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| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Consumer electronics |
| Founded | 1917; 108 years ago (1917) Napa, California, U.S. |
| Founder | Edwin Pridham Peter L. Jensen |
| Headquarters | Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Products | Odyssey andits successors TVs Speakers Blu-ray and DVD players Dehumidifiers Heaters Air conditioners Headphones Batteries |
| Parent | Philips (1974-2025) Curtis International Ltd. (2025-present) |
| Website | magnavox |
Magnavox (Latin for "great voice", stylized asMAGNAVOX or sometimesMagnavox in Australia) is an Americanelectronics company. It was purchased by North American Philips in 1974,[1] which was absorbed into Dutch electronics companyPhilips in 1991. The predecessor to Magnavox was founded in 1911 by Edwin Pridham andPeter L. Jensen, co-inventors of the moving-coilloudspeaker at their lab inNapa, California, under United States Patent number 1,105,924 for telephone receivers.[2] Six decades later, Magnavox produced theOdyssey, the world's first homevideo game console.
On January 29, 2013, it was announced that Philips had agreed to sell its audio and video operations to the Japan-basedFunai Electric for €150 million, with the audio business planned to transfer to Funai in the latter half of 2013, and the video business in 2017.[3][4][5] As part of the transaction, Funai was to pay a regular licensing fee to Philips for the use of the Philips brand.[4] The purchase agreement was terminated by Philips in October because of breach of contract[6] and the consumer electronics operations remain under Philips. Philips said it would seek damages for breach of contract in theUS$200-million sale.[7] In April 2016, theInternational Court of Arbitration ruled in favour of Philips, awarding compensation of€135 million in the process.[8] Magnavox brand name products are currently made byFunai andCraig Electronics under license from trademark owner Philips.[9]
Jensen and Pridham founded the Commercial Wireless and Development Company in Napa, CA in 1911, moving to San Francisco, and then Oakland in 1916. In July 1917, a merger with The Sonora Phonograph Distributor Company was finalized and the Magnavox Company was born. Frank Morgan Steers was chosen as the company's first President. Jensen moved on to found theJensen Radio Manufacturing Company in Chicago, in the late 1920s. Pridham stayed on with Magnavox, which moved manufacturing toFort Wayne, Indiana by the 1930s. The term "Commercial Wireless" had a different meaning in the early days of radio and telephone. Magnavox manufactured radios, TVs, andphonographs. In the 1960s, Magnavox manufactured the firstplasma displays for the military and for computer applications.
In 1972 Magnavox introduced theOdyssey, the firstvideo game console.[10] In 1974, North American Philips acquired a majority stake in the Magnavox Company, which became a wholly-owned subsidiary the following year.[11] Philips acquired the similar-sounding companyPhilco in 1981, and Philips was able to freely use the Philips name, alternating with the Magnavox name for some electronics, with the personal care business continuing to use the Norelco name.
In the late 1970s, Philips developedLaserDisc technology, producing an optically read, 12 inch disc that would contain recorded video material. In the early 1980s, Philips worked with Sony to create a standard for optical audio discs (CDs), using the technology developed for the LaserDisc.
Teamed withSony, Philips used the Magnavox brand name to introduce theCD-DA standard and equipment for consumer audio with the Magnavox player sold in department stores while theSony CDP-101 went to high-end audio stores.
During the late 1970s the company released theOdyssey², in Europe also known asPhilips Videopac G7000.
In the early 1980s, Philips mergedSylvania, Philco and Magnavox into one division headquartered inKnoxville, Tennessee, with a manufacturing plant inGreeneville, Tennessee. The Sylvania plant inBatavia, New York, was closed and all operations moved to Greeneville. Philips also abandoned the Sylvania trademark which is owned byOsram.
In the late 1980s, Magnavox sold the Magnavox/PhilipsVideoWriter with some success. Released in 1985, the VideoWriter was a standalone fixed-applicationword processing machine (electronic typewriter).
Philips Computers, primarily based in Canada, sold its products in North America under the Magnavox brand with minor rebadging in logo and color scheme of computers, monitors, peripherals and manuals. Philips exited the proprietary personal computer business in 1992. Philips sold the Greenville plant in 1997.[12]
In the 1990s, several Magnavox brandedCD-i players were marketed by Philips.
Starting in the early 1990s, some Philips electronics were marketed under thebrand name "Philips Magnavox", in an attempt to increase brand awareness of the Philips name in the United States. While it did work to a degree, it also caused confusion to the consumer as to the difference between "Philips Magnavox" products and "Philips" products, resulting in Philips marketing the two brands separately again.[13]
The brand also has worked withFunai with their televisions after the Philips Magnavox name was popular. Magnavox also has abrand licensing deal where several of theirconsumer electronics are manufactured byCraig Electronics and sold under the Magnavox brand.[14]
In Australia, the rights to the Magnavox brand are not owned by Philips but by Mistral Ltd, a Hong Kong trading company that uses it to sell audio/video equipment of a different make.[15]
In Europe, the brand Magnavox was briefly used in the 1990s by Philips on budget consumer electronics to replace traditional local brand names (such asAristona, Erres, Hornyphon, Radiola, Siera). Since no one recognised the brand name, it was soon discontinued.
The defense electronics group, centered inFort Wayne, Indiana, remained independent under theMagnavox Electronic Systems name, first under Philips and later in theCarlyle Group, until it was acquired byHughes Electronics in 1995.[16] The three areas of business of the MESC operation during the late 1980s and early 1990s were C-Cubed (Command, Control, and Communication),Electronic Warfare, andsonobuoys. When Hughes Electronics sold its aerospace and defense operations toRaytheon, the former Magnavox defense operations were transferred as well.[citation needed] Shortly thereafter, Raytheon spun off the sonobuoy operation to form Under Sea Systems Inc (USSI), inColumbia City, Indiana. In 1998, Raytheon sold USSI to a British defense consortium named Ultra Electronics.[17] The company is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Ultra, manufacturing water and acoustic sensing and communications devices for military and civil defense.[18]
Among the defense products Magnavox manufactured were theAN/ARC-164 UHF radio, AN/SSQ-53 series sonobuoys, AN/ALQ-128 EW equipment, AN/SSQ-62 series sonobuoys, and theAdvanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS).[19]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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