Bang and Olufsen

Bang & Olufsen A/S

Type	Public
Traded as	Nasdaq Copenhagen: BO B
Founded	1925; 92 years ago (1925)
Founder	Svend Olufsen
Headquarters	Struer, Denmark
Key people	Henrik Clausen (CEO) Ole Andersen (Chairman)
Products	Audiovisual
Revenue	2.86 billion kr (2013/14)
Number of employees	2,050 (2014)
Website	www.bang-olufsen.com

Bang & Olufsen (B&O) (stylized as BANG & OLUFSEN) is a Danish consumer electronics company that designs and manufactures audio products, television sets, and telephones. It was founded in 1925 by and Svend Olufsen, whose first significant product was a radio that worked with alternating current at a time when most radios were run on batteries. In 2004, the company opened a factory in the Czech Republic where it employs approximately 250 staff producing mainly audio products.

Peter Bang (1900–1957), son of Camillo Bang, a successful Danish businessman, showed great interest in radio technology from an early age. After graduating as an engineer in 1924, he spent six months working in a U.S. radio factory. Upon his return to Denmark, he teamed up with his friend Svend Olufsen (1897–1949), whose parents made the attic of their manor house in Struer in Jutland available for experiments. When they officially opened their business in 1925, Bang concentrated on the technology while Olufsen dealt with business. There were a number of successful developments in the 1930s and 1940s, including a sound recording system for the film industry, roof-mounted loudspeakers for circuses and army vehicles, and the iconic Beolit 39 radio with a Bakelite cabinet.

It was, however, many years before their business became significantly profitable. The firm suffered a huge setback towards the end of World War II when its factory at Gimsing in Struer in Northwestern Jutland was burnt down by pro-Nazi saboteurs as punishment for the management's refusal to collaborate with the Germans. Undeterred, Bang and Olufsen rebuilt the factory, producing electric razors until 1955, and then going on to develop a range of radio, radiogram, and television sets, later influenced by designer Ib Fabiansen when he began work for the company in 1957.