ITT Exelis
 |
|
| Traded as | : XLS |
|---|---|
| Industry | Defense |
| Predecessor | ITT Corporation's defense business |
| Founded | October 2011 |
| Headquarters |
Tysons Corner, Virginia, U.S. (McLean mailing address), United States |
|
Key people
|
David F. Melcher (President and CEO) |
|
Number of employees
|
19,000 |
| Divisions |
|
| Website | exelisinc |
Exelis Inc., was a global aerospace, defense, information and services company created in October 2011 as a result of the spinoff of ITT Corporation's defense business into an independent, publicly traded company. The company was headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, USA and was led by CEO and President David F. Melcher. The Washington Post highlighted Exelis as a top company in the Washington, D.C. region in 2011.
For more detailed company history prior to October 31, 2011, see ITT Corporation
Exelis Inc. was one of three major companies that made up ITT Corporation, a company that provided numerous communications, defense and water services. ITT was founded as the small communications company Puerto Rico Telephone Company by brothers Sosthenes and Hernan Behn. Through a series of business and patent acquisitions, the company grew and was renamed International Telephone and Telegraph in 1920. ITT continued to grow before appointing Harold Geneen as CEO in 1959.Until his retirement from the position in 1977, Geneen was responsible for growing the company from a medium-sized business earning $765 million in 1961 to an international conglomerate making $17 billion in sales in 1970. The company acquired more than 350 companies during Geneen’s tenure; at one point the acquisition rate reached one deal per week. Ownership extended over such notable companies as Continental Baking, maker of Wonder Bread and the Twinkie, Sheraton Hotels and Avis Rent-A-Car. For a brief period in the mid-1960s, ITT was in talks to acquire the ABC television and radio networks in the USA, but that deal fell through under regulatory scrutiny. Following Geneen’s retirement, ITT went through a restructuring phase under CEO Rand Araskog and was split into three companies in 1995: ITT Corporation (formerly ITT Industries), Starwood Hotels and Resorts and The Hartford Financial Services Group, an insurance company.
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