The story
Founded by Joseph C. Wilson on Apr 18, 1906, in Rochester.1
Xerox was founded in 1906 in Rochester, New York, as Haloid. It manufactured photographic paper and equipment.
In 1938, Chester Carlson, a physicist working independently, invented a process for printing images using an electrically charged photoconductor-coated metal plate and dry powder “toner.” However, it would take over 20 years of refinement before the first automated machine to make copies was commercialized, using a document feeder, scanning light, and a rotating drum.
Joseph C. Wilson, credited as the “founder of Xerox”, took over Haloid from his father. He saw the promise of Carlson's invention and, in 1946, signed an agreement to develop it as a commercial product. Wilson remained as President/CEO of Xerox until 1967 and served as chairman until his death in 1971.
Looking for a term to differentiate its new system, Haloid hired a Greek scholar at Ohio State University and coined the term xerography from two Greek roots meaning “dry writing.” Haloid changed its name to Haloid Xerox in 1958 and then Xerox in 1961.
Before releasing the 914, Xerox tested the market with a prototype hand-operated machine known as the Flat-plate 1385. The 1385 was not a viable copier because of its slow speed. Consequently, it was sold as a platemaker for the Addressograph-Multigraph Multilith 1250 and related sheet-fed offset printing presses in the offset lithography market. It was a higher-quality, commercially available plate camera mounted as a horizontal rostrum camera, complete with photo-flood lighting and a timer. The glass film/plate had been replaced with a selenium-coated aluminum plate. Electrics turned this into a quick-developing and reusable substitute for film. A skilled user could quickly produce paper and metal printing plates. Having started as a supplier to the offset lithography duplicating industry, Xerox then set its sights on capturing some of offset's market share.
The 1385 was followed by the first automatic xerographic printer, the Copyflo, in 1955. The Copyflo was a large microfilm printer that could produce positive prints on roll paper from any type of microfilm negative. Following the Copyflo, the process was scaled down to produce the 1824 microfilm printer. At about half the size and weight, this still sizable machine printed onto hand-fed, cut-sheet paper, which was pulled through the process by one of two gripper bars. A scaled-down version of this gripper feed system became the basis for the 813 desktop copier.
Xerox 914
The company came to prominence in 1959 with the introduction of the Xerox 914. The 914, the first plain paper photocopier, was developed by Carlson and John H. Dessauer; it was so popular that by the end of 1961, Xerox had almost $60 million in revenue. The product was sold by an innovative ad campaign showing that even monkeys could make copies at the touch of a button; simplicity became the foundation of Xerox products and user interfaces. Revenues leaped to over $500 million by 1965.
Xeronic Computer Printer
In 1956, Haloid formed a joint venture in the UK with Rank Organisation whose Rank Precision Industries subsidiary was charged with anglicizing the US products. Rank's Precision Industries went on to develop the Xeronic computer printer, and Rank Data Systems was set up to bring the product to market. It used cathode-ray tubes to generate the characters and forms that could be overlaid from microfilm images. Initially, it planned for the Ferranti and AEI computer companies to sell the Xeronic as an on-line peripheral, but due to interface problems, Rank switched to a magnetic tape off-line technique. In 1962, Lyons Computers placed an order for use with its LEO III computer, and the printer was delivered in 1964. It printed 2,888 lines per minute, slower than the target of 5,000 lpm.
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1960s
In the 1960s, Xerox held a dominant position in the photocopier market. In 1960, a xerography research facility called the Wilson Center for Research and Technology was opened in Webster, New York. In 1961, the company changed its name to Xerox. Xerox common stock (XRX) was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1961 and on the Chicago Stock Exchange in 1990.
In 1963, Xerox introduced the Xerox 813, the first desktop plain-paper copier, realizing Carlson's vision of a copier that could fit on anyone's office desk. Ten years later, in 1973, a basic, analogue, color copier, based on the 914, followed. The 914 itself was gradually sped up to become the 420 and 720. The 813 was similarly developed into the 330 and 660 products and, eventually, also the 740 desktop microfiche printer.
