History
The "Harris Automatic Press Company" was founded by Alfred S. Harris in Niles, Ohio, in 1895. The company spent the next 60 years developing lithographic processes and printing presses before acquiring typesetting company Intertype Corporation.
In 1957, Harris acquired Gates Radio, a producer of broadcast transmitters and associated electronics gear, but kept the Gates brand name alive by putting the Gates sticker on the back of numerous transmitters that were labeled Harris on the front panels.[8]
The same year, they acquired Intertype Corporation, a typesetting machine manufacturer based in New York, New York.
In 1959, they acquired microwave technology company PRD Electronics, also headquartered in Brooklyn, New York.
In 1967, they merged with Radiation Incorporated (formed in 1950) of Melbourne, Florida, a developer of antenna, integrated circuit and modem technology used in the space race. The company headquarters was moved from Cleveland to Melbourne in 1978.[9]
In 1969, Harris Corporation acquired RF Communications and Farinon Electric Corporation, furthering its microwave assets. The printing operations were sold off in 1983 and became part of manroland Goss in 2018.[10]
In 1974, Harris acquired Datacraft Corporation, which led to the formation of the Harris Computer Systems Division. The division made a line of minicomputers for the real-time systems market. In 1994, the division was spun out into the independent Harris Computer Systems Corporation.[11]
In 1979, Harris formed a semiconductor joint venture Matra Harris Semiconductors (MHS), from which Harris withdrew in 1989. After further changes MHS was taken over by Atmel.[12]
In 1983, Harris acquired Lanier Business Products, Inc., a dictation, word processing and computer company based in Atlanta, Georgia. By the start of the 1990s, Lanier accounted for about 1/3 of Harris Corporation's revenues. In 1998, Harris spun Lanier back off as a publicly traded company, but also saddled it with over $700 million in debt.[13]
In 1988, Harris acquired GE's semiconductor business, which at this time, also incorporated the Intersil and RCA semiconductor businesses. These were combined with Harris' existing semiconductor businesses.
In 1996, Harris Corporation formed a joint venture with Shenzhen Telecom Company to produce and sell Harris' digital microwave radios and integrate them with other systems.
In November 1998, Harris sold its commercial and standard military logic (semiconductor) product lines to Texas Instruments, which included the HC/HCT, AC/ACT, FCT, and CD4000 product families. Harris retained production of the radiation-hardened versions of these products.
In 1999, Harris spun off their remaining semiconductor business as an independent company, under the Intersil name.
In 2005, the corporation spent $870 million on research and development.[14]
Harris Corporation developed a Hand Held Computer for use during the address canvassing portion of the 2010 United States census.[15] Secured access via a fingerprint swipe guaranteed that only the verified user had access to the unit. A GPS capacity was integral to the daily address management and the transfer of information that was gathered. Of major importance was the security and integrity of the personal and private information of the populace.
In January 2011, Harris re-opened its Calgary, Alberta avionics operation, Harris Canada Inc.. The expanded facility's operations include among others the support of the work to be completed under the company's six-year, $273 million (CAD) services contract with the Government of Canada for the CF-18 Avionics Optimized Weapon System Support (OWSS) program.[16]
In December 2012, Harris Corporation sold its broadcast equipment operations to the Gores Group which operated as Harris Broadcast[17] and is now GatesAir. Harris received $225M for the transaction, exactly half of what it paid seven years earlier for Leitch Technology, its final acquisition for the Broadcast division.[18][19]
On May 29, 2015, the purchase of competitor Exelis Inc. was finalized, almost doubling the size of the original company.[20]
In July 2015, Harris Corporation sold its healthcare division, Harris Healthcare Solutions, to NantHealth.[21]
In January 2017, Harris sold its government IT services division to Veritas Capital for $690 million.[22] After being acquired by Veritas, this business was renamed Peraton.[23]
In October 2018 Harris announced an all-stock "merger of equals" with New York-based L3 Technologies, to be closed (subject to approvals) in mid-2019. The new company, called L3 Harris Technologies, Inc., is based in Melbourne, Florida.[24]
In 2019, Elbit Systems of America, the American division of the Israeli Elbit Systems, agreed to purchase Harris's night vision product line for $350 million, contingent on the completion of Harris's merger with L3. Federal regulations had required that Harris divest its night vision business as L3 already had its own night vision business and merger between the two companies would effectively eliminate competition in the industry.[25] That purchase closed in September 2019, and Harris Night Vision was subsequently renamed Elbit Systems of America - Night Vision.[26][27]
In 2021, CEO sold almost 200 million dollars' worth of stock.[28]
