| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : MARCH 15, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| INTERNATIONAL -- INT'L COVER STORY
Mitsubishi: A Look Back in Time (int'l edition) EARLY YEARS 1870 First Mitsubishi company, a shipping firm, established by Yataro Iwasaki. 1920 Start of expansion into machinery, electrical equipment, chemicals. 1941 World War II. Mitsubishi builds ships and warplanes, including the infamous Zero fighter. POSTWAR RECOVERY 1946 U.S. Occupation forces disband the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, or industrial group. 1954 Mitsubishi Trading re-organized as leader of the group. Subsidiary Mitsubishi International set up to import U.S. goods. 1964 Three-way merger creates Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, a giant in power plants, heavy machinery, and automobiles. 1970 Mitsubishi Motors spun off from MHI and later sells an equity stake to Chrysler. BOOM TIME 1982 Mitsubishi Motors storms the U.S. with cars made under its own name, such as the Starion sports car and the Cordia sedan. 1988 Mitsubishi Bank buys Bank of California for about $280 million. 1989 Mitsubishi Estate stuns America by buying 51% of New York's Rockefeller Center for $850 million. 1990 Mitsubishi Corp. leads $900 million buyout of Aristech Chemical, the first such deal by a Japanese trading house. DECLINE 1991 Mitsubishi Motors spends $100 million to buy out Chrysler's 50% stake in their joint venture and its underused auto factory. 1992 Tokyo property blowout slashes Mitsubishi Estate's net earnings by 22%, to $309 million. 1994 Mitsubishi Bank launches $1.6 billion bailout for affiliated lender Nippon Trust, which is foundering under bad real estate loans. Two years later, it merges with Bank of Tokyo. 1995 The Mitsubishi-control-led firm that owns Rockefeller Center files for bankruptcy. 1996 Mitsubishi Motors is sued in a U.S. sexual harassment case. 1997 Sharp drops in the Nikkei and the onset of Asia's meltdown slash Mitsubishi companies' valuations and earnings. Trend worsens with Japanese recession. 1998 Mitsubishi Oil agrees to merge with non-Group member Nippon Oil. 1999 (Jan.) Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi says it needs $2 billion from affiliate companies to shore up its balance sheet. 1999 (Feb.) Mitsubishi Motors hints it is interested in tie-ups with foreign partner. DATA: BW, COMPANY REPORTS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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