The Demise Of Philips - How An Electronics Juggernaut Was Toppled

[@Spectacurl]

I literally face palm when I heard that they sold both ASML and TSMC. They would have been MASSIVE

[@SPeeSimon]

And then you forget NXP. Also once part of Philips and a major player in the chip industry. In 2016 Qualcom tried to buy them for 43 billion, but a market regulator prevented that. So yes, they would have been MASSIVE.

[@sprockkets]

It was good that they did it, because Phillips was too incompetent to run it.

[@Loanshark753]

Actually the Kodak failed at digital cameras as they were uncompetetive, however they used their chemistry knowledge to create Eastman Chemicals, which was then sold off and now Kodak is a ghost of its former self however Eastman chemicals is extremely successful. This strategy was different from Fujifilm who decided to continue in the chemicals industry and also continued to make films for lcd screens and other stuff aswell as expanding into healthcare. So while Kodak became a brand sold for scraps for others to use, the legacy of the company continues as Eastman Chemicals.

[@danieltabrizian]

There were many more companies sold off, but these are all companies that needed agility and swift cycles to scale to the giants they are today. Philips would just hinder that. As a Dutchy i can tell you that corporately, usually its in the long game. Its not unfounded that you can trace back most of the big companies to wealth generated during the golden age 400 years ago. E.g Heineken

[@ronald3836]

Funny, I have seen these exact same comments some 1-2 weeks ago but can't remember now which video that was.

[@LegendTD]

typical behaviour of an old company with old people at its helm. superiority complex, aversion to change, baggage of legacy etc etc.

[@ODGC04]

Company's get founded by people with vision and after they retire you get managers as replacements. People with no vision and just look at quarterly earnings reports. There was a saying about Philips, shrinking into greatness. Every quarterly earnings report would get boosted by selling of parts of the business with the same excuse: not our core business. Good for the ceo and his options but bad for the company long term.

[@answerman9933]

Many more young companies with young people who want to change everything that do not last even five years.

[@sambanerjee6796]

@@answerman9933 opposite is also true that older companies with old people end up dying out like the old people at the old companies xD

[@THEROOT1111]

@@sambanerjee6796 Old people die, and then new people come, but they have no idea whatsoever of how to run a business, so... check the start up situation.

[@sambanerjee6796]

@@THEROOT1111 totally agree. We need some sort of a balance tbh

[@chuckalsdorf557]

That's a helpful perspective on Philips. As a financial advisor to CFO's before retiring, I had a meeting with the CFO of Philips (early 2000s) just before they divested some of their technology jewels. It was an odd meeting, because the only topic was whether to use a certain metric (discounted payback period) as a reasonable way to measure capital expenditures. Finance shows that such metrics measure efficiency (e.g., for a manufacturer), while other metrics are used to measure innovation potential. I was frustrated, but familiar, with a CFO's push for short term metrics, especially within public companies. Now that I watched your video, I have a better perspective on why that meeting occurred the way it did. Thank you!

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Interesting to hear about the story from the inside. Thanks for sharing Chuck!

[@DannerBanks]

I love this insight

[@ronmaximilian6953]

Thank you for the insight. I suspect this is true for many other companies and has only worsened. Too many companies use what I call quarterly logic. It's all about pumping up stock values for the next quarter, not growth over the next decade.

[@jonfreeman9682]

I'm also a management consultant specializing in financial engineering and consulted with fortune 500 companies and remember Phillips was being run with an accountant's mentality. Not sure but I think the CEO back then deferred alot of decisions to finance so they were always looking at ROI and cost but spoke little about innovation and expanding markets. Somewhere along the way the company lost its spark. That being said I still have their Phillips TV and their oral hygiene is top notch. They need to think about growing adjacent business to stay relevant.

[@user-pm4pl5hh9m]

On hindsight, one can blame many "causative" factors: financial engineering or the entry of PEs; breathtaking innovations in technology; general sloth in the management of old giants; home country advantages turning into disadvantages; inability to spot new markets, etc etc. But, as they say, hindsight is 20/20. I would lay the blame to a great extent on top management, esp CEOs, who develop a "God complex". Again, on hindsight, for very large companies to stay in the game - whichever the game - all they have to do is invest and....stay. This is a lesson not just for Philips, but GE, Intel, Google, GM, Nokia, or Grundig (this, too, is a company that Philips invested in and took majority control of). It would seem commonsensical to invest in companies that appear to have some insight, have a portfolio approach but with the eye of a promoter, see where they go, bide your time, and make a play in the exact same area (by increasing the stake, buying them out, or leveraging alternatives with them) than believe you're superior and leave in a huff. Hasty divestments get you some minimal cash advantages that could cover some portion of temporal financial stress but they neither solve their fundamental problems or allow them to stay in the game. Both Xerox and Philips ostensibly fell into this and one can only blame the top leadership as the final call is made by them. History, however, is something one learns only much later in textbooks and podcasts. Companies in the here and now will continue to make the same mistakes - and I see this happening also with contemporary "brands" such as Qualcomm, Cisco, IBM, Intel, AMD, Stellantis (Fiat), Ford, etc who are navigating very complex landscapes.

