JVC history

JVC was founded in 1927, as the wholly owned subsidiary of the Victor Talking Machine Company of the United States, to manufacture and market phonographs in Japan.

Victor, however, was purchased in 1929 by the Radio Corporation of America and renamed RCA Victor.

In 1930 JVC built a large phonograph-and-record plant in Yokohama, at the time the largest in Asia.

RCA Victor sold its minority interest in JVC to Tokyo Shibaura Electric (now Toshiba) and Nihon Denko in 1938, making the company an entirely Japanese enterprise.

Became Affiliate of Matsushita Electric in 1953

The company began commercial production of color television sets in 1960, at a new plant in Iwai.

Introduced VHS System in 1976

JVC engineers developed a laser-operated videodisc system in 1978.

With the tremendous success of VHS, JVC's profits had risen by a factor of ten by 1982.

Six years later, JVC introduced a line of personal computers while production of 3.5-inch disk drives began in 1985.

In April 1990 Takuro Bojo was appointed president of JVC; at 51 he was the youngest president in company history.

Still largely a maker of consumer electronics, JVC was hurt not only by slumping sales of electronics goods in Japan and overseas markets but also by its failure to develop any breakthrough audiovisual products. It announced in August 1992 that it would cut 700 workers in its video plants.

In April 1998 JVC Europe Ltd. was established as the headquarters for European operations.