Wacom Co., Ltd. (株式会社ワコム) is a Japanese company headquartered in Kazo, Saitama, Japan, that specializes in manufacturing graphics tablets and related products.[3] As of 2012 Wacom generated sales of approximately 40.7 billion yen with 785 employees.[4] Wacom also has major offices in Dusseldorf, Germany and Vancouver, Washington. The company's shares are listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
History
The company was founded in 1983 by Azuma Murakami. Dissatisfied by a corded digitizer on the photo typesetting machine he used while working at the Unification Church affiliated newspaper Sekai Nippo, Murakami fabricated a cordless digitizer on his own time and brought it to market. Murakami was later forced out of his role in July 1997 following an internal power struggle.[5]
The name Wacom came from an abbreviated variation of World Computer, with the syllable "wa" (和, Japanese for "harmony").