[@IO-zz2xy]

I had an interesting experiance about 30 years ago. I was traveling to the US on KLM. I was sitting next to a very tall wonderfully eccentric lady in her early 70s. She was quite a character and drank a lot of wine. I discovered through our long conversation that she was a Philips Heiress. She was taking a few friends on a visit to the states. When I asked her why she was not in first class/business class she said she wanted to be with her friends so they could all chat. What a down to earth lady. She fell asleep with bread crumbs all over her and half a 2nd bottle of red wine and snored. I would have loved to have spent more time with her and heard more of her interesting life. I often think of her and how unpretentious she was. Regards from South Africa

[@sh1tsfcked119]

How old are you, and what did you do for work? I'm from SA aswell

[@KN-op3et]

Actually a very smart long-term business decision. Healthcare imaging is also about selling services and not just the actual device, which are ways to continue to generate revenue after the device is sold (eg, imaging software, software/hardware updates, yearly calibration, training, etc.). And once you have a certain MRI device or CT device installed, hospitals won't want to change until many many years later.

[@Kormack-tw2jj]

And it seems that they think about stability and not constant growth. Which is literally impossible.

[@SPeeSimon]

Smart, until you f up. And they did. They lost billions by selling a faulty breathing machines (cpap). More than a $1 billion in the lawsuit settlement, then repairs of the faulty devices, creating an improved version without those flaws and the corresponding image damage. So they are not known to making good decisions.

[@ghb323]

also anti-right-to-repair.

[@Thumper68]

Yeah hospitals ripping off patients big time for years the cost for scans is absolutely absurd long after the machines been paid for. 10k for 5 minute scans.

[@Thumper68]

@@SPeeSimon1 billion is chump change.

[@JanmejanRai]

You definitely have my sub. This content is next level. For me Eledator was the turning point. Please keep doing what you do and keep being you, love it.

[@Iconoclasher]

I had an interesting experience with Philips. Twenty some years ago I bought a Philips CD burner. It had a glitch so I called the company. (a human actually answered the phone) The gal didn't have an answer but she took my number and told me someone would contact me the next day. (Sure! Right!) The next day I did get the call, from one of the engineers that actually worked on developing that recorder. We talked for a good half hour. I don't remember the total outcome but Philips did resolve the issue. Sorry to hear it's fallen. 😮

[@TTTzzzz]

A reply quote: "Philips used to be run by engineers. Then the marketeers took over".

[@VanillaMacaron551]

Sounds like Boeing.

[@TTTzzzz]

@@VanillaMacaron551 ...and the stock market.

[@JaapGinder]

Exactly! At the end it was all about money, not the customer, not the product. Maybe the day will come that some real people with vision will lead Philips again, and that those will not be marketeers!

[@sgssgssgs]

@@VanillaMacaron551 And GE. And Motorola. And….

[@danielvasquez3758]

Sometimes you’re a nostalgic channel brother!! I remember their TVs and their lightbulbs!! Crazy how times have changed!!

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Hahaha, thank you as always Daniel!

[@N_g_er]

@@LogicallyAnsweredI'm gay too buddy lol

[@MrDragos360]

I have a Philips TV that is amazing. Philips 707OLED, 48icnh model. Also I have a Philips Evnia 8600, I love this monitor.

[@aitoluxd]

​@@N_g_er‎

[@peterdevreter]

I had a philishave, matchline tv and hifi vcr, DCC, CDI, a Philips MSX 2 and on and on. It was really good stuff. And now its just a vague memory from the past.

[@frederickdouglass7140]

NXP

[@jonfreeman9682]

I still have Phillips TV and their oral hygiene products. Quality stuff. Not sure if they still make TVs but I think they're still big in Europe. What they need is new management to expand and grow the company. Right now it's being run by accountants.

[@passantNL]

@@jonfreeman9682 The TV's were spun off years ago and are now wholly owned by a Chinese company (TP Vision). I believe that oral hygiene is part of medical and lifestyle and still run by Philips.

[@donalddodson7365]

I was one of the millions of Phillips CPAP-APAP-XPAP breathing machine users. Then their cost-cutting resulted in releasing harmful particles and toxic outgassing foam to be introduced into our aitways! Not something people with breathing difficulties should be exposed to.

[@reginaldsardinha4399]

I am from Mumbai, india. In the past i have always bought philips products for their strong build & long lasting qualities. I bought a Philips 25" flat tv in 2005 ( model no: 25PT 3323) sold it in 2023. Next year will make 20 years for this tv. In all these years it has never been serviced even once. Absolutely no breakdowns. The buyer whom im in contact tells me it is still in perfect working condition & thanks me very much. Amazing isn't it?

[@061Hitachi]

Philips products were superior quality. My Philips DVD burner could read just about any disc. my friends who had damaged discs would brought them to me so I can copy them, even sometimes took discs from work as my reader was the only one who could make a full copy while in other drives it showed as empty disc.

[@masudashizue777]

I think our first television, purchased in 1959, was a Philips. I learned how to change tubes and kept it going into the late 70s.

[@SPeeSimon]

My memory goes to my high school time in 2001. Trying desperately to go to school, but failing because the police closed the area. The building next door there was someone holding people hostage so nobody was allowed to get near. That person was mad, because Philips sold him a wide screen tv, but there were no channels that showed wide screen. Problem was, he was in the wrong building. The Philips hq was in the building behind the one he was in. So his actions had no effect. Luckily he did not harm anybody.

[@ronald3836]

The guy ended up killing himself, though. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt_Tower#Incident

[@Midge-xn9tp]

Bit like Johnny English landing on the wrong roof

[@Elwin-w3v]

As a Dutch guy I'm happy to see them go. For the last 25 years their electronics have been terrible.

[@olavberrig4548]

I agree; they were excellent in the 1960 ties. But the quality deteriorated dramatically afterwards. I think the shavers are still good quality.

[@jonfreeman9682]

I have their Phillips TV and their oral hygiene is second to none. They used to be huge in electronics and I remember them fondly.

