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Founding of Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR)
A merger of three 19th-century companies—the Tabulating Machine Company, the International Time Recording Company and the Computing Scale Company of America—creates the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) on June 16, 1911. CTR is the precursor to IBM. -
Name Change to International Buisness Machines Corporation (IBM)
in 1924, the company’s name changes to International Business Machines Corporation (IBM). -
Social Security Act of 1935
IBM is able to play a pivotal role in enabling the U.S. government’s Social Security Act of 1935, “the biggest accounting operation of all time.” -
Harvard Mark I
IBM, constructed a large automatic digital sequence-controlled computer called the Harvard Mark I. This computer could handle all four arithmetic operations, and had special built-in programs for logarithms and trigonometric functions. -
Thomas J. Watson Jr. Becomes President of IBM
The ascension of Thomas J. Watson Jr. to IBM’s presidency in 1952 marks the beginning of the company’s transition to a modern corporation. During the first decade of his tenure, Watson Jr.—later labeled by Fortune as the “most successful capitalist who ever lived”—begins to transform IBM from a leading industry player into a business behemoth that spans the globe. He refocuses IBM toward the development and commercialization of electronic computer technologies, creates and institutionalizes prof -
System/360™
IBM develops the revolutionary System/360™ family of mainframe computers. Sparked in part by the triumph of the System/360, IBM experiences a nearly fivefold increase in revenues and earnings over the course of the decade. -
First IBM PC
in the 1980s, the company creates standards that legitimize the PC, turning it from a hobbyist device into an indispensable tool of modern life—in homes, businesses and schools around the world. -
"E-Buisness"
The company fundamentally reshapes its culture to refocus on clients and to be more agile, responsive and collaborative. This transformation coincides with the advent of the Internet, and IBM is a pioneer in helping clients capitalize on the new possibilities of global networked computing and business—what it dubs “e-business.”