Maker Info
Magnavox Company
In 1910 Peter Laurits Jensen (1886-1961) and Edwin Pridham (1881-1963) co-founded the Commercial Wireless and Development Company, and in early 1911, they set up in Napa, California. The pair built the first moving coil loudspeaker in 1915, which they called "Magnavox," after rejecting names such as "Stentor." They also produced the first public address system that same year.
In 1916, the firm moved to San Francisco. In 1917, Pridham and Jensen changed the name of their company to the Magnavox Company as part of a consolidation of their business with the Sonora Phonograph Company.
Jensen was its chief engineer until 1925, when he left to establish the Jensen Radio Manufacturing Company (1927).
A New York office was opened in 1922. In 1926, the Magnavox Company sold its property in Oakland but retained its use until 1929; they were building a new factory in Emeryville, California. Around this time, the Magnavox Company became an Indiana Corporation.
The Magnavox Company Ltd was formed in 1930 as a holding company (registered in Delaware) to acquire the stock of the Magnavox Company, Inc. and the Amrad Corporation. In 1937, the holding company filed for reorganization under the Bankruptcy Act, and in 1938 the subsidiary Magnavox Company, Inc. absorbed its subsidiary the Electro-Acoustic Products Company of New York, which closed. In 1942, the Magnavox Company Ltd. changed its name to the Magnavox Company and the subsidiary Magnavox Company, Inc. was dissolved. All business went to the former holding company.
The Magnavox company continued to grow and became a major producer of consumer electronics. In 1974, Dutch Philips N.V. acquired Magnavox.