Technicolor SA

Technicolor SA, formerly Thomson SARL and Thomson Multimedia, is an American-French multinational corporation that provides services and products for the communication, media and entertainment industries. Technicolor's headquarters are located in Paris, France.[3] Other main office locations include Rennes (France), Los Angeles, California (United States), Edegem (Belgium), London (England, UK), Bangalore, Chennai, Gurgaon (India) and Lawrenceville, Georgia (United States). The former US headquarters of Thomson Consumer Electronics in Carmel, Indiana (United States) was closed in 2017.[4]

This article is about the French multinational corporation. For the film processing trademark of the same name, see Technicolor.

Technicolor SA
FormerlyThomson SARL
(1893–1914)
Thomson Multimedia (1914–2010)
TypePublic
Euronext: TCH
IndustryCreative industries
Conglomerate
Founded1893 (1893)
Headquarters
Paris
,
France
Key people
Richard Moat (CEO)
Bruce Hack (Chairman)
Revenue€3.900 billion (2019)
€324 million (2019 EBITDA)
Number of employees
14,639 (2012)
SubsidiariesTechnicolor USA
Technicolor India
RCA
The Mill
Mr. X Inc
Technicolor Animation Productions
Mikros Image[1]
Moving Picture Company
[2]
Technicolor
Websitewww.technicolor.com

On January 27, 2010, the company changed its name to Technicolor SA, re-branding the entire company after its American film technology subsidiary.[5] Thomson's US subsidiary became Technicolor USA, Inc.[6]

History

Technicolor began as Thomson, named after the electrical engineer Elihu Thomson, who was born in Manchester, England, on March 26, 1853. Thomson moved to Philadelphia, USA, at the age of 5, with his family. Thomson formed the Thomson-Houston Electric Company in 1879 with Edwin Houston. The company merged with the Edison General Electric Company to become the General Electric Company in 1892. In 1893, the Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston (CFTH) was formed in Paris, a sister company to GE in the United States. It was from this company that the modern Thomson Group would evolve.

In 1966, CFTH merged with Hotchkiss-Brandt to form Thomson-Houston-Hotchkiss-Brandt (soon renamed Thomson-Brandt). In 1968 the electronics business of Thomson-Brandt merged with Compagnie Générale de Télégraphie Sans Fil (CSF) to form Thomson-CSF. Thomson Brandt maintained a significant shareholding in this company (approximately 40%).

Business changes

In 1982, both Thomson-Brandt and Thomson-CSF saw nationalization due to the efforts of François Mitterrand. Thomson-Brandt was subsequently renamed Thomson SA (Société Anonyme), and soon thereafter merged with Thomson-CSF. GE then sold the rights to make RCA, ProScan and GE-branded televisions and other consumer electronics products in 1988, to Thomson Consumer Electronics, in exchange for some of Thomson's medical businesses. That same year, Thomson Consumer Electronics was formed, and then renamed Thomson SA. In 1995, the French government split the consumer electronics from the defense businesses of Thomson Multimedia and Thomson-CSF prior to privatization in 1999. Following privatization, Thomson-CSF went through a series of transactions, including with Marconi plc, before becoming Thales in 2000. In 2005, Thomson bought Cirpack and Inventel.[7]

In 2000, Thomson Multimedia purchased Technicolor from Carlton Television (owned by Carlton Communications) in the U.K. and began a move into the broadcast management, facilities and services market with the purchase of Corinthian Television, becoming Thomson Multimedia. In Q1 of 2001 it purchased the Broadcast Division of Koninklijke Philips (Philips Broadcast) then in 2002 acquired the Grass Valley Group, Inc. from Dr. Terence Gooding of San Diego, CA. Thomson then purchased the Moving Picture Company from ITV and the internet startup Singingfish, but then sold it to AOL in late 2004. In 2004, Thomson increased its stake in the Bangalore, India based company Celstream Technologies, which specializes in product engineering. Cirpack, a softswitch manufacturer, was incorporated and acquired in April 2005. In July 2005, Thomson agreed to purchase PRN Corporation for $285 million. In December 2005, Thomson re-purchased the Broadcast & Multimedia part of Thales Group.

