About the Company
Garmin Ltd. (Stylised as GARMIN) is an American multinational technology company. It was founded in 1989 as “ProNav” with its headquarters located in Olathe, Kansas, United States. It later changed its name to “Garmin”, a portmanteau of its founders – Gary Burrell and Min H. Kao. In 2010, GARMIN was legally domiciled in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. The company offers products pertaining to marine, automotive, aviation, sports and outdoor activities. In 2000, Garmin Ltd. began trading publicly on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol of GRMN. GRMN stocks are also included as a component in the S&P 500.
The company operates through six segments, namely Wearables, Sports & Fitness, Outdoor Recreation, Marine, Aviation and Automotive. GARMIN also holds more than 35 patents in GPS technology. By 2000, Garmin Ltd. sold about 3 million GPS devices and produced 50 different models in 100 countries. In 2003, the company acquired UPS Aviation Technologies, Inc. for a purchase price of $38 million in cash. It bought-off Dynastream Innovations, Inc. in 2006 in a $36 million transaction. Its chain of mergers continued in 2007 when GARMIN purchased Digital Cyclone, Inc. for $45 million and EME Tec Sat SAS for an undisclosed amount. EME later changed its name to Garmin France SAS and remained GARMIN’s distributor of consumer products in the country. Another acquisition took place in 2007 when the company bought-off Nautamatic Marine Systems and expanded its product offerings. In 2015, Garmin Ltd acquired iKubu (Pty) Ltd. for its Backtracker low-energy bike radar. As of 2020, GRMN operates in USA, UK, Taiwan, Belgium, Canada, Spain, Norway and Romania.
In 2020, GARMIN ranked 1222nd on Forbes’ list of Global 2000 companies. Forbes also included the company in its rankings for World’s Best Employers 2020 and America’s Best Employers By State 2020.;
Organisation | Garmin Ltd |
Industry | Scientific & Technical Instruments |
HeadQuarters | Schaffhausen |