Yamaha Corporation
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| Founded | October 12, 1887 |
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| Headquarters | Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan |
| Industry | Conglomerate |
| Products | Musical instruments, Audio/Video, Electronics, Computer related products, ATVs, Motorbikes, Vehicle Engines, Personal water craft |
| Revenue | ▲ 7.4 billion US$ (2003) |
| Operating income | 900 million US$ (2005) |
| Net income | 149 million US$ (2003) |
| Employees | 23,500 (3/2003) |
| Website | www.yamaha.com |
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The Yamaha Corporation (ヤマハ株式会社 Yamaha Kabushiki Gaisha?) (TYO: 7951) is a multinational corporation based in Japan with a wide range of products and services, predominantly musical instruments, motorcycles and powersports equipment, and electronics.
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[edit] History
Yamaha was established in 1887 as a piano and reed organ manufacturer by Torakusu Yamaha as Nippon Gakki Company, Limited (日本楽器製造株式会社 Nippon Gakki Seizō Kabushiki Gaisha?) in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka prefecture, and was incorporated on October 12, 1897. The company's origins as a musical instrument manufacturer is still reflected today in the group's logo — a trio of interlocking tuning forks. [3]
After World War II, company president Genichi Kawakamisaki repurposed the remains of the company's war-time production machinery and the company's expertise in metallurgical technologies to the manufacture of motorcycles. The YA-1 (aka Akatombo, the "Red Dragonfly"), of which 125 were built in the first year of production (1958), was named in honor of the founder. It was a 125cc, single cylinder, two-stroke, streetbike patterned after the German DKW RT125 (which the British munitions firm, BSA, had also copied in the post-war era and manufactured as the Bantam and Harley-Davidson as the Hummer). In 1959, the success of the YA-1 resulted in the founding of the Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.
Yamaha has grown to become the world's largest manufacturer of musical instruments (including Pianos,"silent" pianos, drums, guitars, brass instruments, woodw