Xerox's first foray into duplicating, as distinct from copying, was with the Xerox 2400, introduced in 1966. The model number denoted the number of prints produced in an hour. Although not as fast as offset printing, this machine introduced the industry's first automatic document feeder, paper slitter and perforator, and collator (sorter). This product was soon sped up by fifty percent to become the Xerox 3600 Duplicator.
Meanwhile, a small lab team was borrowing copiers and modifying them. The lab was developing what it called long-distance xerography (LDX) to connect a modified 813 copier to a CRT-based scanner using a special service (TELPAK) of the public telephone network, so that a document scanned on one machine would print out on the other. The LDX system was introduced in 1964, followed in 1966 by the Magnafax Telecopier, a much smaller, slower, and less expensive version that acoustically coupled to a desk phone. However, fax machines would not become a truly mainstream device until the 1980s.
In 1968, C. Peter McColough, a longtime executive of Haloid and Xerox, became Xerox's CEO. The same year, the company consolidated its headquarters at Xerox Square in downtown Rochester, New York, with its 30-story Xerox Tower.
Xerox embarked on a series of acquisitions. It purchased University Microfilms International in 1962, Electro-Optical Systems in 1963, and R. R. Bowker in 1967. In 1969, Xerox acquired Scientific Data Systems (SDS), which it renamed the Xerox Data Systems (XDS) division and which produced the Sigma line and its successor XDS 5xx series of mainframe computers in the 1960s and 1970s. Xerox sold XDS to Honeywell in 1975.
1970s
Archie McCardell was named president of the company in 1971. During his tenure, Xerox introduced the Xerox 6500, its first color copier. During McCardell's reign at Xerox, the company announced record revenues, earnings, and profits in 1973, 1974, and 1975. John Carrol became a backer, later spreading the company throughout North America.
In the mid-1970s, Xerox introduced the Xerox 9200 Duplicating System. Originally designed to be sold to print shops to increase their productivity, it was twice as fast as the 3600 duplicator at two impressions per second (7200 per hour). It was followed by the 9400, which did auto-duplexing, and then by the 9500, which added variable zoom reduction and electronic lightness/darkness control.
In a 1975 Super Bowl commercial for the 9200, Xerox debuted an advertising campaign featuring Brother Dominic, a monk who used the 9200 system to save decades of manual copying. Before it was aired, there was some concern that the commercial would be denounced as blasphemous. However, when the commercial was screened for the Archbishop of New York, he found it amusing and gave it his blessing. Dominic, portrayed by Jack Eagle, became the face of Xerox into the 1980s.
The 6500 color copier was introduced in May 1973.
Following these years of record profits, in 1975, Xerox resolved an antitrust suit with the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which at the time was under the direction of Frederic M. Scherer. The Xerox consent decree required it to license its entire patent portfolio, mainly to Japanese competitors. Within four years of the consent decree, Xerox's share of the U.S. copier market dropped from nearly 100% to less than 14%.
In 1979, Xerox purchased Western Union International (WUI) as the basis for its proposed Xerox Telecommunications Network (XTEN) for local-loop communications. However, after three years, in 1982, the company decided the idea was a mistake and sold its assets to MCI at a loss.
1980s
David T. Kearns, a Xerox executive since 1971, took over as CEO in 1982. The company was revived in the 1980s and 1990s through improvement in quality design and realignment of its product line. Attempting to expand beyond copiers, in 1981 Xerox introduced a line of electronic memory typewriters, the Memorywriter, which gained 20% market share, mostly at the expense of IBM.
In 1980, Xerox acquired Kurzweil Computer Products, a pioneering manufacturer of flatbed scanners, from Ray Kurzweil. It later acquired Datacopy, another pioneer in the image scanner market, for $31 million in 1986.
In 1983, Xerox bought Crum & Forster, an insurance company, and formed Xerox Financial Services (XFS) in 1984.
In 1985, Xerox sold all of its publishing subsidiaries, including University Microfilms and R. R. Bowker.
In 1989, Xerox won the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Business Products and Systems.