[@Chu-vg2yu]

You are honest. True. In home appliances. 😮

[@cengeb]

@@olavberrig4548 I just got some replacement baldes for my Philips Norelco, things have to now be going on 20 years, new blades still Dutch made, not Chinese..like new again, I have 3 Razors, work great...Noelco, remember Santa Clause on the triple header? i still have a norelco food processor from the late 70's....similar to a VitaMix but it was $27 at the employee store at the time!

[@PanAfricanist1963]

It was a dream to own a Philips TV and VCR in those days. They had a reputation of being durable and high quality.

[@bryanj.nevasr.2018]

I worked for PHILIPS Medical for 18 years and it was a terrible company to work for. Their logo "Sense and Simplicity": we employees joked that it was really "Senseless and Stupidity". Businesswise they were short term thinkers worrying more about quarterly profits rather than long-term profits and viability. They were essentially "penny-wise" but "pound-foolish." And, they treated their customers poorly and their employees even worse. I could tell stories of their poor business decisions that would make you wonder if the company were run by a bunch of seventh graders. They also copied Jack Welch and the GE management philosophy, and we all know what happened to GE. Ultimately, PHILIPS will follow GE into the ash pits of business history and I for one will be happy to dance on their grave.

[@ronald3836]

Let's make things better -> let's make better things. Philips used to be run by engineers. Then the marketeers took over.

[@nihilriv3r]

My favorite Phillips product I ever bought was a cruddy little $20 wooden speaker, likely made of the cheapest boards possible. It lasted me through multiple apartment and house rentals before it ultimately was crushed on accident.

[@soundssensational4568]

I joined Philips (Mullard) in 1962 and retired in 2002 having worked in Associated Semiconductors along the way (1964-66). They had a massive presence in the UK and I am often meeting Philips pensioners. They were a very good company to work for but the comment about arrogance rings true.

[@rosscammisola335]

Philips Mullard made the best Quality TV Cathode Ray Tubes and many types of Valves which are highly sought after. The Philips Croydon Team UK designed good designs of Colour TV s which were renown for Quality , however the Dutch Philips people cut corners on using cheaper PCB s and components . EG on the Philips G11 Chassis TV for the Frame chip they used a Plastic IC holder instead of a Ceramic one as it run so hot , plastic one did not last long, in UK they lost a big share of the TV Market and also with the loss of Visionhire 60 per cent owned by Philips they sold to Granada TV Rentals on Black Monday when shared went bad many years ago.Shame old Philips TV s were good designs. They also did not look after their dealers / agents so they moved over to Japanese Company s instead

[@john07973]

My late Father worked for them in the UK c 1947 till retiring in 1987 he was their Trade Mark Agent. They had a huge presence in the UK - Mullard, MEL Equipment in Crawley, Pye, Philips Medical Systems etc even their own transport operation London Carriers. Sad to see how they committed slow suicide roughly from the turn of the century onwards.

[@forbeginnersandbeyond6089]

I used to work for Philips. Had a rather great time with them. It saddens me that they lost their way.

[@millabasset1710]

Panasonic used to make the best TVs, shame they're a dying company.

[@LogicallyAnswered]

😔

[@jgregg7100]

I still have my panasonic plasma from 2005 in my living room. Even has hdmi ports so everything hooks up to it

[@develentsai3215]

No, Sony TV was the best😢

[@AlexanderTheGoodEnough]

Sorry, Zenith brand CRT TV sets were the best. The one I had as a child in the 80's still works along with the VHS player attached to it.

[@colinschmitz8297]

Not from my experience. The best I remember seeing from Zenith was 10 years of service with some not reaching that. We have 2 different Philips CRTs around 25 inch from 2005 that are running great and a 34 inch 2000 Trinitron that still works as well. Our 90 RCA gave 20 years of use. And my grandparents cheap late 80s Gold star color TV out lasted 3 Zeniths. Not impressed with Zenith.

[@joedirt1965]

"A longer life bulb of a given wattage puts out less light (and proportionally more heat) than a shorter life bulb of the same wattage."

[@Karavusk]

Yeah a longer life bulb is less efficient. The secret pact to push more replacements sales is basically just a myth.

[@Loanshark753]

I am unsure if halogen increases the lifespan of a bulb.

[@ronald3836]

@@Karavusk The efficiency argument was just a lame excuse that some governments were happy enough to buy. The Phoebus cartel was real. It was probably legal at the time in Europe (but not in the US). Manufacturers agreed to be fined for manufacturing light bulbs that lasted longer than 1000 hours. They did not agree to be fined for manufacturing light bulbs that were not efficient.

[@platinaatje6134]

Technology Connections KZbin channel has an excellent video about incandescent light bulbs life span. About 10 months ago: "Longer-lasting light bulbs: it was complicated"

[@ronald3836]

@@platinaatje6134 not really complicated. The cartel was about maximising profits, not "protecting consumer interests". If short-lived bulbs had indeed been so superior, they would have won out in the market. But consumers would probably have preferred higher-wattage bulbs that did not need to be replaced all the time.

[@peterhawkins4612]

Most successful companies have a life cycle , complacency kills them eventually.

[@sandyj342]

Well researched !

[@MDagrosa]

Saying the late 1900s is wild

[@arbjful]

Will get wilder as we move into the 2100…

[@VanillaMacaron551]

More correct I think is "the late 20th century".

[@leonidaspetsakos9690]

I know. He could have just said, "the 90s."

