The ADT Corporation - History

History

There were many small telegraph delivery companies in the United States in the 19th century. In 1874, 57 district telegraph delivery companies affiliated and became "American District Telegraph". With the increase in telephone usage in the late 19th century, ADT's messenger business slowly declined in popularity. ADT tried branching out and developing their signaling business while still maintaining their telegraph business as primary income source. ADT incorporated into Western Union in 1901. ADT separated its messenger business from its main signaling business at this time. In 1909, Western Union and ADT came under the control of AT&T. ADT began to expand into new areas such as fire alarms and burglar alarms between 1910 and 1930, but was kept separate from AT&T's Holmes alarm business. ADT became a publicly owned company in the 1960s.

In 1964, ADT was found to be a monopoly in restraint of trade. It was shown to provide almost 80% of the central station alarm service in the United States. In some cities, such as New York City and Memphis, Tennessee, they were the sole provider. They were also found to have forced out of business competitors by lowering prices below cost. They would charge national accounts very low prices in cities with competitors and much higher prices where no competition was available. ADT was forced to adopt a national price list, which could not be varied, to help establish Central Station Competitors in cities without competition, and to pay fines and triple damages to the federal government, customers, and local competitors.

In 1977, the UK's Lord Ashcroft had bought under-performing outdoor equipment maker Hawley Goodall, and transformed it through acquisition into a business services group, registered in Bermuda. In the early part of 1987, Hawley bought the Indianapolis-based Crime Control Inc., fourth largest company in the U.S. security market, for $50 million. Later in the year, it bought ADT. This purchase transformed Hawley into the leading security services business in the United States, and resulted in the majority of its revenues coming from the North American market. As a result of the acquisition, Hawley changed its name to ADT Inc. and decided to refocus its business around security services. At the end of 1987, the company sold its North American-based facility services business to Denmark's ISS A/S.

By the mid 1990s, ADT surpassed the 1 million customer milestone. In 1997, ADT was purchased by Tyco by means of a reverse takeover, thus allowing Tyco a Bermudan tax status. Lord Ashcroft joined the board of Tyco, although he had quickly disposed of a large amount of his Tyco stock taken in payment for the purchase of ADT.

In May 2010, ADT acquired competitor Broadview Security for $2.0 billion dollars. Broadview's services were transitioned to the existing ADT brand.

On September 19, 2011, Tyco announced that it would split into three companies, ADT being one of the three.

On July 10, 2012, ADT launched its values of trust, collaboration, service and innovation to all employees.

On September 28, 2012, ADT separated from former parent company Tyco International.

On October 1, 2012, ADT debut as an independent public company and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ADT). Founded nearly 140 years ago, ADT began its next chapter as one of the most well-known brands in the security industry, with $3.1 billion in 2011 annual revenue and 6.4 million customers.

On October 8, 2012, ADT rang the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Long-term ADT customers, first responders and front-line employees joined ADT leadership on the podium.