Hilton vs Hitachi: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Hilton and Hitachi side by side

1. 1910Hitachi

   Founding and First Induction Motor

   Namihei Odaira establishes the machinery repair shop that becomes Hitachi, and develops Japan's first 5-horsepower induction motor, establishing the foundation for the company's dominance in electrical engineering.

2. 1919Hilton

   Founding - Mobley Hotel Purchase

   Conrad Hilton purchases the Mobley Hotel in Cisco, Texas for $40,000, marking the formal founding of what will become Hilton Worldwide Holdings. The purchase was unplanned; Conrad had originally traveled to Cisco to buy a bank.

3. 1925Hilton

   First Purpose-Built Hilton Hotel

   Conrad opens the first hotel built from the ground up bearing the Hilton name in Dallas, Texas, marking a transition from acquiring existing properties to developing new ones and formalizing the Hilton brand identity.

4. 1932Hitachi

   Expansion into Railway Technology

   Hitachi begins manufacturing electric locomotives and rail signaling systems, establishing a deep, institutionalized relationship with the Japanese national railway network that would evolve into the modern Hitachi Rail division.

5. 1943Hilton

   Acquisition of the Stevens Hotel, Chicago

   Hilton acquires the Stevens Hotel in Chicago - then the world's largest hotel with over 3,000 rooms - transforming the company from a regional Texas operator into a nationally recognized lodging company.

6. 1946Hilton

   Hilton Hotels Corporation Goes Public

   Hilton Hotels Corporation lists on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming one of the first major hotel companies to access public capital markets and establishing a financial structure that would fund the company's continued national expansion.

7. 1949Hilton

   Waldorf Astoria Acquisition and International Debut

   Conrad Hilton acquires the well-known Waldorf Astoria in New York City and opens the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico - the company's first international property. Both transactions cement Hilton's status as a premier global luxury brand.

8. 1959Hitachi

   Entry into Computing and Electronics

   Hitachi develops its first electronic computer, the HITAC, marking the company's strategic entry into the information technology sector and laying the groundwork for its future digital systems business.

9. 1964Hilton

   International Division Spun Off

   Hilton Hotels Corporation and Hilton International are formally separated, with the international operations becoming an independent company. This bifurcation persisted for decades and would eventually be reversed through acquisition in the 2000s.

10. 1999Hilton

    Acquisition of Promus Hotel Corporation

    Hilton acquires Promus Hotel Corporation for approximately $3.7 billion, adding the Hampton Inn, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, and Homewood Suites brands to its portfolio - transforming Hilton into a multi-brand lodging company and expanding its focused-service…

11. 2007Hilton

    Blackstone Group Leveraged Buyout

    Blackstone Group acquires Hilton Hotels Corporation in a leveraged buyout valued at approximately $26 billion - the largest hotel acquisition in history at the time. Christopher Nassetta is installed as CEO.

12. 2013Hilton

    NYSE Relisting - Largest Hospitality IPO in History

    Hilton Worldwide Holdings relists on the New York Stock Exchange in December 2013, raising approximately $2.35 billion in what was then the largest IPO in the history of the hospitality industry. The listing valued Hilton at approximately $19.7 billion.

13. 2016Hitachi

    Toshiaki Higashihara becomes CEO

    Toshiaki Higashihara became CEO of Hitachi in 2016. Shifted Hitachi from a sprawling conglomerate toward infrastructure and digital businesses.

14. 2017Hilton

    Spinoff of Park Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Grand Vacations

    Hilton completes the spinoff of Park Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Grand Vacations as separately traded public companies, completing its transition to a fully asset-light franchise and management fee model and returning significant real estate value to sharehold…

15. 2020Hilton

    COVID-19 Pandemic - Deepest Revenue Shock in Company History

    The COVID-19 pandemic causes system-wide Revenue Per Available Room to fall approximately 57% as global travel shuts down.

16. 2020Hitachi

    Acquisition of ABB's Power Grids Business

    Hitachi executes the $11 billion acquisition of ABB's Power Grids business, renaming it Hitachi Energy and instantly establishing the company as the global leader in HVDC transmission and grid infrastructure.

17. 2021Hitachi

    Acquisition of GlobalLogic

    The company acquires the global digital engineering firm GlobalLogic for $9.6 billion, instantly establishing Hitachi as a top-tier provider of advanced software and product design services for the automotive and telecommunications sectors.

18. 2022Hitachi

    Hitachi Construction Machinery Stake Sale

    Hitachi sold a controlling stake in Hitachi Construction Machinery to Itochu and Japan Industrial Partners, part of its exit from cyclical listed subsidiaries.

19. 2024Hilton

    Revenue Reaches $11.2 Billion, Pipeline Exceeds 500,000 Rooms

    Hilton reports fiscal year 2024 revenues of approximately $11.2 billion and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $3.3 billion, with the Hilton Honors program surpassing 190 million members and the global development pipeline exceeding 500,000 rooms under developme…

20. 2024Hitachi

    Acquired Thales Ground Transportation Systems

    Hitachi acquired Thales Ground Transportation Systems. Hitachi Rail completed its ~$1.88 billion (EUR 1.66 billion) acquisition of Thales's Ground Transportation Systems business, its rail signalling division, expanding Hitachi Rail to 51 countries and shiftin…

21. 2025Hilton

    9,000th Hotel and Record Openings

    Hilton opened about 97,000 rooms, passed 9,000 hotels, entered markets including Tanzania, Rwanda, and Pakistan, and returned $3.3 billion to shareholders.

22. 2025Hitachi

    Toshiaki Tokunaga Becomes CEO

    Toshiaki Tokunaga became President and CEO on April 1, 2025, succeeding Keiji Kojima, who became Executive Chairman.

23. 2026Hitachi

    Record Results and Home Appliance Sale

    Hitachi reported record FY2025 profit in April 2026 and agreed to sell 80.1% of its home appliance business to Nojima for about $737 million (¥110 billion).

Acquisitions

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