Company:Symbol Technologies

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Symbol Technologies, Inc.
TypePublic
NYSE: SBL S&P 500 component (until 2007)
IndustryAIDC
FateAcquired by Motorola
Founded1973
FounderJerome Swartz
Shelley A. Harrison
Defunct2007
HeadquartersHoltsville, New York, United States
ProductsBarcode readers, wireless networking, mobile computers, RFID
Number of employees
5400

Symbol Technologies, Inc., was an American manufacturer and supplier of mobile data capture and delivery equipment. The company specialized in barcode scanners, mobile computers, RFID systems and Wireless LAN infrastructure.

Symbol was acquired by Motorola in 2007. In 2014, the enterprise hardware division of Motorola Solutions containing the Symbol line of products was acquired by Zebra Technologies.

History

Before 2000

The company was co-founded in 1973 by Jerome Swartz and physicist Shelley A. Harrison,[1][2] originally under the name Stony Brook Applied Research.[3] At that time, the company focused on handheld laser-based scanning of bar codes.[4] Under Swartz, the company marketed handheld laser barcode scanning devices. The company focused heavily on the retail industry and began to get involved in inventory management. These activities typically required people to scan items where they are stored and as such needed to be mobile. Symbol began to make small computers that could store data scanned to take inventory counts remotely and then upload the information gathered to a host system. This was the rationale for the September 1988 purchase of MSI Data Corporation, a mobile computer company headquartered in southern California, for $120 million.[5][6][7]

The mobile computers being manufactured at the time relied on static memory (in this case SRAM) for execution space and general storage. SRAM was extremely expensive and the team determined that it would be an improvement to use a radio to allow the mobile computer to be untethered but connected to the host system. A thin client architecture was adopted in conjunction with a spread spectrum radio network.




The Symbol team had temporarily dominated the IEEE 802.11b market. Telxon was facing difficulties and, in the meantime, Intel, Apple Inc. and Cisco were looking at the technology to see how they would use this to their commercial advantage. Cisco investigated the acquisition of various manufacturers of wireless gear to augment their commanding position in the wired infrastructure field. Cisco performed due diligence with both Symbol and Telxon, deciding to purchase the Aironet component of Telxon that designed and manufactured the radios. The Cisco purchase of Telxon's Aironet division marked the inflection point of the market moving from a specialized, esoteric market to a mass consumer and enterprise market.[8][9]

In June 1998, Telxon rejected a hostile takeover bid of $668 million made by Symbol.[10][11] The ensuing proxy battle lasted two years, and in December 2000 Symbol was able to complete the takeover at a much lower price of $465 million.[12][13][14]

In 2004 Symbol acquired Matrics, helping the company to push further into the RFID field.[15][16][17]

Accounting fraud and acquisition by Motorola

Swartz retired in 2000, and was succeeded by Tomo Razmilovic, who had been president and COO since 1995. Razmilovic abruptly retired in 2002 during a Securities and Exchange Commission inquiry into Symbol's accounting practices.[18] A few months later, an internal inquiry revealed a wide-ranging accounting fraud that had begun in 1998 and only ended in early 2002. Following this revelation, Symbol cooperated fully with the SEC investigation, as well as with a separate federal criminal probe by the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.[19]

On June 3, 2004, Razmilovic and seven other former Symbol executives were indicted on charges that they orchestrated a wide-ranging scheme to inflate the company's sales and profits. It included several types of fraud, such as channel stuffing (booking sales to wholesalers and distributors as final sales to customers), candy deals (selling products to distributors with no matching customer orders and then buying the products back), use of tango sheets (records of how much revenues had to be inflated to match quarterly targets) and use of cookie jar reserves (declaring nonrecurring expenses that far exceeded likely expenses). On the same day, Razmilovic and 10 other former executives were sued by the SEC for the fraud.[20][21]

In late 2002, Symbol restated almost four years of earnings from 1998 to 2001, in the process erasing $234 million in revenue and $325 million in net income. It also paid $37 million to settle the SEC charges and $138 million to settle numerous shareholder suits.[19][22][23] Eventually, four former executives pleaded guilty, and seven former executives settled SEC charges against them. Several of those who pleaded guilty stated under oath that Razmilovic was the mastermind of the fraud.[24] Razmilovic fled to Sweden, where he has citizenship, shortly before his indictment. He remains a fugitive as of 2025; he claims he will not voluntarily return to face the charges against him because he does not believe he can get a fair trial in the United States. Sweden will not give him up for extradition because it does not extradite suspected white-collar criminals outside the European Union.[24][25] Template:Pic Symbol never recovered from the fraud, and in 2007 was acquired by Motorola for $3.9 billion.[26][27] The company essentially took over Motorola's enterprise division; it was far larger than the pre-merger division.[28] Symbol remained part of Motorola Solutions, the legal successor to the old Motorola, after the company spun off its mobile phone division as Motorola Mobility.