1990s
In 1990, Paul Allaire, a Xerox executive since 1966, succeeded David Kearns, who had reached mandatory retirement age. Allaire disentangled Xerox from the financial services industry.
The development of digital photocopiers in the 1990s and a revamp of the entire product range again gave Xerox a technical lead over its competitors. In 1990, Xerox released the DocuTech Production Publisher Model 135, ushering in print-on-demand. Digital photocopiers were essentially high-end laser printers with integrated scanners. Soon, additional features such as network printing and faxing were added to many models, known as multi-function machines, or just MFMs, which could be attached to computer networks. Xerox worked to turn its product into a service, providing a complete document service to companies, including supply, maintenance, configuration, and user support.
To reinforce this image, the company introduced a corporate signature in 1994, The Document Company, above its main logo, and introduced a red digital X. The digital X symbolized the transition of documents between the paper and digital worlds.
In April 1999, Allaire was succeeded by Richard Thoman, who had been brought in from IBM in 1997 as president. The first “outsider” to head Xerox, Thoman resigned in 2000.
2000s
After Thoman's resignation, Allaire again resumed the position of CEO and served until the appointment of Anne M. Mulcahy, another long-term Xerox executive. Xerox's turnaround was largely led by Mulcahy, who was appointed president in May 2000, CEO in August 2001, and chairman in January 2002. She launched an aggressive turnaround plan that returned Xerox to full-year profitability by the end of 2002, along with decreasing debt, increasing cash, and continuing to invest in research and development.
In 2000, Xerox acquired Tektronix color printing and imaging division in Wilsonville, Oregon, for US$925 million. This led to the current Xerox Phaser line of products as well as Xerox solid ink printing technology.
In September 2004, Xerox celebrated the 45th anniversary of the Xerox 914. More than 200,000 units were made around the world between 1959 and 1976, the year production of the 914 was stopped. Today, the 914 is part of American history as an artifact in the Smithsonian Institution.
In November 2006, Xerox completed the acquisition of XMPie. XMPie, a provider of software for cross-media, variable data one-to-one marketing, was the first acquisition of Xerox to remain an independent entity, as a Xerox company and not a division, and to this day is led by its original founder Jacob Aizikowitz.
Xerox headquarters moved from Stamford, Connecticut, to Norwalk in October 2007.
In October 2008, Xerox Canada was named one of Greater Toronto's Top Employers by Mediacorp Canada, announced by the Toronto Star.
On July 1, 2009, Ursula Burns succeeded Anne Mulcahy as CEO of Xerox. Burns was the first African American woman to head a company of that size.
On September 28, 2009, Xerox announced the intended acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services, a services and outsourcing company, for $6.4 billion. The acquisition was completed in February 2010. Xerox said it paid 4.935 Xerox shares and $18.60 cash for each share of ACS, totaling $6.4 billion, or $63.11 a share for the company.
2010s
In May 2011, Xerox acquired NewField IT for an undisclosed sum.
In December 2013, Xerox sold its Wilsonville, Oregon solid ink product design, engineering and chemistry group and related assets previously acquired from Tektronix to 3D Systems for $32.5 million in cash.
In December 2014, Xerox sold the IT outsourcing business it had acquired in 2009 from Affiliated Computer Services to Atos for $1.05 billion. This move was taken due to the relatively slow growth of this business relative to some other Xerox units.
In January 2016, Xerox—reportedly under pressure from activist shareholder and corporate raider Carl Icahn—announced that by the end of the year it would spin off its business services unit, largely made up of Affiliated Computer Services, into its own publicly traded company. The name and management of the new company had not been determined at the time of the announcement. Icahn would appoint three members of the new company's board of directors, and he would choose a person to advise its search for a CEO. In June, the company announced that the document management business would retain the name Xerox and the new business services company would be named Conduent. It also announced that Ashok Vemuri would serve as Conduent's CEO and that Icahn would control three seats on the new company's board. It continued to seek a CEO for Xerox; in May, Burns announced her intention to step down as CEO but continue as chairman of the document management business. In June 2016, the company announced that Jeff Jacobson would become the new CEO following the completion of the company's planned separation. This became effective in January 2017.