[@jamesmcconnon2]

Bruh, why you gotta do me like that. Never felt older than when you called it “the end of the 1900’s” I know that is the right words, but I think I got a back issue just hearing that 🤣

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Hahaha

[@JohnWilson-wg4gk]

🙈 It could've been worse. He could have said "the end of the second millennium " ...

[@NotMarkKnopfler]

😂😂😂😂❤

[@1pcfred]

The 1900s is the decade from January 1, 1900, to December 31, 1909. What they really meant was the 20th century.

[@1pcfred]

@@GNMi79 then I guess the site I read that off of was wrong. Because before I post anything I do research it. I don't just make stuff up. I do have this thing called the Internet. Perhaps you've heard of it? You could try it for yourself. Go on a search engine, perhaps Google and type in, when was the 1900s This is what Google has to say about it January 1, 1900 The 1900s (pronounced "nineteen-hundreds") was a decade that began on January 1, 1900, and ended on December 31, 1909. They pulled that off Wikipedia. Now maybe everyone's wrong? But I can only go with what I can find out. Looking at my comment it looks like I copy pasted it too. I do that a lot. Why not? I did go through the trouble of looking it up after all.

[@skatee99]

Very well done, great effort!

[@jasejj]

Once again - there's no money in consumer electronics anymore. The smart companies divested years ago.

[@robertcasey2490]

At 5:07 I worked for Philips Labs just north of New York City. Before then I was an innovator for RCA (back when that was a real company and not a meaningless trade name) and invented 11 patents there. Then I took a job at the Philips Labs, and I wasn't allowed to innovate. Just do mundane tasks. So I witnessed the not out innovating the competition.

[@cengeb]

Briar Cliff Manor, they did CD development there didn't they? i remember going to a place called Laser Diode Labs, that Philips bought, it was a small company that had a patent they needed for the CD laser stuff.

[@nigelduckworth4419]

In 1927, Philips took over Mullard valves of Blackburn, Lancashire. An excellent business acquisition which, as you say, Philips were famous for. Mullards were huge in that industry and were the gold standard for valves. They still are for things powered by valves such as guitar amplifiers and Hi-Fi. I have some Mullard valves for use in a guitar amp. One is from the 1960s and is still going strong. The Philips valves, usually manufactured on Holland were of the same standard as the Mullards- of course by using Mullard technology. But of course it's not Philips fault that the transistor was invented and valves went out of fashion in the 1960s.

[@TimothyWorel-xj9he]

I didn't realise that valves are still used today.

[@nigelduckworth4419]

@@TimothyWorel-xj9he They are because they are generally produce a much fuller and rounder sound than sold state. They are still manufactured in Russia and some former soviet countries, and China.

[@TimothyWorel-xj9he]

@@nigelduckworth4419 thank you for info.

[@passantNL]

@@TimothyWorel-xj9he They're still used in audio equipment. They have a specific type of audible distortion that many people find pleasing, and consider superior to transistors, even though they're objectively worse than transistors.

[@NaNaNahNatman]

I'm loving the videos recently analysing these failed companies from the 90s and 00s.

[@millersadventure]

i asked a few weeks ago what happened to philips. and you replied. and now its here. that was way more interesting than i could have thought. i used to sell philips hifi equipment and the company i was working for became a philips store in the middle of dublin. but i left before that. so i was always super interested in finding out why the store shut down. very interesting journey.

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Glad it was informative Miller!

[@ronald3836]

Haha, I think I now understand why some of the comments here give me a déjà-vu feeling. I am pretty sure I read your comment and the comments replying to it.

[@millersadventure]

@@ronald3836 shit like that happens me all the time ha ha

[@Boorock70]

WTF ! PHILIPS invented the Compact disc (CD) and they were the most powerful electronics company until 2000s when Koreans hit the market. They even did own MARANTZ and done some masterpiece HiFi equipment in the late 1990s but then they did exactly as u said. Now, they're in the desktop monitor & peripherals too and doing not bad... Unfortunately, stupid management crippled that GIANT company. 😢

[@XX-ri1me]

The Philips brand for monitors was sold, they only produce medical gear

[@Boorock70]

@@XX-ri1me AOC bought the monitor division years ago but they still maintain the PHILIPS quality.

[@dmitripogosian5084]

Honestly speaking, all these consumer electronics left Western countries overall. And it is not where you can win on quality anymore.

[@glen1555]

Back in the early 1980s when I worked in computing Philips brought out the Maestro range of computing workstations which revolutionised working as a programmer. It meant that every programmer could have their own smart terminals. Prior to that you shared dumb terminals and had very little access to the mainframe having to code using coding sheets and punched cards.

[@glen1555]

They invented the laser disk, a disk the size of a vinyl LP. It didn't sell well but was a taste of the future that was soon to come with CDs and DVDs

[@berndkemmereit8252]

Siemens did a similar change. They ditched almost all consumer aspects, and are massive in the Industrial (turbines) and Healthcare sector.

[@TimothyWorel-xj9he]

Siemens were also big in telecommunications, making large exchanges for the British Post Office. They also made PABX equipment.

[@thiloreichelt4199]

Siemens WAS one the pillars of German tech industry. They pioneered electricity, telecommunication and computers. But starting in 90s, the bean counters took over. At that time, a friend told me "I'm working at the electronic fig leave of Siemens". They made more money doing banking than selling electronics at that time.

[@eddythefool]

The thing about this cartel is that if lightbulb technology was actually advancing as fast as people think then a foreign company would wave stepped in and undercut them with quality product. In reality filament lightbulb technology had plateaued and they were more about pushing a standardized design to maximize profits. Still anti cosumer, but no where near what people think.

