TEXTRON INC

Early history

Textron started as a textile company in 1928, when 37-year-old Royal Little founded the Special Yarns Corporation in Boston, Massachusetts. The company manufactured synthetic yarns, a niche product at the time. By the start of World War II, the company was known as Atlantic Rayon Corporation and manufactured parachutes. As war production wound down, the company started making civilian products as well and was renamed Textron: "Tex" for "textiles" and "tron" from synthetics such as "Lustron". The company was listed on the NYSE in 1947.

Royal Little began the process of turning Textron into a conglomerate in 1953, with the purchase of Burkart Manufacturing Company (upholstery filling for the automotive industry) in September 1953, followed by the purchase of Dalmo-Victor (airborne Radar Antennae) and MB Manufacturing Company in early 1954. The push for diversification would see Textron purchase various other manufacturing companies. In 1960, the company also bought Bell Aerospace and E-Z-Go. The textile division was sold to Deering Milliken in 1963.

Later CEOs included G. William Miller (1968–1977), Joseph Collinson (1977–1979) and Robert P. Straetz (1979–1986). In 1984, Textron took on more debt and bought Avco, a conglomerate almost as big as itself. Later on, James Hardymon took over as CEO. This $1.4 billion acquisition included the parent of Paul Revere Insurance Company (through 1996, when they sold it).

Campbell era

James Hardymon brought in Lewis B. Campbell, who became CEO in 1998. [ citation needed ] Starting in 2000, Campbell led a company-wide restructuring program. The share price fell to as low as $13/share in March 2003 after the economic downturn following the collapse of Internet companies and the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Diminished demand for helicopters and airplanes led to layoffs at Cessna and Bell Textron. [ citation needed ]

In 2007, the Wall Street Journal reported that Campbell had received $494,700 in compensation in the form of his use of a corporate jet to travel between his home and office, which made him the most expensive CEO in the country in terms of use of jet travel. Some shareholders have questioned whether it is a good use of shareholder dollars to pay for the personal lifestyle choice of the CEO to live in one state and work in another. Shares in Textron plummeted to as low as $10.09 per share in the aftermath of the 2008 economic downturn, driving its market capitalization down to just $3.17 billion. [ citation needed ]

After Campbell

Scott C. Donnelly became CEO in December 2009. Textron acquired Mechtronix in Montreal, Quebec, and OPINICUS in Tampa, Florida, in 2013. Donnelly combined these flight simulation companies, along with Textron's AAI Logistics & Technical Services, to form TRU Simulation & Training in 2014.

On December 26, 2013, Textron agreed to purchase Beechcraft, including the discontinued Hawker jet line, for $1.4 billion. The sale closed in March 2014. The company formed a new company called Textron Aviation to market the products of Beechcraft, Cessna and Hawker as individual brands.

From 2013 to 2016, R&D investments were 4.3%, 4.0%, 4.6%, and 4.2% of its revenues ($13.78 billion in 2016) and totaled more than $2.2 billion as it developed seven aircraft: the Bell 525 Relentless, Bell V-280 Valor tiltrotor, Cessna Citation Longitude, Cessna Citation Hemisphere, Beechcraft Denali single-engine turboprop, the Cessna SkyCourier twin cargo hauler and the Textron Scorpion close support jet after the certification of the Bell 505 Jet Ranger X.

In March 2022, Textron agreed to acquire Pipistrel, an electrically powered aircraft manufacturer based in Italy and Slovenia.

On April 5, 2022, U.S. authorities announced criminal as well as civil charges in a Manhattan federal court against the former head of a now-defunct London-based company, Xcalibur Aerospace Ltd., for making a fraudulent bid to buy Textron for $13.8 billion. The Department of Justice and the SEC claimed that Xcalibur Aerospace was never in a position to complete a tender offer for Textron and lacked the finances to do so.

In October 2025, it was announced that Lisa Atherton will be President and CEO, effective January 4, 2026