In 2004, Thomson set up a joint venture (TTE) with China's TCL, giving to TCL all manufacturing of RCA and Thomson television and DVD products and making TCL the global leader in TV manufacturing (Thomson still controlled the brands themselves and licensed them to TTE). At the time, TCL was hailed as the first Chinese company to compete on the international stage with large international corporations. Thomson initially retained all marketing of TTE's products, but transferred that to TTE in 2005. In June 2005, the Videocon Group of India announced, that it would acquire the color picture tube manufacturing business from Thomson SA for €240 million. In early 2010, Thomson sold TV brand RCA to ON corporation.

In September 2005, Thomson first showed its Infinity camcorder. At the April 2006 launch, this was described as "a new line of IT-based acquisition, recording and storage devices."[8] It was designed to end the stranglehold of proprietary products in this market, and was inspired by a Grass Valley executive's trip to Fry's Electronics in Burbank to buy a computer backup device.[9] While innovative it was unsuccessful in taking market share from the predominant players in News Acquisition, Sony and Panasonic. It was too heavy and used too much power, which reduced battery life and increased heat. Its production was discontinued in 2010.

Also in 2005, Thomson marketing executive Nicholas de Wolff developed a plan for the creation of interactive Innovation centers,[10] where early research projects could be demonstrated to industry leaders and clients in a close-up format, allowing for more strategic advanced product development. The centers (in Burbank, USA;[11] Rennes, France; Hannover, Germany; and Beijing, China) were so successful, de Wolff and Thomson CTO, Jean-Charles Hourcade subsequently decided to launch the research demos at IBC and NAB trade shows,[12] despite strong opposition from several business units. The decision resulted in greatly increased confidence in Thomson product roadmaps, and a strong YoY growth in related sales orders at those events.

In February 2007, Thomson Multimedia's Technicolor Content Services division announced that it had invested in Indian animation studio Paprikaas to expand its entertainment services capabilities.[13] In December 2007, Technicolor partnered with DreamWorks Animation to assist Paprikass in the "recruitment, training and development of top-tier animation talent".[14] By January 2010, Technicolor had raised its ownership in Paprikaas to 100%.[15] Following the acquisition, Technicolor's Indian offices in Delhi were merged into Paprikaas, and the resulting studio was rebranded Technicolor India in May 2010.[16][17]

In December 2007, Thomson SA agreed to sell off its Audio/Video and Accessories businesses (the RCA and Thomson brands except communications products such as cordless phones) to Audiovox. In October 2007, Thomson SA agreed to sell its consumer electronics audio video business outside Europe including the worldwide rights to the RCA brand.

On January 29, 2009, Thomson announced its intention to sell the PRN and Grass Valley businesses to focus on services business and improve its financial position.[18] This was one of the consequences of an enormous financial crisis in 2009, which forced the company to a total financial restructuring to avoid bankruptcy.[19] From 2010 to February 2011, "Technicolor" (having rebranded itself) divested these sub-businesses: Grass Valley and Broadcast to the Francisco Partners in July and December[20] along with the Transmission business to PARTER Capital Group; Head-end to the FCDE (Fonds de Consolidation et de Développement des Entreprises), and reintegration of PRN.[21]

On June 20, 2012, Vector Capital won a competitive bid for a minority stake in Technicolor,[22] beating JP Morgan with a surprise, last-minute bid.[23] With the investment of €167 - 191 million, Vector Capital will retain a minority stake in Technicolor of up to 29.94%.[24] Following the deal, on June 21, 2012, Technicolor named Remy Sautter as Chairman of the Board and appointed two Vector Capital representatives to the board, Alexander Slusky and David Fishman.[25]

On July 3, 2012, the Technicolor broadcast services division was acquired by Ericsson.[26]

On June 10, 2014, Technicolor announced the acquisition of Toronto VFX studio Mr. X Inc.[27] The same year the company also shut down its final film lab.[28]

On February 25, 2015, Technicolor acquired the French independent animation producer OuiDo! Productions. On July 23 of the same year, Cisco Systems announced the sale of its television set-top box and cable modem business to Technicolor for $600 million—part of a division originally formed by Cisco's $6.9 billion purchase of Scientific Atlanta.[29][30] The deal was closed on November 20 same year.[31]

On September 15, 2015, Technicolor acquired London-based visual effects leader in advertising The Mill for €259 million.

On November 13, 2015, Technicolor acquired the North American optical disc manufacturing and distribution assets from Cinram Group, Inc. for approximately €40 million.