[@rajitdasgupta7471]

Can u make a video on ericsson. They are the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Thanks for the suggestion Rajit!

[@dtsh4451]

Not the largest in any metric😂

[@yottaforce]

I worked for them from 2001-2002 as an engineer. They were nice to us, but boy was there a reason they lost money.

[@dschultz9466]

An actual human being narrating a video. Color me absolutely shocked. THANK YOU.

[@hanifkhankhan2203]

Thank you for your research. I find your videos are well done. RIght now I'm keeping an eye on Eledator

[@98167]

agreed. i'll 1upyou @hanifkhankhan2023, i SUBSCRIBED

[@tcniel]

My father spent a good number of years selling Philips produced recording equipment, dictation equipment and broadcast equipment in the US market, this equipment was the precursor to the computer equipment we see in todays office's.

[@monkeyfish227]

To be fair, European electronics companies were all going out of business since 2000s, due to the more competitive offerings in Asia (china, Korea). The margins were reduced substantially and with the relative high cost of labour in Europe, it was just not attainable to be in a mass-market consumer electronics business. They just didn’t know how to keep their “old” margins with the new way of manufacturing from Asia. The fat margins of lighting and TV were gone and couldn’t subsidise their operations anymore. So yes, it’s lack of “relevant” innovations to the consumer that killed it. It’s hard for any company to adjust when the market changes, so I think it’s like how many companies were large at a time, but couldn’t change like Nokia, ibm etc.

[@waltergabriel3694]

I worked for both Philips Consumer Electronics and their Medical Division, the consumer part was made by Funi and became junk. The Medical Imaging equipment was probably the best in the world. It was a great company to work for, but poor management is slowly destroying them. Hopefully the Imaging part will survive. The current management is horrible.

[@santostv.]

Their cpaps and bipap machine are giving problems.

[@joeprete7424]

4:36 didn’t Philips have a partnership with Sony for dvd’s?

[@kahhengyeong7947]

Philips was like the IKEA of electronics, good for the mases but never seem to be on top of the pile.

[@rmyikzelf5604]

Open up a 1970 or 1980 high end Marantz and see what's inside....

[@beltanewalk8797]

I always have a new Phillishave about every 10 years, no idea if Phillips actually make them but so far they've always been a quality product.

[@forbeginnersandbeyond6089]

Philishave still exists. But it’s not designed nor made by the original Philips company.

[@casperghst42]

You forgot to mention NXP .... which is also one of the famous ones (if you live in The Netherlands).

[@cengeb]

NXP was Philips semi, yupper. they blew it. And now all medical and personal care, when i was working at Philips, analytical, medical was a div they where thinking of getting rid of, it was small then. in the 80's. They even actually started Panasonic with the Matsushita dude in the 50's. They owned 35% of Panasonic for decades. for real. They sold that off in the 80's also

[@kenstevens5065]

I worked for them in their UK retail sector in the 1970's, Lloyd's retailers and under several regional brands. Their products were very good particularly washing machines, small appliances and early colour tv's but we never had continuity of supply nor was pricing of their own products in their own retail outlets competitive. They were good to work for but you couldn't help feeling they just plodded along and eventually they faded away when the "loads of money" 1980's boom years came along.

[@xaviertexasguy5083]

They just got out of the Nuclear Medicine business in healthcare. It was very weird. They had a lot of hospitals that was all philips. They acquired ADAC and Picker and just let those great companies fade away. Very sad I was trained on ADAC in my military career. It was a great company

[@Geodude_18]

Healthcare imaging manager here and Philips has the worst reputation in our industry for quality and reliability in imaging machines. Siemens, GE, and Toshiba all much more reliable. I couldn’t wait to get rid of our Philips MRI, replaced it with GE and it’s so much better. These companies would do so much better with the Toyota approach: build quality, reliable machines and you’ll always have loyal customers. But many just go after short-term gains which is why so many of these companies are dying. We won’t miss them or their shoddy products.

[@arbjful]

We were a ‘Philips’ family…we always bought Philips goods, it was symbolic with reliability, great quality and exceptional after sales service. I think it was a sound decision to give up on general electronics and move into medical electronics field. It takes lot of needless heartache and innovation to keep up with the changing fads, medical technology however is not so volatile

[@neerajwa]

This is actually a good move. They are in a very sweet spot today. Healthcare equipment market is highly price insensitive, has very few players, deals with highly educated non-fickle people like doctors, relies on trust factor among highly insecure people like patients who will hold onto every bit of trustworthiness like it's their last day of life (literally). What could be better for sustained profitable business for centuries?

[@johnstuartsmith]

Unfortunately, I consume way more than my share of health care, and I've been noticing the names on CAT scan machines that used to be big names in consumer electronics, like Toshiba and Phillipps. I've had a bunch of opthalmology services using medical equipment made by companies that used to rely on sales of their film cameras.

[@robertwalhout8982]

My grandfather, during WW2, was the paymaster at Philips in Eindhoven. Apparently, it was an important role as I am here to tell you about it today. They used to call him Mr. V and he was respected by even the Germans.

