page_title: Zumtobel Group
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Zumtobel Group / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Tridonic Atvo Headquarter Dornbirn, Austria
context_page_description: The Zumtobel Group is an Austrian company specialising in lighting technology headquartered in Dornbirn. Zumtobel engages in the development, production and sales of lighting technology and offers lighting solutions, luminaires, lighting management and lighting components for indoor and outdoor applications. The company is a European market leader for professional lighting systems and the number two for lighting components in Europe.
  The Group operates 13 production facilities in Europe, Asia, North America and Australia as well as sales companies and partner companies in more than 90 countries.
  Since 2007, the group has presented the Zumtobel Group Award to architects and engineers every two years. The prize was worth 140,000 euros in 2012 and 150,000 euros in 2017.
  In the financial year from May 2017 to April 2018, the company recorded a loss of 46.7 million euros due to pricing pressure and currency effects and did not pay out a dividend for this period. Revenue declined by 8 percent and the share of LEDs in revenue increased from 73.6 to 79.6 percent. In 2018/19, the Zumtobel Group significantly reduced the net loss from 46.7 to 15.2 million euros.
context_section_description: Walter Zumtobel (1907–1990) was one of roughly 300 so-called sequestrators in allied-occupied Austria who administered previously German-owned property in Vorarlberg, initially on behalf of the French military government, then based on an administrative law of the  Federal Government of Austria. These properties included Michel-Werke in Bregenz and Hard as well as Werkzeugbau Arbeitsgemeinschaft Lustenau in Lustenau and Feinmechanische Werkstätte Josef Maurer in Wolfurt. He integrated these three formerly German companies into Elektrogeräte und Kunstharzpresswerk W. Zumtobel KG, which was founded on 1 January 1950 in Dornbirn, thus laying the foundation for today’s Zumtobel Group.
  Initially, the company primarily produced electrical ballasts for fluorescent light fittings. In 1952, the company started to manufacture complete luminaires based on fluorescent light fittings. Profilux, a particularly thin batten luminaire introduced to the market in 1953, became a sales success. In 1963, Zumtobel won the first design price for the FER recessed luminaire. In 1959, Walter Zumtobel travelled to the United States for the first time to visit the luminaire manufacturer Day-Brite Lighting, in St. Louis.
  In 1959, a light laboratory was established to determine light distribution curves. The German company Staff, still autonomous as Staff & Schwarz Leuchtenwerke (founded in 1945), introduced the first voltage track system Lite-Trac in 1967. From 1956 to 1979, the company was a licensee of Lichttechnischen Spezialfabrik Dr. Ing. Schneider & Co. In 1976, Zumtobel received the National Award, which entitles companies to use of the national coat of arms in business dealings. In the same year the group became a stock corporation (Aktiengesellschaft).
  In 1976, the company acquired a minority stake in the British company Tridonic Ltd. The remaining shares were acquired in 1983. Based on a purchase agreement of 2 March 1979, the factory of Dr. Ing. Schneider & Co. in Usingen was integrated into the company; on 28 March 1979 a contract was concluded to also transfer the operating business.
  In 1991, the company was restructured and two divisions were established: Lighting Solutions (then Zumtobel Licht) and Lighting Components (then Tridonic-Bauelemente). In 1993, Zumtobel acquired a majority stake in the German Staff Group in Lemgo; the remaining shares were taken over in 1994. In 2000, the British company Wassall plc was acquired with the assistance of the American equity capital partner Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), and the Thorn Lighting Group was merged with Zumtobel’s luminaire business; the components business of Thorn was transferred to the Tridonic Division.
  Since 2005, the LED-activities have been further developed. Lexedis Lighting in Jennersdorf was founded as a joint venture for high-performance LED light sources of Tridonic Optoelectronic (a joint venture of Tridonic and Lumitech, a spin-off of the Graz University of Technology) and Toyoda Gosei. LEDON Lamp GmbH (Dornbirn) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Zumtobel Group for LED applications.
  In May 2006, the Zumtobel Group went public on the Vienna Stock Exchange. In September 2006, the Zumtobel share was admitted to the ATX. KKR sold its remaining share of 5.5 percent after the initial public offering to an institutional investor in an off-exchange transaction in December 2006. This investor was apparently Delta Lloyd Asset Management NV. In any case, Zumtobel announced in a mandatory disclosure regarding the shareholder structure on 11 May 2011 that Aviva plc was no longer a shareholder of Zumtobel after its majority investment in “Delta Lloyd” had been terminated. At the time, Delta Lloyd held 6.778 percent of the 43.5 million shares; a few days later, “Fidelity” held 9.99 percent. 
  In 2009, the LED start-ups were combined in a separate division (LEDON brand). In 2013, LEDON was sold to the Austrian entrepreneur Thomas Lorünser with retroactive effect from 1 November 2012. With effect from 24 September 2012, the Zumtobel share was removed from the ATX and has since b
caption: Tridonic headquarters in Dornbirn, Austria
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