Beginnings and early acquisitions Following their military service, and Colonel
Sosthenes Behn formed International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT) in 1920. Hernand served as its first president, leading the company until his death in 1933, and growing its assets to over $500 million. Sosthenes served as a second vice-president, ITT's first major expansion came in 1923, when it consolidated operators in the telecoms market in Spain into what eventually became
Telefónica. During the 1920s, ITT acquired European and American telephone companies, including International Western Electric (AT&T's European-based manufacturer of telephonic equipment), in 1925, for $30 million, renaming it International Standard Electric Corp.; All-American Cables, Inc.; Commercial Cable Co.; telegraph company Postal Telegraph and Cable Corp.; and radio company Mackay Radio and Telegraph Co. In July 1924, the company was awarded the Spanish telephone service contract, and established Compania Telefonica Nacional de Espana SA (CTNE). It acquired Romanian telecommunications monopoly
Societatea Anonima Română de Telefoane. Its only serious rival was the
Theodore Gary & Company conglomerate, which operated a subsidiary, Associated Telephone and Telegraph, with manufacturing plants in Europe. In the United States, ITT acquired the various companies of the
Mackay Companies in 1928 through a specially organized subsidiary corporation,
Postal Telegraph & Cable. These companies included the
Commercial Cable Company, the
Commercial Pacific Cable Company,
Postal Telegraph, and the
Federal Telegraph Company.
German subsidiaries in the Nazi period On August 3, 1933,
Adolf Hitler received
Sosthenes Behn (then the CEO of ITT
ITT) and his German representative, Henry Mann, in one of his first meetings with US
businesspeople. Subsequently, Sosthenes Behn came into contact with the
Keppler's circle of German bankers and businessmen who formed an inner circle of support for Hitler.
Kurt Baron von Schröder and
Emil Heinrich Meyer joined the ITT board, with Schröder becoming a conduit of funds from ITT to
Heinrich Himmler's
SS organization, according to author
Antony C. Sutton, in his book,
Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler. The payments to Himmler were noted in a 1946 banking investigation report by the Office of Military Government, United States. After merging
Federal Telephone and Radio Corporation into ITT Kellogg, in 1940, and combining manufacturing operations, the name again changed to
ITT Telecommunications, eventually reverting to
ITT Kellogg. In 1943, ITT became the largest shareholder of Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau GmbH with 29% and remained so for the duration of the war. This was due to
Kaffee HAG's share falling to 27% after the death in May of Kaffee HAG chief
Dr. Ludwig Roselius.
OMGUS documents reveal that the role of the HAG conglomerate could not be determined during WWII.
Post-war activity and acquisitions Major General
William H. Harrison served as president from 1948, until his death in 1956, with Colonel Behn as chairman. Also in 1951, ITT bought a majority interest in the
Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Company (founded in 1897 as a pioneer in "divided-multiple"
telephone switchboards) and bought the remaining shares the next year. ITT changed the company's name to ITT Kellogg. One prominent subsidiary of this firm was the
American Cable and Radio Corporation, which operated the
transatlantic cables of the
Commercial Cable Company, among other ventures. It bought
Philadelphia-based heating and air-conditioning manufacturer John J. Nesbitt Inc.
Community development In 1968 ITT acquired timberland company
Rayonier which owned over 30,000 acres (46.875 square miles) in Flagler County, Florida. ITT wanted more from their investment than the proceeds of wood pulp from slash pine trees. At the time, thousands of people were migrating to Florida from the
Rust Belt, so management at ITT decided to create a destination with both housing and jobs for the transplants. ITT purchased tracts from 35 other owners to total 93,000 acres (145.3 square miles), the size of Cleveland or Detroit. From the start, ITT assumed that their financial resources would solve any problems encountered. There are failed developments all over Florida, but most are because of money problems. or 750,000. ITT built the Sheraton Palm Coast Resort in the early 1970s to house potential buyers for the Palm Coast development. It was a small hotel with 106 rooms, not a typical Sheraton property, and it was later demolished.
International telecommunications International telecommunications manufacturing subsidiaries included
Standard Telephones and Cables in the United Kingdom and Australia,
Indosat in Indonesia,
Standard Elektrik Lorenz (today part of
Nokia Germany) and
Gesellschaft für Metallurgie und Elektronik mbH (acquired from
Clevite in 1965; now TDK-Micronas) in Germany,
BTM in Belgium, and CGCT and LMT in France. These companies manufactured equipment according to ITT designs, including the (1960s) Pentaconta
crossbar switch and (1970s) Metaconta D, L, and 10c
Stored Program Control exchanges, mostly for sale to their respective national telephone administrations. This equipment was also produced under license in
Poznań (Poland) and in
Yugoslavia and elsewhere. ITT was the largest owner of the
LM Ericsson company in Sweden but sold out in 1960.