Acquisition by Zebra Technologies

In October 2014 Zebra Technologies acquired Motorola Solutions' enterprise business which included Symbol Technologies for $3.45 billion in cash.[29][30][31]

References

  1. ↑ "History of Symbol Technologies, Inc. – FundingUniverse". http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/symbol-technologies-inc-history/. 
  2. ↑ "Symbol Technologies, Inc.". Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/symbol-technologies-inc. Retrieved 2026-02-23. 
  3. ↑ "Jerome Swartz Biography". https://www.theswartzfoundation.org/swartz-bio.asp. 
  4. ↑ "Symbol Technologies, Inc.". Encyclopedia.com. https://www.encyclopedia.com/books/politics-and-business-magazines/symbol-technologies-inc. Retrieved 2026-02-23. 
  5. ↑ "Symbol Technologies To Buy MSI Data For $120 Million". Associated Press. 29 September 1988. https://apnews.com/article/c35a3df7d26e14753da9349ddbf44a54. 
  6. ↑ "MSI Data Agrees to Be Acquired by N.Y. Supplier". Los Angeles Times. 1988-09-30. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-09-30-fi-2910-story.html. 
  7. ↑ "MSI gets second takeover offer". Journal of Commerce. 1988-10-03. https://www.joc.com/article/msi-gets-second-takeover-offer-5563975. 
  8. ↑ "Cisco Systems to Acquire Aironet Wireless Communications" (Press release). Cisco Newsroom. 1999-11-09. Retrieved 2026-02-23.
  9. ↑ "Cisco to buy Aironet for $800 million". MarketWatch. 1999-11-09. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/cisco-to-buy-aironet-for-800-million. 
  10. ↑ "COMPANY NEWS; TELXON REJECTS LATEST OFFER FROM SYMBOL TECHNOLOGIES (Published 1998)". https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/03/business/company-news-telxon-rejects-latest-offer-from-symbol-technologies.html. 
  11. ↑ Telxon's Board Rejects Increased Symbol Bid
  12. ↑ "Symbol Technologies Completes Acquisition of Telxon". http://www.symbol.com/news/pressreleases/press_releases_newrel_telxon.html. 
  13. ↑ Symbol to Acquire Telxon in a Stock-for-Stock Transaction
  14. ↑ "Telxon Stockholders Approve Merger with Symbol Technologies". https://www.theautochannel.com/news/press/date/20001128/press031594.html. 
  15. ↑ "Symbol Technologies Announces Agreement to Acquire Matrics, Inc" (Press release). The Carlyle Group. 2004-07-26. Retrieved 2026-02-23.
  16. ↑ "Symbol Acquires Matrics". 2004-07-27. https://www.rfidjournal.com/news/symbol-acquires-matrics/78453/. 
  17. ↑ "Matrics Agrees To Acquisiton N.Y. Firm". The Washington Post. 2004-07-28. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2004/07/28/matrics-agrees-to-acquisiton-ny-firm/988a9e7d-cde7-4161-9cf3-4b092c1ae98d/. 
  18. ↑ Strugatch, Warren (2002-07-28). "At Symbol, Changes At Top and Hopes for Revival". New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/28/nyregion/li-work-at-symbol-changes-at-top-ahd-hopes-for-revival.html. 
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Lohr, Steve (2004-06-21). "Technology, Day 2: I Learn the Books Are Cooked". New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/21/business/technology-day-2-i-learn-the-books-are-cooked.html. 
  20. ↑ Lohr, Steve (2004-06-04). "Ex-Executives at Symbol Are Indicted". New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/04/business/ex-executives-at-symbol-are-indicted.htm. 
  21. ↑ "SEC.gov | Symbol Technologies, Inc., Tomo Razmilovic, Kenneth Jaeggi, Leonard Goldner, Brian Burke, Michael DeGennaro, Frank Borghese, Christopher DeSantis, James Heuschneider, Gregory Mortenson, James Dean and Robert Donlon". https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr-18734. 
  22. ↑ "SEC.gov | Symbol Technologies, Inc., Tomo Razmilovic, Kenneth Jaeggi, Leonard Goldner, Brian Burke, Michael DeGennaro, Frank Borghese, Christopher DeSantis, James Heuschneider, Gregory Mortenson, James Dean and Robert Donlon". https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr-18734. 
  23. ↑ Gorman, T. (2011-10-11). "SEC OBTAINS $62.6 MILLION JUDGEMENT AGAINST FORMER CEO" (in en-US). https://www.secactions.com/sec-obtains-62-6-million-judgement-against-former-ceo/. 
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Dienst, Jonathan (2013-11-21). "Fugitive Long Island CEO Accused of $200 Million Fraud Wants Apology". WNBC. http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Tomo-Razmilovic-Fugitive-Millionaire-Sweden-CEO-Symbol-Technologies-Long-Island-232921331.html. 
  25. ↑ Harrington, Mark. "Fugitive ex-CEO faces $90M civil penalty". Newsday. http://www.newsday.com/business/fugitive-ex-ceo-faces-90m-civil-penalty-1.3228303. 
  26. ↑ American Greed: The Fugitives: Diamonds Aren't Forever (Television Production). United States: CNBC. 2013.
  27. ↑ "Motorola Completes Acquisition of Symbol Technologies". 2007-01-09. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/68505/000095013707000214/c11346exv99w1.htm. 
  28. ↑ "Motorola buys Symbol Technologies for £2bn" (in en). https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/networking/motorola-buys-symbol-technologies-for-2bn/. 
  29. ↑ "Zebra To Acquire Motorola Solutions' Enterprise Business". https://www.zebra.com/us/en/acquires-motorola-enterprise.html. Retrieved 17 June 2015. 
  30. ↑ "Zebra Technologies to Acquire Enterprise Business from Motorola Solutions for $3.45 Billion" (Press release). Motorola Solutions Newsroom. 2014-04-15. Retrieved 2026-02-23.
  31. ↑ "Zebra Technologies Completes Acquisition of Motorola Solutions' Enterprise Business". 2014-10-27. https://investors.zebra.com/news-and-events/news/news-details/2014/Zebra-Technologies-Completes-Acquisition-of-Motorola-Solutions-Enterprise-Business/default.aspx. 



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