which all employees and their families were offered free medical care.

1893: In 1893, Ericsson, a designer at heart, redesigned the cylindrical metal telephone to be an attractive product with hidden technology.

1896: Ericsson incorporated in 1896 as Aktiebolaget LM Ericsson & Company, with Ericsson serving as chairman, president, and sole shareholder. When the company was transformed into a limited liability company in 1896, this was not primarily because the company required capital. At the time of incorporation in 1896, Lars Magnus Ericsson's company had grown into a major enterprise with more than 500 employees and had produced over 100,000 telephones.

1897: By 1897, Britain was accounting for 28% of Ericsson’s sales. In the UK, the National Telephone Company was a major customer; by 1897 sold 28% of its output in the UK. The Nordic countries were also Ericsson customers; they were encouraged by the growth of telephone services in Sweden.

1900: In 1900, exports accounted for about 90 percent of LM Ericsson's total sales. He retired as president in 1900 and was succeeded by Axel Boström, his former office manager. From the first telephones and exchanges, as well as the Ericofon and AXE telephone exchange systems of the 1900’s as well as the mobile systems and mobile phones of later times.

1901: 1901: Ericsson acquires SAT's manufacturing operations.

1905: SAT sold its subsidiary, AB Telefonfabriken, to Ericsson in exchange for Ericsson stock. It also began installing telephone exchanges, joining with SAT to set up a network in Mexico in 1905.

1918: The Russian market dissolved in 1918 when the new Bolshevik government nationalized Ericsson's Soviet operations, seizing about SKr 20 million worth of assets. In 1918, when SAT and Ericsson merged companies, Piltz served a four-year term as president alongside Ericsson's own Hemming Johansson. 1918: The company merges with SAT to form Allmä-a Telefonaktiebolaget L.M. Ericsson.

1921: Their first dial telephone was produced in 1921, although sales of the early automatic switching systems were slow until the equipment had proven itself on the world's markets.

1925: Karl Fredrik Wincrantz became the sole president of Ericsson in 1925, after sharing the post for three years with Hemming Johansson. His skillful negotiations with international contacts, experience and extensive knowledge of telephone operations paved the way for Ericsson's foreign business. It was thanks to Piltz that Ericsson was able to establish operations in southern Italy in 1925.

1926: Ericsson stepped down as chairman the next year and died in 1926. 1926: The firm officially adopts the name Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson.

1928: In 1928, Ericsson began issuing “A” and “B” shares, where an “A” share has 1000 votes against a “B” share.

1930: In 1930, a second issue of “B”-shares took place, and Kreuger gained majority control of the company with a mixture of “A” and “B” shares. The distinctive Ericsson styles soon became subdued by the increasing use of Bakelite telephones starting in the 1930. The partners eventually drifted apart and the split between the two became official in 1930.

1931: 1931: Ivar Kreuger proposes to sell a controlling interest in Ericsson to competitor ITT.

1933: The new Ericsson board met for the first time in May 1933, with former National Power Administration official Waldemar Borgquist as chairman.

1939: The German invasion of Poland eliminated a foreign market that had been an important source of revenue, and Ericsson once again omitted its dividend in 1939.

1946: During the war, domestic orders had accounted for a peak 80 percent of all sales, but this began to decrease steadily in 1946.

1954: In 1954, it released the Ericofon.

1956: Ericsson introduced the world’s first fully automatic mobile telephone system, MTA in 1956. In 1956, the Ericofon, most commonly referred to as the Cobra, was launched under Åberg's leadership.

1960: In 1960, Ericsson finally rid itself of Ivar Kreuger's legacy.

1963: In 1963, it sold off ERMEX AB, a subsidiary that produced electric cattle fences and locks. 1963: The company begins selling assets in an effort to focus on its telephone businesses.

1966: In 1966, Ericsson sold a 52 percent interest in the subsidiary to United Utilities, a telephone and utilities concern that had become North Electric's main customer.

1968: Ericsson sold its remaining interest to United Utilities in 1968. The company's first computer-controlled, automated switching system, the AKE, was launched in 1968.

1973: In 1973, Ericsson attempted to expand its share of the British market by entering into a joint venture with electrical manufacturer Thorn Electrical Industries to produce telephone exchanges.

