Neha Patil (Editor)

Watkins Johnson Company

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Type
  
Corporation

Successor
  
WJ Communications Inc.

Founded
  
1957

Industry
  
Electronics

Headquarters
  
Palo Alto, California

Fate
  
Acquired by multiple entities

Key people
  
W. Keith Kennedy (former CEO)

Founders
  
H. Richard Johnson, Dean A. Watkins

Watkins-Johnson Company was a designer and manufacturer of electronic devices, systems, and equipment. The company, commonly referred to as "W-J", was formed in 1957 by Dean A. Watkins and H. Richard Johnson, and was headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Its products included microwave tubes, followed by solid-state microwave devices, electronic warfare subsystems and systems, receiving equipment, antennas, furnaces and semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and automated test equipment.

History

Partial Corporate Timeline

  • December 1957: Watkins-Johnson Company was founded
  • June 1963: Acquired Stewart Engineering Company, a manufacturer of backward-wave oscillators
  • Fall 1967: Acquired Communication Electronics, Inc. (CEI) of Rockville, Maryland, producer of receivers and related equipment
  • June 1968: Listed on New York Stock Exchange
  • 1970: Acquired RELCOM, manufacturer of electronic components such as mixers
  • 1970: Acquired antenna product line from Granger Associates
  • 1978: Opened plant in San Jose, California
  • April 1995: Microwave surveillance systems unit sold to Condor Systems, Inc.
  • October 1997: Military devices and subsystem businesses sold to Stellex Industries
  • July 1999: Semiconductor Equipment Group sold to Silicon Valley Group
  • August 1999: Telecommunications Group sold to Marconi North America
  • October 1999: Wireless Products Group sold to Fox-Paine and Company
  • August 2000: Initial Public Offering of WJ Communications, W-J successor, by Fox-Paine on NASDAQ
  • March 2008: WJ Communications acquired by TriQuint Semiconductor
  • References

    Watkins-Johnson Company Wikipedia