Radio Corporation of America (RCA)

The Radio Corporation of America, also known as RCA Corporation (from 1969), was an American electronics and communications company, one of the preeminent manufacturers of radio and television receivers during its sixty-eight year existence.

RCA was originally formed in 1919 as a patent trust by General Electric (GE), a re-organisation of assets belonging to the former Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America (American Marconi), eventually coming under the joint majority ownership of GE, Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Corporation, and American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T). The company remained a subsidiary institution until 1932, when its corporate owners were forced by a U.S. government anti-trust suit to divest themselves of their ownership stakes; for the next fifty-four years, RCA was to be operated as an independent corporation, until 1986 when it was re-acquired by GE.

Subsidiaries & Joint Ownerships

 * National Broadcasting Company (1926-1987)
 * RKO Radio Pictures Inc. (1928-1943)
 * RCA Victor (1929-1968), a.k.a. RCA Records (1968-1987): formed after acquisition of Victor Talking Machine Company