1976: 1976: Ericsson introduces the AXE switching system.

1977: In 1977, the same year that the first AXE station was completely installed, Lundvall resigned as president and succeeded Marcus Wallenberg as chairman of the board.

1978: Björn Svedberg, the young engineer who led the AXE development team, was appointed president of the company in 1978.

1980: In 1980, Ericsson purchased a controlling interest in Datasaab, a struggling computer manufacturer that had been jointly owned by Saab-Scania and the Swedish government.

1983: Ericsson also modified its powerful MD-110 PBX switch, a central-office switch, to suit the needs of United States customers, and in 1983, it entered into a joint venture with Honeywell to market the MD-110 in the United States and to develop other telecommunications products. In 1983 the company introduced the ERIPAX suite of network products and services.

1985: In 1985, however, Ericsson discontinued the sale of personal computers in the United States after selling only 3,000 units, or one-fifth of its goal for the year, and technical problems with the MD-110 suggested that it had been brought to market too quickly. At the same time, however, the AXE system continued to prove a tremendous success; in 1985 Ericsson won its first AXE contract from British Telecom, worth $140 million. 1985: The company is awarded its first AXE contract from British Telecom.

1986: Behind this strategy was the executive management group in which Ramqvist had been involved since 1986.

1988: Faced with the vitality of its core switching business and the relative torpor in its data-processing business, Ericsson decided to divest the latter and refocus on the former in 1988, abandoning its vision of producing its own automated office system. In 1988, Ericsson amassed gross profits of Skr l.2 billion, a 60 percent increase over the previous year.

1989: In 1989, under Svedberg's leadership, Ericsson launched a major advertising campaign aimed at consumers. The year before, in 1989, Ericsson had achieved its best results to date, thanks to a new strategy that once again concentrated on its core operations: public telecommunication and radio.

1990: In 1990, telecommunications giant Nippon Telephone and Telegraph chose Ericsson, Motorola, and AT&T to be its partners in a plan to jointly develop a digital mobile telephone system. In 1990, Ericsson was still on its way up when Svedberg resigned as president to become chairman of the board.

1991: Jan Frykhammar, who has been working for the company since 1991 will be stepping in as interim CEO as Ericsson searches for a full-time replacement.

1994: 1994: Ericsson is now operating as one of the world's largest manufacturers of telephone apparatus, radio communications instruments, cellular mobile phone telephone switching systems, and cables.

1995: Income for 1995 rose by 36 percent over the previous year to SKr 7,610 million--$1.1 billion--while orders rose by 25 percent.

1996: During 1996, the firm launched two new cellular phones that utilized digital control channel technology and were supported by Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), an operating standard used by nearly all United States markets. Ericsson pushed hard for the WCDMA (wideband CDMA) form based on the GSM standard, and began testing it in 1996.

1997: The growth of GSM, which became a de facto world standard, combined with Ericsson's other mobile standards, such as D-AMPS and PDC, meant that by the start of 1997, Ericsson had an estimated 40% share of the world's mobile market, with around 54 million subscribers. Japanese operator NTT Docomo signed deals to partner with Ericsson and Nokia, who came together in 1997 to support WCDMA over rival standards.

1998: In 1998, the firm purchased United States-based Advanced Computer Communications Inc., a leading routing and remote access technology firm.

1999: In July 1999, he was forced to resign when his restructuring efforts were deemed ineffective. In December 1999, Microsoft and Ericsson announced a strategic partnership to combine the former's web browser and server software with the latter's mobile-internet technologies. 1999: Ericsson and Qualcomm Inc. settle a patent dispute and Ericsson purchases the firm's wireless infrastructure business. Following a long career that included laying the foundation for Ericsson's success in China and heading the company's Mobile Systems business, Kurt Hellström moved to Hong Kong as Market Area Head for Ericsson in Asia. It was at this point that he was persuaded to take over as CEO. During the summer of 1999, 56-year-old Hellström took his place at the helm of the company.

