Publicly traded Aktieselskab | |
Traded as | Nasdaq Copenhagen: GN |
Industry | Electronics |
Founded | 1869 |
Headquarters | Ballerup, Denmark |
Key people
|
René Svendsen-Tune, CEO (GN Netcom) Anders Hedegaard, CEO (GN ReSound) Per Wold-Olsen, Chairman |
Products | Headsets, hearing instruments |
Revenue | ((Profit))DKK 6,791million (2013) |
Total assets | DKK 8,963 ((Million)) (2013) |
Number of employees
|
5,075 (2014) |
Website | gn.com |
GN Store Nord A/S is a Danish manufacturer of hearing instruments and audiological diagnostics equipments (GN ReSound and GN Otometrics) and headsets (Jabra (GN Netcom)).
It was founded as The Great Northern Telegraph Company (Det Store Nordiske Telegrafselskab A/S) in Denmark in June 1869. It was set up as a merger of three recently established telegraph companies initiated by Danish industrial mogul Carl Frederik Tietgen. The aim of the firm was to create a worldwide telegraph company.
The starting point of The Great Northern Telegraph Company (now GN Store Nord) was a concession agreement, which C.F. Tietgen made with the Russian Tzar in 1869. The agreement gave The Great Northern Telegraph Company exclusive rights – and obligations – to establish and run a telegraph line in Russia. This represented a great pioneer task for the company in establishing connections from Europe to the Far East. The Russian authorities ran the actual construction work in Russia. They had already set up a telegraph line in parts of Siberia but were looking for a business partner to cover China and Japan before continuing the Russian line all the way east to Vladivostok. Thus, The Great Northern Telegraph Company was given the responsibility to establish and run its own telegraph line in Asia, and additionally, assisting the Russians with operations, maintenance, technical assistance and education. In the following years, the telegraph line expanded massively – both in Europe and in Asia. First, Oslo, London and Paris were covered. Later, operations took place along the coast of China ranging from Hong Kong to Shanghai and further into Japan where the first telegraph station opened in Nagasaki in 1897. In addition to the telegraph line, telegraph stations and offices opened at several locations.
In 1897, negotiations began about a potential connection going from Scotland to the United States through the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland. In 1906, the cable was established, although without the final connection to the United States, which had to wait for almost 60 years to become a reality. When the transatlantic connection was finally established, however, it represented a remarkable expansion, which significantly facilitated communication between people around the world.