[@wheels2fun526]

That depends on region. In the US and Canada Philips never really had a big footing. There is one key point that you forgot to mention Philips actually started one of the first international broadcasters in 1927. Broadcasting in Dutch, English, Spanish and French. Targeting the Dutch East Indies, Australia, North & South America and Europe. After the station went off air in 1941 when the Netherlands was occupied by the Germans. In 1947 Radio Nederland was founded and many of those who were on Philips Radio PCJ returned. From the late 1940s until the mid-1990s Philips was also one of the largest producer of broadcast equipment. MV, FM and shortwave transmitters, mixing desks, microphones, studio tape decks, early colour studio cameras, studio VTRs and so on and so on. There are also a number of MV and shortwave transmitters made by Philips in the 1950s that are still in service today. Radio Ceylon (today Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corp.) has 12/50kW and 2/100kW transmitters still in service that they bought new in 1951. BBC World Service have 19 of them still running, Radio Taiwan International have 3 of them still running, Radio Havana Cuba have 2/100kW from 1937 still running, Radio Japan have 2, the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp.) have 4 from 1948 that are for back up, and so on and so on.

[@KageNoTenshi]

It finally hit me, this isn’t a current channel, this is a history channel, how did I not realise that before

[@aramboodakian9554]

I learned electronics when I was a youth with the Philips/Norelco Electronics Educational (Engineer) kit. Here in the USA. I developed a love for the Philips brand, but I realized they were not the top of the tech heap.

[@weeraanmelden]

You saying "late 1900's" still hits too hard :( I vividly remember 1998, the upcoming on of flatscreenTVs (also made big by Philips, remember Charlie Angels with Charlize Theron.. Flatscreens were a part of the plot in that movie) and CD-Writers, by Philips. Fun fact two: Philips sold their music company, 6 month before they launched the CD-Writers.

[@lkruijsw]

Philips is just a name, a legal construct. What matters what is best for the employees. It was best to make ASML a separate company such that it could flourish. The same for NXP and other spin offs. There is no money to be made with electronics anymore. Eindhoven is one of the technology centers of the world due to Philips. Philips was never lazy, that had lot of fundamental research in Eindhoven. However, they had too many small projects, while for certain developments you had to go all in. For smartphones, high end chips etc. ASML did that with their machines.

[@Nedski42YT]

In the 1990's Philips Electronics in the USA was one of the companies that created the HDTV ATSC standard along with several other American companies. I was there. I wonder if anyone reading this knows what HDTV or ATSC are? The Philips website has no mention of any of this subject.

[@berryj.greene7090]

High Defintion TV - Advanced TV Systems Committee. Should we be giving a shout out for NTSC - PAL - CCIR ? I'm lost now. Time to go..... ! Sad old world that it is.

[@stighenningjohansen]

The things or gadgets they sold was usually far ahead of the competition. My first cassette recorder was a Philips, and its recordings sound almost creeping good even by todays standards, they had a production method from Mars, and a small Philips system based on their active speaker setup could easily blow the local disco out of business... I say: Hurra! Hurra! Hurra!

[@Salty_Legionnaire]

What a shame, i remember the TDA1541A and CDM1. Absolutely on top of their game in the 80s and 90s.

[@markcropper7182]

philips cd 960 still is a great sounding player

[@fishyerik]

The average 1000 hour life span of incandescent light bulbs remained the standard until they became obsolete, because there's a trade off between longevity and energy efficiency. Lowering energy efficiency to increase life span increase cost to use the light bulbs, and amount of heat generated. While "greed" was a part of it, the Phoebus cartel hardly invented planned obsolescence, and there was plenty of consumer benefit from the 1000 hour life span standard.

[@saqibewu]

I remember as a kid almost all our TVs, Radios and other home electronics appliances were from Philips…

[@6643bear]

Phillips had a great components and radio system manufacturer, we used a lot of their radio systems whilst I was working for the Met police . Regards mark

[@jimbo6059]

Shame really, Philips had a science lab near me in the UK. It was a sort of British division of the Dutch giant. They also had some medical stuff in a town nearby. They seem to have sold the company off as it is now branded Elektra. The research labs are now an industrial estate.

[@balpreetsingh6834]

Great video as always

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Thank you as always Balpreet!

[@edvin884]

0:24 I'll pretend I didn't hear it.

[@mosh7516]

Fr

[@134343]

Quite a few things missing or glossed over in this video. Yes some of things that you mentioned are true but a lot needs a LOT more nuance. They innovated a lot in consumer goods which is also the most visible for your average consumer. You completely skipped over WHY they sold off most of their businesses. They did so because of strong and rising competition from Korea, Japan and later China. Especially in consumer goods as they could not compete with their speed, innovation and price, so they sold all those off and have a new strategy that is more future proof. That strategy is to focus on everything healthcare related as there will always be a (growing) market for that. Also when looking at the stock price you completely forgot to talk about the issue that they are currently dealing with that is with their respironics division. Which really impacted the stock price. Also they still receive a lot of royalties from their former business. Yes they could have kept a lot of the stocks of ASML and TSMC but that is easy talking in hindsight. Who would have known that they would grow that big and it did not fit in their strategy to keep those stocks and their other businesses would still be unprofitable. The video now sort of implies that they failed because of being a cartel and didn't keep their stocks on TSMC and ASML. I think the video on Philips from TechAltar is a good addition to this video.

[@travelguy78]

The lightbulb at 1000 hours had many good reasons behind it. They were simply better lightbulbs than the ones that lasted a very long time.

[@ronald3836]

Especially because they made sure there were no lightbulbs lasting a very long time. These companies fined each other for manufacturing light bulbs that lasted longer than 1000 hours. They did not fine each other for manufacturing light bulbs that were "not good enough".

