IBM's history

IBM's history of growth and strength in the computer industry is legendary. The initials "IBM" are synonymous with computers and software.

From its early beginnings as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company, it grew from a modest 1,200 employees and three product lines, to over 400,000 employees and hundreds of products by the early 1980's. IBM's annual sales increased from $1.4 million in 1914 to $140 million by the end of World War II.

During the stock market crash of 1929, IBM struggled but managed to survive without laying off employees. IBM has remained a leader in the information-processing field throughout the world. Even though it entered the emerging personal computer market only after others were producing computers and gaining acceptance, IBM quickly used its size and resources to dominate the PC market for a number of years. IBM's influence in the personal computing field is extremely strong, but it is challenged by the rapid changes in technology and the growing trend of businesses away from large scale computers to greater reliance on microcomputer, LAN and client-server type solutions.

Growing international competition and the U.S. economic recession of the early 1990's, adversely affected IBM and many other computer companies. From 1990 to 1993, in efforts to streamline operations, cut costs and increase competitiveness, IBM was forced to lay off about 100,000 workers world-wide.

IBM has since grown into a multi-billion dollar company. IBM is the world leader in the production of large-scale computers, personal computers, computer peripherals, software, and the largest provider of computer services and maintenance. Only AT&T and Northern Telecom surpass IBM in the data communications field. By 1993, IBM ranked as the fourth largest corporation in the world with sales of $65 billion and assets of over $87.7 billion.