2000: In May 2000, the European Commission created the Wireless Strategic Initiative, a consortium of four telecommunications suppliers in Europe – Ericsson, Nokia, Alcatel (France), and Siemens AG (Germany) – to develop and test new prototypes for advanced wireless communications systems. In 2000, the bursting of the information technology bubble with marked economic implications for Sweden. While Ericsson faced many obstacles in 2000--including increased competition, slowing economies, and the weakening of the Swedish Krona against the United States dollar--it was able to increase sales and net income. Mobile telephones became a burden; the company's telephones unit made a loss of SEK 24 billion in 2000. Around 2000, companies and governments began to push for standards for mobile Internet. During 2000, Ericsson continued its $1 billion restructuring effort. It entered the Internet Protocol (IP) telephony market with the launch of its WebSwitch 2000 product line targeted at the United States businesses.

2001: Ericsson issued a profit warning in March 2001. In September 2001, Ericsson purchased the remaining shares in EHPT from Hewlett Packard. In its October 2001 third quarter report, Hellström boasted that "in these challenging times, our customers rely more that ever on our ability to deliver better solutions faster. Ericsson launched several rounds of restructuring, refinancing and job-cutting; during 2001, staff numbers fell from 107,000 to 85,000.

2002: In June 2002, Infineon Technologies (then the sixth-largest semiconductor supplier and a subsidiary of Siemens) bought Ericsson's microelectronics unit for $400 million. In 2002, ICT investor losses topped $2 trillion and share prices fell by 95% until August that year.

2003: Carl-Henric Svanberg took the position as Ericsson CEO in April 2003. After the launch of 3G services during 2003, people started to access the Internet using their telephones.

2005: In October 2005, Ericsson acquired the bulk of the troubled UK telecommunications manufacturer Marconi Company, including its brand name that dates back to the creation of the original Marconi Company by the "father of radio" Guglielmo Marconi. Ericsson was an official backer in the 2005 launch of the .mobi top level domain created specifically for the mobile internet.

2006: In September 2006, Ericsson sold the greater part of its defense business Ericsson Microwave Systems, which mainly produced sensor and radar systems, to Saab AB, which renamed the company to Saab Microwave Systems.

2007: In September 2007, Ericsson acquired an 84% interest in German customer-care and billing software firm LHS, a stake later raised to 100%. Vestberg was appointed Chief Financial Officer in 2007.

2008: In 2008, Ericsson sold its enterprise PBX division to Aastra Technologies, and acquired Tandberg Television, the television technology division of Norwegian companyTandberg.

2009: The book “Changing the world”, from where this article is, was released in 2009 In 2009, Svanberg ended his term as President and CEO and moved on to a new position as chairman of British Petroleum.

2011: In 2011, Ericsson acquired manufacturing and research facilities, and staff from the Guangdong Nortel Telecommunication Equipment Company (GDNT) as well as Nortel's Multiservice Switch business.

2012: Ericsson acquired United States company Telcordia Technologies in January 2012, an operations and business support systems (OSS/BSS) company. Sony Ericsson remained in operation until February 2012, when Sony bought out Ericsson's share; Ericsson said it wanted to focus on the global wireless market as a whole.

2013: On 3 May 2013, Ericsson announced it would divest its power cable operations to Danish company NKT Holding. In September 2013, Ericsson completed its acquisition of Microsoft's Mediaroom business and televisions services, originally announced in April the same year.

2014: The acquisition was completed on 9 May 2014.

2015: In October 2015, Ericsson completed the acquisition of Envivio, a software encoding company.

2016: In April 2016, Ericsson acquired Polish and Ukrainian operations of software development company Ericpol, a long-time supplier to Ericsson. In 2016 Vestberg left Ericsson after 28 years, the last seven as CEO. He said: “As the industry enters a next phase, driven by 5G, IoT and Cloud, it is time for a new CEO to step in and continue the work to ensure Ericsson's industry leadership."

2017: On 20 June 2017, Bloomberg disclosed that Ericsson hired Morgan Stanley to explore the sale of its media businesses.

2018: In February 2018, Ericsson acquired the location-based mobile data management platform Placecast. In May 2018, SoftBank partnered with Ericsson to trial new radio technology.

2020: In September 2020, Ericsson acquired US-based carrier equipment manufacturer Cradlepoint for $1.1 billion.

2021: In November 2021, Ericsson announced it has reached an agreement to acquire Vonage for $6.2 billion. The following table summarizes per-year mentions on Google Scholar as of December 14, 2021.

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