Canon vs General Motors: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Canon and General Motors side by side

1. 1908General Motors

   General Motors Founded

   William C. Durant incorporates General Motors in Hudson, New Jersey, on September 16, 1908, with Buick Motor Company as its primary asset.

2. 1909General Motors

   Cadillac and Oldsmobile Acquired

   GM acquires Oldsmobile and the prestigious Cadillac Automobile Company, establishing the multi-brand architecture that will define GM's market segmentation strategy for decades.

3. 1923General Motors

   Alfred Sloan Becomes President

   Alfred P. Sloan takes the GM presidency and begins implementing the decentralized divisional management structure and market segmentation strategy that transforms GM into the world's most admired corporate organization.

4. 1931General Motors

   GM Surpasses Ford as World's Largest Automaker

   General Motors overtakes Ford Motor Company as the world's largest automobile manufacturer by sales volume, a position it would hold for the majority of the next seven decades.

5. 1933Canon

   Precision Optical Instruments Laboratory opens

   Goro Yoshida, Saburo Uchida and Takeo Maeda open a camera laboratory in a Roppongi apartment in Tokyo to build a Japanese 35mm camera that could rival the Leica.

6. 1934Canon

   Kwanon prototype

   Yoshida builds the Kwanon, Japan's first 35mm focal-plane-shutter camera prototype, named after the Buddhist goddess of mercy. It never goes on sale.

7. 1936Canon

   Hansa Canon goes on sale

   The lab's first commercial camera, the Hansa Canon, uses a Nikkor lens and rangefinder supplied by Nippon Kogaku, the predecessor of Nikon. The 'Canon' trademark had been filed in 1935.

8. 1937Canon

   Precision Optical Industry incorporated

   The business is incorporated on August 10, 1937 as Precision Optical Industry, Co., Ltd. Takeshi Mitarai becomes president in 1942.

9. 1949Canon

   Tokyo Stock Exchange listing

   Canon Camera Co. (renamed in 1947) lists on the Tokyo Stock Exchange when postwar trading resumes, and opens a New York branch in 1955.

10. 1964Canon

    Canola 130 calculator

    Canon moves beyond cameras with the Canola 130 desktop electronic calculator, followed in 1970 by Japan's first plain-paper copier, the NP-1100, and its first semiconductor lithography tool, the PPC-1.

11. 1969Canon

    Renamed Canon Inc.

    Canon Camera Co. changes its name to Canon Inc. to reflect a product range that now spans business machines as well as cameras.

12. 1984General Motors

    Saturn Corporation Founded

    GM establishes Saturn as a separate subsidiary intended to compete with Japanese small cars through innovative labor relations, retail practices, and manufacturing processes.

13. 1987Canon

    EOS system launches

    Canon launches the EOS 650 and the all-electronic EF lens mount, the base of its autofocus SLR and later digital SLR lines.

14. 1995Canon

    Fujio Mitarai becomes president

    Fujio Mitarai takes over as president, exits personal computers and other loss-making lines, and in 1996 starts the Excellent Global Corporation Plan.

15. 1996General Motors

    OnStar Connected Vehicle Service Launched

    GM introduces OnStar, the world's first embedded cellular connected vehicle service, offering emergency assistance, stolen vehicle tracking, and remote diagnostics.

16. 2003Canon

    Start of No. 1 camera share run

    Canon takes the No. 1 share of the global interchangeable-lens digital camera market, a position it has held every year through 2025.

17. 2009General Motors

    Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and Government Bailout

    General Motors files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on June 1, 2009, with $49.5 billion in U.S. Government assistance as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

18. 2010General Motors

    IPO Return to Public Markets

    General Motors returns to public markets through an initial public offering on November 18, 2010, raising approximately $23.1 billion - at the time one of the largest IPOs in U.S. History. The offering allows the U.S.

19. 2014General Motors

    Mary Barra Becomes CEO

    Mary Barra, a 33-year GM veteran with a background in engineering and manufacturing, becomes CEO on January 15, 2014, becoming the first female CEO of a major global automaker.

20. 2016Canon

    Toshiba Medical acquisition

    Canon completes the ¥665.5 billion (about $5.9 billion) purchase of Toshiba Medical Systems in December 2016, later renamed Canon Medical Systems.

21. 2016General Motors

    Cruise Automation Acquired

    GM acquires Cruise Automation, a San Francisco-based autonomous vehicle startup, for approximately $1 billion - at the time one of the largest acquisitions in GM's modern history.

22. 2018Canon

    EOS R mirrorless system

    Canon launches the full-frame EOS R mirrorless system and RF lens mount.

23. 2021General Motors

    Ultium Platform and EV Commitment Announced

    GM announces its commitment to invest more than $35 billion in electric and autonomous vehicles through 2025 and introduces the Ultium battery platform as the technological foundation for dozens of future EV models across all four U.S. Brands.

24. 2023Canon

    Nanoimprint lithography launch

    Canon releases the FPA-1200NZ2C nanoimprint lithography system in October 2023, able to pattern 14 nm lines, and delists its ADRs from the New York Stock Exchange in March.

25. 2024Canon

    First NIL shipment and medical impairment

    Canon ships its first nanoimprint system to the Texas Institute for Electronics on September 26, 2024, and books a ~$1.11 billion (¥165.1 billion) goodwill impairment on its medical business for the year.

26. 2024General Motors

    Cruise Robotaxi Program Ended

    Following the October 2023 Cruise pedestrian incident and a long operational pause, GM announced in December 2024 that it would stop funding Cruise's robotaxi business and fold the unit's technology work into GM.

27. 2025Canon

    Record net sales of ~$31 billion (¥4,624.7 billion)

    Canon reports record 2025 net sales of ~$31 billion (¥4,624.7 billion) and net income attributable to Canon Inc. of ~$2.23 billion (¥332.1 billion).

28. 2025General Motors

    EV Capacity Cut and $7.6 Billion in EV Charges

    After the U.S. federal EV tax credit expired on September 30, 2025, GM cut EV production capacity and recorded about $7.6 billion of EV-related charges for the year.

29. 2026Canon

    Phase VII plan and new president

    Canon unveils its 2026-2030 Phase VII plan, merges Canon Medical's operations into Canon Inc. on April 1, and appoints Kazuto Ogawa President and COO on March 27 while Fujio Mitarai stays Chairman and CEO.

30. 2026General Motors

    Guidance Raised as North America Margins Recover

    GM reported Q2 2026 revenue of $48.0 billion and EBIT-adjusted of $3.9 billion, with North America margins back in its 8-10% target range, and raised full-year 2026 EBIT-adjusted guidance to $14.0-16.0 billion.

Acquisitions

Questions about Canon vs General Motors