Gaumont British News
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| Public | |
| Traded as | Euronext: GAM |
| Industry | Motion pictures |
| Founded | June 23, 1895 |
| Founder | Léon Gaumont |
| Headquarters | Neuilly-sur-Seine, France |
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Key people
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Léon Gaumont, Nicolas Seydoux |
| Products | Motion pictures television programs film distribution |
| Revenue |
 € 169.1 million (2013)
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€ 12.7 million (2013)
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| Total assets |
€ 451.5 million (2011)
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| Total equity |
€ 255.9 million (2011)
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Number of employees
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173 (2011) |
| Subsidiaries |
Gaumont Animation Gaumont International Television Gaumont-Pathe Archives Globalgate Entertainment |
| Website | www.gaumont.fr (France), Gaumont.net (America) |
The Gaumont Film Company (French pronunciation: [gomɔ̃]) (often shorted to Gaumont) is a French mini-major film studio founded by the engineer-turned-inventor Léon Gaumont (1864–1946), in 1895. It is the first and oldest film company in the world, founded before other studios such as Pathé (founded in 1896), Titanus (1904), Nordisk Film (1906), Universal and Paramount Pictures (both founded in 1912). Gaumont predominantly produces, co-produces, and distributes films, and in 2011, 95% of Gaumont's consolidated revenues came from the film division. The company is increasingly becoming a TV series producer with its new American subsidiary Gaumont International Television as well as its existing French production features.
Originally dealing in photographic apparatus, the company began producing short films in 1897 to promote its make of camera-projector. Léon Gaumont's secretary Alice Guy-Blaché became the motion picture industry’s first female director and she went on to become the Head of Production of the Gaumont film studio from 1897 to 1907. From 1905 to 1914, its Cité Elgé studios (from the normal French pronunciation of the founder's initials L-G) at La Villette, France, were the largest in the world.
The company manufactured its own equipment and mass-produced films until 1907, when Louis Feuillade became the artistic director of Gaumont. When World War I broke out, he was replaced by Léonce Perret, who continued his career in the United States a few years later. The company headquarters are in Neuilly-sur-Seine.
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Wikipedia