The story
Jaycar was founded when Gary Johnston, a former Dick Smith Electronics employee, purchased John Carr & Co. Pty Ltd. He became managing director of the company.
In 2005, Jaycar received negative attention from its imported Taiwanese "Choke-A-Chicken" toy that squawked and flapped its wings when strangled around its neck, described by the RSPCA Queensland as "grossly irresponsible".
In October 2012, remarks made by Johnston on Sydney radio station 2GB, seen as providing justification for sexist behaviour by unidentified staff at the Canterbury-Bankstown NRL club (Bulldogs), of which Jaycar was a major sponsor at the time, caused controversy. There were calls to boycott Jaycar stores.
In October 2016, Freetronics owner Jonathan Oxer accused Jaycar of copying his business's open source Arduino Experimenters kit in two videos posted to his YouTube channel.
In September 2018 Johnston ended Jaycar's sponsorship of the Bulldogs, following questionable behaviour from players during Mad Monday celebrations.
Johnston died on 10 March 2021, after being diagnosed with mesothelioma two weeks earlier.
Jaycar acquired Burnsco, a large chandlery business in December 2021
From Wikipedia’s article on Jaycar, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4