Zenith history

1923: Company is reincorporated as Zenith Radio Corporation.

In 1927 they also came out with the slogan, "The Quality Goes In Before The Name Goes On." Soon after, they were listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1948, Zenith introduced its first line of black-and-white TV sets.

Though Adler was best known for his role as co-inventor of the remote control in 1956, he had also engaged in a wide variety of television-related projects as a Zenith employee.

Nevin’s demand that the federal government enforce its 1971 anti-dumping laws was finally met, but not before significant damage had been done.

They were also one of the first American manufacturers to market a home VCR, selling a Sony-built Betamax video recorder starting in 1977.

Also in 1977, Zenith found itself contracting with Japan’s Sony Corporation, to market Sony’s Betamax home video television recorder in the United States under the Zenith label.

Zenith: Highlights of the First 60 Years, Glenview, Ill.: Zenith Radio Corporation, 1978.

With their analog line aging (the last major update to the line had been the System³ chassis in 1978), and the adoption of HDTV in the United States decades away, Zenith's prospects were not good.

1980: Zenith Data Systems is created as a computer subsidiary.

Capitalizing on Heath’s early entry into personal computers, Zenith formed Zenith Data Systems in 1980.

Zenith made its last radio in 1982 and changed its name to Zenith Electronics Corporation.

By the end of 1983, Zenith had spent millions of dollars in connection with the litigation.

Beginning in 1988, Zenith has been a leader in HDTV technologies.

Zenith used the $511.4 million it received from Bull to pay off its short-term debt and some of its long-term obligations as well. It was becoming increasingly evident to Pearlman that Zenith's continued participation in two tough business areas was hurting the company's competitiveness; although both were more than $1 billion in sales by 1988, neither was profitable.

1991: South Korea-based Lucky-Goldstar, later LG Group (LG), purchases a five percent stake in the company for $15 million.

A further blow came in early 1993 when one of Zenith's creditors, the Bank of New York, found the company in violation of the net worth covenant in its credit agreement.

That changed in 1995 when LG Group, based in South Korea, purchased a fifty-eight percent stake in Zenith.

Moschner resigned abruptly in July 1996 and was replaced by Peter S. Willmott, first as interim CEO and president and then on a permanent basis.

In 1996, Zenith lost $25.2 million in the first quarter, or $.38 a share.

And Zenith's focus on providing access to the Internet via cable systems in partnership with modem maker United States Robotics provided a brief surge in its stock price in 1996.

In the company's 1997 annual report, it indicated the possibility that Zenith might be compelled to file for bankruptcy.

In 1997, United States net sales totaled $1.1 billion, while those outside the United States amounted to only $28 million.

In 1997, Zenith and other members of the Digital HDTV Grand Alliance earned a technical Emmy for pioneering developments behind the ATSC standard.

Zenith launched a major brand revitalization program in 1997, updating its famous lightning bolt logo and creating a new marketing campaign designed to introduce the company and its products to a new generation of consumers.

In fact, Willmott himself left the company in January 1998, along with CFO Roger A. Cregg.

As of March 1998, Zenith, with the guarantee of LGE, had secured lending agreements for credit lines of more than $100 million, all of which had been used.

zenith electronics corporation home page, march 1998. available at http://www.zenith.com.

In May 1998, Zenith announced that it planned to initiate a prepackaged reorganization proceeding under Chapter 11.

The skies grew darker for Zenith in May 1998 when the company reported another huge first-quarter loss.

In late 1998 Zenith closed its only remaining United States factory, the Melrose Park picture tube plant.

The parent provided operating capital and loan guarantees for Zenith, but the company's red ink continued to flow through at least the first quarter of 1998.

In 1998, Zenith was recognized by Fortune Magazine as the top consumer electronics brand in customer satisfaction.

In 1999, Zenith completed a broad financial and operational restructuring plan designed to return the company to financial health and leverage its brand, distribution and technology strengths.

Their profitable Network Systems division - that produced set-top boxes for cable and satellite TV - was sold to Motorola in the summer of 2000 and became part of Motorola BCS Broadband Communications Sector.

Beginning in 2001, the company inaugurated a $100 million advertising campaign that included a prominent profile at the Sun-dance Film Festival, a new identity as “The High-Definition Authority,” and greater attempts to appeal to young, affluent, and trendy consumers.

While LG had made the decision to limit the distribution of Zenith products in the attempt to capture the high-end market, Zenith began marketing a special premium brand of equipment not under its own name but under the LG logo in 2003.

During that same period, Zenith and LG engineers also developed new digital television technologies, including the core innovations behind the broadcasting standard for mobile digital TV, adopted by the ATSC in 2009.

Zenith also played a major role in the development of the new standard adopted in 2013 for the Mobile Emergency Alert System, which harnesses the power of mobile TV to deliver rich media emergency alerts to mobile devices.