Westinghouse Electric Corporation

The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse and based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It began as the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company and took the name Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1945. For most of the twentieth century it supplied generators and steam turbines, pioneered nuclear power from 1937, and sold consumer electronics and home appliances, which ties it to the early history of radio and television equipment. After losses in financial services in the late 1980s, the company bought the CBS television network in 1995 and renamed itself CBS Corporation, selling most of its industrial businesses. Viacom acquired that company in 1999, and the Westinghouse trademarks now belong to a separate company that licenses them to makers of appliances and electronics.