Fluke history

Fluke Corporation was founded by John Fluke in October 1953 as the John Fluke Manufacturing Company, Inc., producing electrical metering equipment.

Winn had started with Fluke in 1968 and worked his way through the ranks.

In 1981, the company built its 500,000-square-foot, $42 million, campus-style corporate headquarters in Everett, later introducing the first automotive multimeters designed especially for vehicle technicians.

In 1982, John Fluke appointed George Winn president of Fluke and a year later appointed his son John Jr. chief executive.

In 1987, Fluke partnered with the Dutch electronics manufacturer Philips.

Fluke posted sales of about $240 million in 1990, and a net income of about $12 million.

With sales stagnant and earnings sporadic, Fluke Jr. finally decided to step down in 1991.

Fluke Networks began as a business unit within Fluke Corporation in 1992.

Largely as a result of the Philips acquisition, revenues climbed to about $362.5 million (year ended April 29, 1994), about $8.8 million of which was net income.

That figure climbed to about $389.8 million in 1995 as net income rose to a healthier $14.9 million.

Fluke was bought by the Danaher Corporation in 1998.

By 2000, Fluke Networks had grown substantially, and differences between Fluke Networks and Fluke Corporation were apparent – different customers, different sales channels and sales processes, and different products designed for different applications.

The parent company reported $82.6 million in net earnings for the first quarter of 2001, up 15 percent over a year earlier, on sales of $1 billion, up 16 percent over the year.