King Electronics Co history

Pearse and his wife, Barbara, began the business as a Team Electronics franchise operation in 1968.

When Randel S. Carlock became a partner in the company in 1977, he pushed for a broader range of products and additional stores.

The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Guangdong, China.“

By the time Carlock bought out Kempf in 1985, Audio King was a chain of seven stores.

The company further expanded its business with the purchase of an audio service center in early 1986.

In May 1987, the privately held company announced plans for a public stock offering.

Sales were up by 33.4 percent to $15.9 million in 1988, but net income fell by 90.5 percent to only $8,000.

The company improved its 1989 numbers by drawing in more first-time customers with the addition of popular brand name products such as Sony televisions.

By contrast, Audio King's total sales for 1990 were $22.3 million.

In May 1991, Image Retailing announced a proposed merger with Sound Advice, Inc.

In fiscal 1992 the company expanded one store.

In 1993, the company went public under the name Ultimate Electronics, Inc.

In 1995, the company opened another new store in Iowa and announced plans to replace its oldest store, in Edina, Minnesota, with its largest store to date.

The situation worsened in 1996 when the company reported losses of $251,000 on revenue of $65.6 million.

The merger, valued at about $5 million in cash and stocks, was completed in June 1997.

In November 2003, TCL and Thomson SA of France announced the creation of a joint venture to produce televisions and DVD players worldwide.

Founded in 2004 in Baoan District, Shenzhen.

In May 2005 TCL announced that its Hong Kong-listed unit would acquire Alcatel’s 45 per cent stake in their mobile-phone joint venture for consideration of HK$63.34 million ($8.1 million) worth of TCL Communication shares.

In April 2008 Samsung Electronics announced that it would be outsourcing the production of some LCD TV modules to TCL.

In March 2010, TCL Multimedia raised HK$525 million through the sale of shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, in order to fund the development of its LCD and LED businesses and to generate working capital.

In May 2011 TCL launched the China Smart Multimedia Terminal Technology Association in partnership with Hisense Electric Co. and Sichuan Changhong Electric Co., with the aim of helping to establish industry standards for smart televisions.

In January 2013, it bought the naming rights for Grauman’s Chinese Theatre for $5 million and the theater was renamed “TCL Chinese Theatre”.”