Tyco International Ltd. is a diversified manufacturing and service company. Tyco international was found in 1960 when Dr. Arthur J. Rosenburgh opened a research lab to do experimental work for the United States Government. About two years later he changed its focus to hi-tech materials science and energy conversion products for the commercial sector. In 1964 Tyco became a public company, manufacturing industrial products. And in 1965, Tyco began their empire with the acquisition of its first company.
             Since then, Tyco has grown rapidly to be "a major global conglomerate" in the world. Tyco has evolved from a small manufacturing company expanding into many different industries. Tyco reports 2436 subsidiaries in 85 countries. They are also active in over 100 countries and employ 240,000 employees. They are the world's largest manufacturer and installer of fire and security systems, they are the world's second-largest in healthcare and specialty products, and also hold sector inflow controls, electrical components, and many more.
             Tyco's rapid growth in the '90s was achieved through aggressive acquisitions and mergers of over 200 firms in the last ten years. Tyco would acquire companies and cut costs by downsizing, this way they could inflate short-term revenues. During the 80's Tyco used leverage buyouts for its acquisitions. In the 90's Tyco financed their deals mostly through the stock market. Debts from acquisition can be financed by stock, and then that stock price would go up following the deal, this would allow for more acquisitions. This is how Tyco's stocks achieved a 20 percent growth rate during the '90s. From 1993 – 2001 Tyco saw their market values gain 86.2 billion.
             Expanding Tyco to many different industries was supposed to produce a "recession-proof" conglomerate. But fast growth through acquisitions caused a build-up of debt and expensive goodwill write-offs which was not unveiled until after the collapse of Enron...