{{Infobox Company | company_name = Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. | company_logo = | company_type = Public ( , nyse: PHG) | foundation = 1891, Eindhoven | location = Amsterdam, the Netherlands | key_people = Gerard Kleisterlee (CEO), Jan-Michiel Hessels (Chairman of the supervisory board) | products = Consumer electronics, domestic appliances, lighting, medical systems | homepage = www.philips.com | industry = Electronics | revenue = €26,385 billion (2008){{cite web |http://www.google.com/finance?fstype=ii&q=NYSE:PHG | operating_income = € -979 million (2008) | net_income = € -186 million (2008) | num_employees = 121,398 (2008)

Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Royal Philips Electronics Inc.), usually known as Philips, ( , NYSE: PHG) is a Dutch electronics company. It is one of the largest electronics companies in the world, founded and headquartered in the Netherlands. In 2007, its sales were €26.79 billion and it employed 123,800 people in more than 60 countries. Philips is organized in a number of sectors: Philips Consumer Lifestyle (formerly Philips Consumer Electronics and Philips Domestic Appliances and Personal Care), Philips Lighting and Philips Healthcare (formerly Philips Medical Systems).

History

The company was founded in 1891 by Gerard Philips, a maternal cousin of Karl Marx, in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Its first products were light bulbs and other electro technical equipment. Its first factory remains as a museum devoted to light sculpture. In the 1920s, the company started to manufacture other products, such as vacuum tubes (also known worldwide as 'valves'), In 1927 they acquired the British electronic valve manufacturers Mullard and in 1932 the German tube manufacturer Valvo, both of which became subsidiaries. In 1939 they introduced their electric razor, the Philishave (marketed in the USA using the Norelco brand name). Also on March 11, 1927 Philips went on the air with a station called PCJ now known as Radio Netherlands. It was broadcast to the Dutch East Indies. The host of the first broadcast was Eddy Startz and from 1927 until he retired in 1969 he hosted a show called Happy Station. The only time the station went off air was when the Nazis invaded Holland. At the end of the war PCJ changed its name to Radio Netherlands and has continued broadcasting to this day.