[@travelguy78]

@ronald3836 kzbin.info/www/bejne/sJOac6ZvbbCgpLssi=sdWLoPpZDlw4_aF_ It's complicated. They were in many ways better bulbs and the 1000hours were in some cases a good compromise

[@MattPerdeck]

Sounds like Philips did something similar to IBM. IBM used to be a huge name in computer hardware, and they gave that up to focus on services - which have higher margins I guess.

[@Peter-lm3we]

Yes, I am from Holland and I know some people working for Philips. It was a hard and sad pill to swallow. The fall of an electronics juggernaut. But, there is no money to be made in electronics anymore, at least not for a Western company. So they took the decision to ditch their core business and moved on. Indeed just like IBM. Both companies will outlast us, for sure.

[@garrycowan4394]

Actually watching this on a Phillips TV

[@w2tty]

I felt bad for them at the beginning of the video, but lost my compassion when you said they were controlling the light bulbs and trying to control other markets. Pioneers or not, I can’t feel bad for company like that.

[@herrfaust2020]

For electronics, I never thought of Philips as a quality brand, unlike Sony. Other than lightbulbs, I don't remember owning any Philips-branded consumer products. VHS made VCRs popular, which was invented by JVC, not Philips. They hardly shyed away from launching CDs. In the 80s, CDs were a replacement for vinyl. Cassettes were still around until CD-Rs became mainstream. On the topic of cassettes, how about a video on TDK? Or maybe you've done one already. Too many videos that I can't remember :D . Kudos for being so prolific!

[@ronald3836]

Philips invented the superior Video 2000 system, but failed to market it properly. Philips earned a ton of money on CD-related patents. Philips also invented the compact cassette.

[@organfairy]

@@ronald3836 Before Video2000 there was VCR that was launched in the early 1970's. It was invented by Philips and they hoped that it would become European standard, the way that Compact Cassettes had gone.

[@organfairy]

Neither do I: I see them as 'good enough for the price'. I'm old enough to remember when open reel tape recorders were common. Philips were popular, but Grundig, Tandberg, and Akai were better. Later I had a Philips VHS video recorder. It was crap! Much too complicated as Philips had tried to invent their own VHS mechanism - probably to avoid JVC's patents. I later got a Panasonic VHS and it was lightyears ahead of the Philips. I do have some products from Philips that are pretty good: I have some electronic lab equipment from the 1980's and a radio. What these products have in common is that the are purely electronic and only have very few moving parts.

[@ronald3836]

@@organfairy Ah, so that was really early. My father bought the VCR 2020, I think in 1980 (or early 1981, I know we recorded Charles and Diana's wedding) for 3000 guilders. I found it a totally fascinating device because it could be "programmed" to record programs in the future. Somehow this came more natural for me as a kid than for my father who was more interested in the electronics side of things (he repaired broken TVs as a hobby). A few years later he bought me a Commodore 64.

[@Eddies_Bra-att-ha-grejer]

@@ronald3836 Video 2000 was only marketed in Europe and Argentina. It was way too late. Betamax was technically better than VHS as well, but Sony was too tight on controlling the format, they didn't want to license it to other manufacturers.

[@wapartist]

Man Phillips Arena in Atlanta too. They made awesome RC car batteries forever in the day and white labeled as other brands if i remember correctly

[@ImaginationView]

Every company they sold blossoms, every company they buy dies

[@mambofornasa]

This is such an informative case study on the history of Philips. They really threw away their investment on TSMC!

[@abhishekjain194]

Bros at the grind never seen before❤

[@jaseaquino]

Their audio division was sold to a guitar company who were desperate to buy non-musical instrument businesses but this didn't last long so it's currently being produced by the same company who makes AOC monitors.

[@NotMarkKnopfler]

Ahhh... The Philips G7000 Videopac system! ❤

[@CT37BN]

Philips now makes semiconductors with their new name NXP.

[@johnwright8814]

NXP has changed now too, taken over by WeEn, after Qualcomm deal fell through. Hard to keep track of the changes in the semiconductor industry.

[@anuardalhar6762]

Please do video on other electronics company. Denon, Pioneer, Samsui, Luxman, JVC etc. What happen to them?

[@mogreen19]

When you repeat "late 1900s" I die a little more every time ...

[@taxidude]

They created the compact audio cassette and issued it free of licence charge. Phillips are far from being alone as a European firm who have had to surrender to the cut costs of Chinese manufacture. I was told in a marketing class decades ago that one of their successes was to concentrate on production and not profit.

[@Barbarapape]

Philips were great innovators but just never managed to find a way of bridging the gap between the test lab and production models that worked as they should. Having worked in consumer electronics since the late 60's i have seen many products that until another manufacturer took over the technolgy just didn't work correctly. Philips were at one time world leaders in many branches of electronics, but made too many bad decisions and products that failed to live up to our expectations. I have fond memories of some of their products but also cursed the way they were made.

[@leonb2637]

Philips was long in the medical equipment business, including making x-ray equipment since before WWII. They did expand into medical equipment including respiratory devices. They had a run up of demand from the COVID-19 pandemic. They ran into serious problems in 2022 with their CPAP (Sleep Apnea) equipment as insulation would break into particles that could get into the intake of the devices and be absorbed by users. They had to recall machines made over a 5+ year period and as replacements couldn't keep up with demand, other companies were able to take market share. As to home electronics, they got ruined by the Korean and later China based companies.

[@Embargoman]

The thing with Philips is opening up shops in Asian countries; where labor was cheaper back then. Clever to be is that one of those Asian countries adapted Philips technologies and this ended up with the likes of LG and Samsung; thanks to Philips setting up factory shops in Asia; yet Philips Korea is still alive though Philips will face challenges in their healthcare game between LG and Samsung.

