The original Electrada included a mixture of businesses and soon faltered financially; it is most remembered as the corporate birthplace of the ancestor of MARK IV, one of the first, and most successful, packaged software products in the computing industry.
[2] The new enterprise combined a variety of previously independent, unrelated companies or firms under one corporate umbrella.
[3] This was jointly run[3] by John A. Postley, an engineer who had worked for many years in the aerospace industry,[4] and information sciences pioneer Robert M.
[7] According to Postley's later account, the famous names on the board of directors were responsible for the company getting listed on the stock exchange so soon after its creation.
[4] As he told it, much of Rhoads' actions in terms of forming the conglomerate and getting it listed happened during one day in New York City.
[3] Rhoads was succeeded as president in November 1960 by Henry C. Jones, with the former executive said to be wanting to "devote his full time to management consultation.
"[8] At this point the company termed itself as a maker of missile components, pressure vessels, rubber products, information handling and data processing systems, automatic packaging machines, and other items.
[1] The firm's lender, Security Pacific Bank, brought in Dan Burns to run the company.
[1] In a key move, starting in 1965 and closing in March 1966, Electrada bought the assets of Sargent Engineering Company from A. J.
[21] Later in the decade, Sargent Industries became one of the earliest leveraged buyout acquisitions by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, being part of their initial KKR Fund 1976.
[23] This was formerly Open Road Industries, a maker of recreational vehicles that had gone into bankruptcy following the effects of the 1973 oil crisis.