On January 31, 2018, Xerox announced that Fujifilm had agreed to acquire a 50.1% controlling stake in the company for US$6.1 billion, which was to be combined into their existing joint venture Fuji Xerox (having a value of $18 billion post-acquisition).
On May 1, 2018, it was announced that chairman Robert Keegan and CEO Jeff Jacobson and four other directors would resign as part of a deal with investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason, who had mounted a proxy fight to oppose the Fujifilm deal. On May 4, Xerox backed away from the deal after stipulations about ceasing litigation were not met. Icahn and Deason responded with an open letter to shareholders blaming the board and management. On May 13, a new deal was reached that additionally canceled the Fujifilm transaction.
In November 2019, Xerox began to pursue a hostile takeover of PC and printer manufacturer HP, declaring its intent to “engage directly” with shareholders after HP rejected two unsolicited bids for the company. Xerox stated in January 2020 that it would pursue the replacement of HP's board. HP criticized the proposed purchase as a "flawed value exchange” based on “overstated synergies”, and instituted a shareholder rights plan and other measures designed to quell the bid, which the company believed was being orchestrated by Icahn.
2020s
In February 2020, Xerox announced the hiring of Tali Rosman as VP of Xerox's 3D business. She joined Xerox from NiCE, where she was vice president and head of business operations for the Americas. She would report to CTO Naresh Shanker.
On March 5, HP revealed that its board of directors had unanimously declined Xerox's $24-a-share cash-and-stock offer.
On March 13, Xerox revealed that it was putting its campaign to acquire HP on hold by postponing additional presentations, interviews with the press, and meetings with HP shareholders. Xerox vice chairman and chief executive John Visentin cited the COVID-19 pandemic as a main reason and said, “In light of the escalating COVID-19 pandemic, Xerox needs to prioritize the health and safety of its employees, customers, partners, and affiliates over and above all considerations, including its proposal to acquire HP.”
On March 31, 2020, Xerox canceled its $24-a-share offer.
In September 2020, Xerox opened its North Carolina Center of Excellence in Cary, North Carolina. The center includes the research and development operations, the 3D printing lab, and the Xerox Digital eXperience IT organization.
In September 2021, Xerox announced it was transferring its stock ticker from the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq after 60 years. The transfer went into effect on September 21, 2021.
In December 2024, Xerox announced an agreement to acquire Lexmark International, a Chinese-owned maker of printers and printing software based in Lexington, Kentucky, in a $1.5 billion deal. The acquisition was completed on July 2, 2025.
Digital printing
The laser printer was invented in 1969 by Xerox researcher Gary Starkweather, who modified a Xerox 7000 copier. Xerox management was afraid the product version of Starkweather's invention, which became the 9700, would negatively affect its copier business, so the innovation sat in limbo until IBM launched the 3800 laser printer in 1976.
The first commercial non-impact printer was the Xerox 1200, introduced in 1973, based on the 3600 copier. It had an optical character generator designed by optical engineer Phil Chen. It was used in mainframe computer environments for large-volume printing for business applications.
In 1977, after IBM had produced the first laser printer, Xerox introduced the Xerox 9700. It was also used in mainframe environments and could handle even larger amounts of paper and printing. Laser printing eventually became a multibillion-dollar business for Xerox.
In the late 1970s, Xerox introduced the Xerox 350 color slide machine. This product allowed the customer to create digital word and graphic 35-millimeter slides. Many of the concepts used in today's photo editing programs were pioneered with this technology.
In 1980, Xerox announced the 5700 laser printer, a much smaller version of its 9700, but with touch-screen capabilities and multiple media input (word-processing disks, IBM magcards, etc.) and printer 'finishing' options. This product was allegedly never intended to enter commercial markets due to its development cost, but rather to show the innovation of Xerox. It took off with many customers but was soon replaced with the smaller and lower-cost Xerox 2700 Distributed Electronic Printer offering in 1982.
From Wikipedia’s article on Xerox, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7