The Gillette Company is the American personal care and grooming products manufacturer built around the safety razor. Inventor King Camp Gillette and engineer William Nickerson founded it as the American Safety Razor Company in Boston in 1901, renaming it the Gillette Safety Razor Company in 1904 after Gillette's patent was granted. It grew into a diversified consumer products company before Procter and Gamble acquired it in 2005. Gillette's own early razors were sold at a premium rather than given away cheaply, and the razor and blades pricing pattern popularly credited to Gillette was in fact invented by competitors after his key patents expired around 1921. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Company TypeSafety razor and personal care products manufacturer 1 Founded Year HeadquartersBoston, Massachusetts, U.S. 1 The Gillette Company
Connections
Associated With
Source Wikipedia, Procter & Gamble Acquisition of Gillette
The razor-and-blades pricing pattern is popularly, though inaccurately, attributed to Gillette and its safety razor; Gillette's own early razors were priced at a premium, and competitors invented the loss-leader-razor, profit-margin-blade pattern only after his patents expired around 1921.
Source Wikipedia, The Gillette Company
Founded By
Invented the disposable-blade safety razor and founded the American Safety Razor Company, later Gillette, in 1901.
Source Wikipedia, King Camp Gillette
MIT-trained engineer who solved the mass-production problems of Gillette's blade design and co-founded the company as a major shareholder.
Source Wikipedia, The Gillette Company
Led By
Gillette founded the company in 1901 and served as its first president.
Source Wikipedia, King Camp Gillette
Operates In
Gillette manufactures personal care and grooming products rather than operating stores; Retail Industry is the closest sector category this atlas currently tracks for a consumer products manufacturer.
Additional Source Wikipedia, The Gillette CompanyLead section
Related Corporate Events
Source Wikipedia, Procter & Gamble Acquisition of Gillette
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia, The Gillette Company
Wikipedialead section
Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products, owned by Procter and Gamble.
Lead section, third sentence
The Gillette Company was founded by King C. Gillette in 1901 as a safety razor manufacturer.
- Founded By: William Nickerson, history section
View the Source Wikipedia, King Camp Gillette
Wikipedia- Founded By: King Camp Gillette, lead section
- Led By: King Camp Gillette
View the Source Wikipedia, Procter & Gamble Acquisition of Gillette
Wikipedia- Associated With: Procter & Gamble-Gillette Merger
- Related Corporate Events: Procter & Gamble-Gillette Merger
View the Source Frequently Asked Questions
Did King Camp Gillette invent the razor and blades pricing model that bears his name?
The Gillette Company was founded by inventor King Camp Gillette and engineer William Nickerson as the American Safety Razor Company in Boston in 1901. Gillette's own early razors were actually sold at a premium rather than given away cheaply, and the razor and blades pricing pattern popularly credited to Gillette was in fact invented by competitors after his key patents expired around 1921.
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