[@hitmusicworldwide]

As an American we can't remember Phillips. They never really sold their stuff here. To me it looked like Phillips doesn't want to be involved in businesses where the product is a commodity and the margins are relatively low no matter the market price of the stock compared to the investments that are needed to generate income. TSMC we all know has the support of the government in Taiwan, it's a national asset. I don't understand why you think medical tech is not tech, that just doesn't make any sense at all to me.

[@VanillaMacaron551]

It was a well-known brand in Australia in 70s, 80s and maybe beyond.

[@AlexandreLimberger]

Hi. Phillips in USA was knew as Magnavox!

[@santostv.]

They were very popular in my corner of Europe alongside sony both undeniably giants,everyone had at least one Philips product in their house, I guess you guys had rca

[@amelierenoncule]

I was devastated when I learned that they had NOTHING to do with the Pilips Cheesesteak sandwiches...GO figure !

[@Socialwolfe]

I still use Philips earphones. Philips Bass and Speakers at home. And it still rocks and worth the budget

[@RobSchofield]

@ 8:54 - don't forget LG, Whirlpool - they seeded a HUGE number of hi-tech companies, then lost their nerve and withdrew. Usually due to lack of nerve and indecision in middle and upper management.

[@arghya_333]

Companies selling their branding rights to other companies is actually kind of scary. You can't even trust if a product will get good support, or heck good quality through their reputation anymore.

[@johnwright8814]

That's happened to many British HiFi speaker brands, now made in China with Chinese board members.

[@lukek8357]

Philips use to make most of the stage studio lamps for the entertainment industry but I believe they have even sold that off to a subsidiarity.

[@thegooddoctor6719]

I'm not sure its worth mentioning again - given that your record is spot on all the time. Nailed it - Again !!!!!!

[@kamilashamuratova1159]

My grandma received huge Phillips fridge as a present, it was expensive for that time. 30 years has past still runs as new, never broke and the only repair she made was changing a light bulb last year. Shame what happened, such great engineers and quality control but the most mediocre and myopic management possible

[@Dunbar0740]

Most of the technology credited to Xerox was in fact developed just up the road at Stanford Research Institute (SRI). Xerox had no idea what to do with the tech marvels that chanced into its possession.

[@arttig.3377]

I am still using my shaver from 2010. I changed the razors a couple of time, but other than that it is still as new. Quality was amazing.

[@LogicallyAnswered]

Not surprised, they usually make great products!

[@ericbennik2071]

I remember a guy who worked for Philips in the eighties and said he would only shave with Braun.

[@murenorocha]

At least here in Brazil, Philips used to be a household name. Nowadays it's very hard to get a Philips branded product that was indeed made by Philips and not outsourced to an asian company. Philips is slowing being phased out of people's minds.

[@robertewalt7789]

Phillips invented the compact cassette, the primary audio format between 8- track cartridges and CDs. But Sony invented home video cassettes.

[@evitoonbundit2453]

MBA type managers lost focus on technology.

[@climbeverest]

MBA's from USA are taught to destroy companies and move on.

[@alanstrong55]

A Sylvania TV and stereo system was a blessing at one time.

[@cengeb]

Philips bought out from GTE the Sylvania and Philco audio video brand from GTE..so they could begin using Philips branding in the U.S. they had already owned Magnavox for decades. But Philico from the early days had an injunction that wouldn't let the Philips name be on consumer electronics in the U.S., they claimed it would confuse people, Philco, Philips as the same company. so Philips bought them then Philips name began to appear on Norelco stuff and tvs

[@chriswathen9612]

I worked in Electrical retail in the mid 00's and Philips always felt a bit like Sinclair; great at innovation and pushing early versions of tech to market, but useless at marketing or seeing through the maturity of the tech and ranging. For instance in my store our core TV brands were Panasonic/Sony/Toshiba/Samsung - and Philips. The other 4 would make neat ranges that either were all the same but in different screen sizes, or premium ranges which added new features on top of the base models. Sometimes they'd even have cut down sub-base models too. Philips on the other hand just seem to knock out a series of unrelated models. You like that Philips in 40" but only want it in a 32"? Hard cheese, go to 32" and it changes from a black case to a silver one, has a totally different panel with a lower contrast ratio but on the plus side it DOES have two HDMI ports whereas the 40" has only one. That sort of thing was the order of the day when LCD TVs were hitting mainstream and Philips needed to be doing the same as everyone else. Yet Philips believed they had the market on TVs through rubbish like their high end 'Ambilight' sets that had huge light-up bezels projecting colours onto the wall which were an interesting curiosity for 5 minutes but no one really cared about. But on the other hand, at the same time we were selling the 'Streamium' system from Philips - an (at the time) innovative streaming audio system which could rip CDs or download from the internet to an internal hard drive then compile various playlists based on genre, album or mood which could be played from the main unit or accessed through sub-stations in different rooms (either standalone stations with their own amp & speakers or just the streaming tech and an output to another audio system). It used WiFi to communicate between stations but it was its own separate network that only needed the system to work rather than relying on the user having a Wifi router in their home that could be connected to (you couldn't assume that at the time). It was very similar to the original Sonos, but out to mass market before Sonos or anything else similar. But Philips totally failed to realise what they'd made and never properly marketed or developed the product further. Others then just waded in a couple of years later and mopped up the market for it leaving Streamium out in the cold. A frustrating company which had great tech let down by poor marketing & vision.

[@ebinrock]

The only Philips products I care about are the personal care products. They better never go out of business - I NEED my Norelco shaver!