Pitney Bowes
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| Pitney Bowes Inc. | |
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| Type | Public (NYSE: PBI) |
| Founded | 1920 |
| Headquarters | Stamford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Key people | Arthur Pitney, Founder Walter Bowes, Founder Michael J. Critelli, Executive Chairman Murray D. Martin, President and CEO Michael Monahan, EVP and CFO |
| Industry | Business Services |
| Products | Metering Systems Addressing Software Presort Mail Services |
| Revenue | ▲$6.1 billion USD (2006) |
| Employees | 36,165 (2008)[1] |
| Website | www.pb.com |
Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE: PBI) is a Stamford, Connecticut-based manufacturer of software and hardware and a provider of services related to documents, packaging, mailing and shipping, collectively referred to as mailstream. The company has approximately 36,000 employees worldwide.[2] It is one of 87 existing firms that have been members of the S&P 500 since its founding in 1957.
Other major U.S. centers of operation include Danbury, Connecticut, Shelton, Connecticut, Troy, New York, and Lanham, Maryland.
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[edit] History
In 1902, Arthur Pitney patented his first "double-locking" hand-cranked postage-stamping machine, and, with patent attorney Eugene A. Rummler, founded the Pitney Postal Machine Company. In 1908, English emigrant and founder of the Universal Stamping Machine Company Walter Bowes began providing stamp-canceling machines to the United States Postal Service. Bowes moved his operations to Stamford in 1917. A rapid increase in mail volume in 1919 made the Post Office more receptive to metered mail, and Pitney subsequently traveled to meet Bowes. On March 15, 1920, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill authorizing mechanical stamps on first-class mail, and on April 23, 1920, the two companies merged to form the Pitney Bowes Postage Meter Company, with the goal of producing a machine that would combine Pitney's "double-locking" counter with Bowes's system for wrapping postage payment, postmarking and cancellation. The United States Post Office approved their postage meter on August 25, 1920.
Between 1922 and 1923, the government collected $4,359,070 in postage from the first commercial installations of 400 meters. Pitney Bowes also began to sell their products internationally.
The company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1950, and joined the Fortune 500 in 1962.
In 1968 Pitney Bowes acquired the Monarch Marking System Company, which would produce the first bar code equipment for retail trade use.
In the 1980s, the firm expanded into copy machines and facsimile machines, and in the 1990s and 2000s began producing printers and communications technologies, adding services for digital document delivery and management. Pitney Bowes has made $2.5 billion in acquisitions since the year 2000 as it diversifies beyond the postage meter business - notable acquisitions in 2007 included Troy, NY-based MapInfo and the Canadian company Digital Cement.[3]
The firm currently holds 3,400 active patents, six of which are personally held by Executive Chairman Michael J. Critelli.
[edit] References
- ^ PBI: Profile for PITNEY BOWES INC - Yahoo! Finance
- ^ PBI: Profile for PITNEY BOWES INC - Yahoo! Finance
- ^ PBI 2007 10-K, p. 19 via Wikinvest
[edit] Further reading
- Cahn, William (1961). The Story of Pitney-Bowes. New York: Harper & Brothers.
[edit] External links
