based in Salem, Oregon, a subsidiary of United Parcel Service, Inc., expanding its product line of panel-mounted GPS/NAV/COMM units and integrated cockpit systems for private and commercial aircraft. In August 2003, Garmin completed acquisition of UPS Aviation Technologies, Inc. Acquisitionsįrom 2006 to 2015 Garmin operated a retail store on Michigan Ave. Kao's brother, Ruey-Jeng Kao, an attorney in Taipei, owned another 7,984,109 shares, which when combined with Burrell's and Kao's shares constituted 54.22 percent of the shares outstanding. Together their holdings accounted for 45 percent of the company's stock. At that time Burrell owned 19,911,155 shares. The company began public trading on NASDAQ on December 8, 2000. In May 2018, Garmin partnered with the University of Kansas Medical Center to tackle sleep apnea and atrial fibrillation. In April 2018, Garmin launched Connect IQ 3.0 along with new apps-MySwim Pro, Yelp, Trailforks and iHeartRadio. By the end of June 2000, the company employed 1,205 people: 541 in the United States, 635 in Taiwan, and 29 in the United Kingdom. As of August 22, 2000, the company held 35 patents on GPS technology. Its products were sold in 100 countries and carried by 2,500 independent distributors. īy 2000 Garmin had sold three million GPS devices, and was producing 50 different models. Garmin reported a 2006 total revenue of $1.77 billion, up 73% from $1.03 billion in 2005.
By 1999, sales had reached $233 million and a profit of $64 million.
īy 1995, Garmin's sales had reached $105 million, and it had achieved a profit of $23 million. The company was later renamed "Garmin", a portmanteau of its two founders, Gary Burrell and Min H. ProNav's first product was a GPS unit which sold for US$2,500. They founded Garmin in 1989 in Lenexa, Kansas, as "ProNav". Kao from the defense contractor Magnavox while working for the former King Radio. Due to their development in wearable technology, they have also been competing with activity tracker and smartwatch consumer developers such as Fitbit and Apple. The company specializes in GPS technology for automotive, aviation, marine, outdoor, and sport activities. Since 2010, the company is legally incorporated in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. (shortened to Garmin, stylized as GARMIN, and formerly known as ProNav) is an American, Swiss-domiciled multinational technology company founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao in Lenexa, Kansas, United States, with headquarters in Olathe, Kansas. Garmin International Inc., Garmin (Asia) Corporation