In July 2018, Technicolor closed the sale of its Patent Licensing business to InterDigital for $475m[32] and in February 2019, announced it has received a binding offer for its Research & Innovation Activity from the same company.[33]

In December 2019, Technicolor and its former CEO, Frederic Rose, were indicted in France on charges of fraud and breach of trust in connection with their role in the bankruptcy of Tarak Ben Ammar's post-production group, Quinta Industries, and its subsequent acquisition of the company in January 2012.[34]

In June 2020, Technicolor announced that it has filed for Chapter 15 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[35]

See also

References
  1. Darryn King (9 April 2015). "Mikros Image Acquired by Technicolor". Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  2. Page 75 (23 February 2018). "TECHNICOLOR 2017 CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS" (PDF). Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  3. "Privacy Policy". Technicolor.
  4. <Jeff Newman> (19 October 2017). "Technicolor closing local operations, eliminating 125 jobs". Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  5. Cohen, David S. (26 January 2010). "Technicolor reinventing itself". Variety.
  6. "Thomson Acquires Cirpack, the European Leader in Softswitch Solutions". 21 April 2005. Archived from the original on 10 July 2011.
  7. David Tamés. "NAB 2006: Camera Wrap-up". CreativePlanetNetwork.
  8. "A conversation with John Naylor". Kino-Eye. 28 April 2006.
  9. "Thomson Opens Innovation Center". TV Technology. 10 May 2006.
  10. "Thomson's Technology Division Launches Burbank Innovation Center to Showcase Research and Products". Digital Cinema Technology. 23 March 2006.
  11. "Thomson's Technology Division to Unveil Prototypes and Proof of Concepts for New Products and Technologies at NAB 2007". BusinessWire. 4 April 2007.
  12. Boyer, Brandon (13 February 2007). "Technicolor Expands Game Services With Indian Investment". Gamasutra. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  13. Boyer, Brandon (20 December 2007). "Thomson, DreamWorks Partner To Enhance Indian Game, Animation Studio". Gamasutra. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  14. Stinson, Liz (27 January 2010). "Paprikaas in Technicolor". Variety. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  15. Announcement (14 May 2010). "Paprikaas is now Technicolor India". Business Standard. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  16. McLean, Tom (17 May 2010). "Paprikaas Rebrands as Technicolor India". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  17. "Thomson to Sell Grass Valley". tvtechnology.com. 29 January 2009. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
  18. "TECHNICOLOR Company Profile | PARIS, ILE-DE-FRANCE, France |Competitors, Financials & Contacts". Dun & Bradstreet.
  19. "PE Firm Makes Binding Offer for Grass Valley". tvtechnology.com. 27 July 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010.
  20. "Technicolor sells head-end business to FCDE, keeps PRN". 24 February 2011.
  21. David Benoit (25 July 2012). "Vector Capital beats J.P. Morgan in Technicolor wildness". Wall St. Journal.
  22. "Vector Capital wins Technicolor deal". Wall St. Journal. 20 June 2012.
  23. "Technicolor's general shareholders meeting approves the capital increases proposed by vector capital". 20 June 2012.
  24. Georg Szalai (21 June 2012). "France's Technicolor gets new chairman, seals deal to sell stake to US firm". Hollywood Reporter.
  25. "Ericsson closes acquisition of Technicolor's broadcast services division". Ericsson.com.
  26. Cohen, David S.; Cohen, David S. (10 June 2014). "Technicolor To Acquire Visual Effects Studio Mr. X". Variety. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  27. Blakely, Helen Alexander and Rhys (12 September 2014). "The Triumph of Digital Will Be the Death of Many Movies". Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  28. "Technicolor to Buy Cisco's Set-Top Box Unit for About $600 Million". The Wall Street Journal. 22 July 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  29. "Technicolor to acquire Cisco Connected Devices Division for €550m in stock and cash". 23 July 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  30. "Technicolor Completes Acquisition Of Cisco Connected Devices Division". 20 November 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
  31. "Closing of The Sale of Technicolor's Patent Licensing Business to Interdigital". 30 July 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  32. "Technicolor Has Received a Binding Offer for its Research & Innovation Activity From InterDigital". 11 February 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  33. https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/technicolor-tarak-ben-ammar-frederic-rose-fraud-charges-france-1203447388/
  34. https://www.animationmagazine.net/features/technicolor-files-chapter-15-bankruptcy-citing-pandemic/
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