Alec Reeves, an ITT employee in France in the 1930s, developed
pulse-code modulation (PCM) innovations, upon which future digital voice communication was based.
Charles K. Kao, working at STC in the UK, pioneered the use of
optical fiber from 1966, for which he was awarded the 2009
Nobel Prize in Physics.
Harold Geneen's appointment In 1959,
Harold Geneen became
CEO. Using
leveraged buyouts, he turned the minor acquisitions of the 1950s into major growth during the 1960s. In 1965, ITT attempted to purchase the
ABC television network for $700 million. The deal was halted by federal
antitrust regulators who feared ITT was growing too large. ITT moved to acquire companies outside the telecommunications industry to continue its growth without violating antitrust legislation. Under Geneen's leadership, ITT acquired over 300 companies in the 1960s, with some of these acquisitions being hostile takeovers. The deals included well-known businesses like the
Sheraton hotel chain,
Wonder Bread maker
Continental Baking, and
Avis Rent-a-Car. ITT also absorbed smaller operations in auto parts, energy, books, semiconductors, and cosmetics. In 1966, ITT acquired Educational Services, Inc., an operator of
for-profit schools, which became
ITT/ESI. When ITT attempted to acquire
The Hartford insurance company in 1970, the
US Justice Department filed suit, and ITT agreed to divest assets equal to those of Hartford's, including Avis. During the 1960s and 1970s, under the leadership of Harold Geneen, the company rose to prominence as the archetypal
conglomerate, deriving its growth from hundreds of acquisitions in diversified industries. ITT's sales grew from about $700 million in 1960 to about $8 billion in 1970, and its profit from $29 million to $550 million. However, when increased interest rates started eating away at profits in the late 1960s, ITT's growth slowed considerably. In the late 1960s, the British electronics manufacturer
Kolster-Brandes Limited, KB for short, had run into trouble with its
color television manufacturing and turned to ITT for help; ITT bought out the company, and for a while, UK products were badged "ITT KB" then eventually just ITT. By the late 1970s, ITT had a substantial presence on the UK domestic electrical market in television, audio, and portable radio products. In 1972 the KONI Group, manufacturer of shock absorbers, was added to the list of ITT's acquisitions.
Brazilian expropriation in 1962 In February 1962, during the presidency of
João Goulart, the State Governor of
Rio Grande do Sul,
Leonel Brizola, decided to expropriate a Brazilian subsidiary of ITT, the Companhia Telefônica Nacional. During the following years of Goulart's presidency, the expropriation was one of the most debated Brazilian political issues. The action from the state governor to expropriate the company was never supported by the Brazilian president at the time and had severe implications for
Brazil–United States relations. Some historians even say that the expropriation was one of the reasons for the
federal government of the United States supporting the
1964 Brazilian coup d'état.
1972 Republican National Convention ITT became involved in a scandal related to the
1972 Republican National Convention. In May 1971, ITT president Geneen pledged $400,000 to support a proposal to hold the convention in
San Diego; only $100,000 of the contribution was publicly disclosed. The
Republican National Committee selected San Diego as the site in July 1971. However, on February 29, 1972, newspaper columnist
Jack Anderson disclosed an interoffice memo from ITT lobbyist Dita Beard to ITT vice president Bill Merriam, dated June 25, 1971. The memo appeared to draw a connection between ITT's contribution to the convention and the favorable settlement of a
United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division lawsuit. The resulting scandal, including a Senate investigation and the threat of criminal charges, caused ITT to withdraw its support for the San Diego convention. That, combined with a shortage of hotel space and problems with the proposed venue, led the RNC to move the convention to Miami. Special prosecutor
Leon Jaworski investigated the case but ultimately concluded there was no evidence of criminal conduct by ITT. Nixon aides such as
John Dean and
Jeb Stuart Magruder have alleged that the
Watergate break-in was motivated by the
Committee for the Re-Election of the President's suspicion that the
Democratic National Committee was making similar deals to fund its
1972 convention. This theory is supported by conversations and exchanges between President
Richard Nixon and his chief of staff
H. R. Haldeman before and after the break-in, as well as by testimony by
E. Howard Hunt. However, this theory has also been disputed by others involved in the break-in, such as
G. Gordon Liddy.
Involvement in 1973 Pinochet coup in Chile In 1970, ITT owned 70% of CTC (the Chilean Telephone Company, now
Movistar Chile) and funded
El Mercurio, a Chilean
right-wing newspaper. ITT also had some $200 million worth of investments in
Chile. Under Geneen's leadership, ITT funneled $350,000 to
Allende's opponent,
Jorge Alessandri. When
Allende won the presidential election, ITT offered the
CIA $1,000,000 to defeat
Allende, though the offer was rejected. Declassified documents released by the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency in 2000 reveal that the company financially helped opponents of
Salvador Allende's government prepare a
military coup. On September 28, 1973, an ITT building in New York City was bombed by the
Weather Underground for involvement in the coup d'état.
Post-Geneen: Hamilton and Araskog In March 1977, Lyman C. Hamilton was appointed CEO, and Geneen became chairman of the board. In June 1979, while Hamilton was in Asia, Geneen became aware of Hamilton's plans to divest ITT's European consumer goods business and lobbied his fellow board members to dismiss him. In July 1979,
Rand Araskog became CEO. Shortly thereafter, Araskog insisted that the board remove Geneen as chairman, though Geneen remained on the board for four more years. Araskog over the next two decades dismantled much of ITT, selling most of its holdings. Starting in 1977, ITT set out to develop an ambitious new
Digital Telephone Exchange, System 1240 (later
System 12), which reportedly cost US$1 billion. According to
Fortune's Myron Magnet in 1985, Araskog directed the company's efforts towards a relentless pursuit of developing and promoting System 12, while channeling profits from successful ventures into fulfilling System 12's voracious demands. System 12 was intended to operate in all markets and in all modes, from local switches to long distance. The design was done at the Advanced Technology Center (
Stamford, Connecticut, and then
Shelton, Connecticut). Manufacturing was by ITT's subsidiaries, such as
BTM in
Belgium, where the first production system was installed at
Brecht in August 1982. Against the advice of headquarters, ITT Telecommunications (
ITT Kellogg) in Raleigh, North Carolina, undertook the conversion in the US market, and although sales were announced in 1984 and 1985, the attempt ultimately failed in early 1986. ITT divested its global telecommunications product ventures, such as
ITT Kellogg, to
Alcatel Alsthom, a subsidiary of Compagnie Générale d'Electricité (CGE), resulting in the establishment of Alcatel N.V. (Netherlands) in 1986. This transaction positioned Alcatel N.V. as the world's second-largest telecommunications company at that time. Initially, ITT retained a 37% ownership stake, but in March 1992, it proceeded to sell off its remaining 30%, effectively ceasing its participation in the telephone industry. In 2006, Alcatel Alsthom S.A. merged with
Lucent to form
Alcatel-Lucent.
ITT Educational Services, Inc. (ESI) was spun off through an
IPO in 1994, with ITT as an 83% shareholder (in September 2016, ESI announced plans to close all of its 130 technical institutes in 38 states because their students were no longer eligible for federal aid). ITT merged its long-distance division with
Metromedia Long Distance in March 1989, creating
Metromedia-ITT. Long Distance Discount Services, Inc. (LDDS) eventually acquired Metromedia-ITT in 1993. Subsequently, LDDS would rename itself
WorldCom in 1995.
1995 breakup In 1995, with Araskog still at the helm, ITT split into three separate public companies: • ITT Hartford Group Inc
. The insurance companies group dropped ITT from its name in 1997, becoming
The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. • ITT Industries. ITT operated under this name until 2006 and is a major manufacturing and
defense contractor business. • On July 1, 2006, ITT Industries changed its name to ITT Corporation as a result of its shareholders' vote on May 9, 2006. • ITT Corp. In 1997, ITT Corp. completed a merger with
Starwood, which wanted to acquire
Sheraton Hotels and Resorts. Starwood sold ITT World Directories to
VNU. ITT completely divested from ITT/ESI by 1999 but continued to license the
ITT Technical Institute name to ESI until its demise in 2016. Also in 1999, ITT Corp. dropped the ITT name in favor of
Starwood.
Criminal prosecution In March 2007, ITT Corporation became the first major defense contractor to be convicted for
criminal violations of the U.S.
Arms Export Control Act. The fines resulted from ITT's
outsourcing program, in which they transferred
night vision goggles and
classified information about
countermeasures against
laser weapons, including light interference filters, to engineers in
Singapore, the
People's Republic of China, and the
United Kingdom. They were fined US$100 million although they were also given the option of spending half of that sum on
research and development of new night vision technology. The United States government will assume rights to the resulting intellectual property. In its investigation and subsequent ruling, the
United States Department of Justice found that the corporation went to significant lengths to circumvent rules regarding the exports, including setting up a
front company. According to
U.S. Attorney John L. Brownlee, the company fought the investigation in order "to essentially run out the clock on the statute of limitations."
2011 restructuring as three public companies On January 12, 2011, ITT announced a transformation to separate the remaining company into three
publicly traded independent companies. After EDO shareholders' approval, the deal was closed and finalized on December 20, 2007. On April 16, 2009, ITT announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Laing GmbH of Germany, a privately held leading producer of energy-efficient
circulator pumps primarily used in residential and commercial plumbing and
heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. In December 2025, ITT agreed to a $4.8 billion acquisition of
SPX Flow from
Lone Star Funds. ==Headquarters==