Hilton vs TCS: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Hilton and TCS side by side

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 1968TCS

   TCS is founded

   Tata Consultancy Services begins inside the Tata Group.

8. 1969TCS

   F.C. Kohli Joins as First CEO

   F.C. Kohli is brought in on deputation to lead TCS, then a 10-consultant operation, and begins building an industrial, assembly-line approach to software delivery.

9. 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…

10. 2001TCS

    CMC Limited Stake Acquired

    TCS acquires a majority stake in CMC Limited from the Government of India, adding systems-integration and public-sector technology capability.

11. 2001TCS

    TCS Crosses $1 Billion in Revenue

    TCS becomes the first Indian IT services company to cross $1 billion in annual revenue, cementing its position as an industry leader.

12. 2004TCS

    TCS lists publicly

    TCS completes its IPO and becomes one of India's most important listed technology companies.

13. 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.

14. 2009TCS

    TCS crosses major global scale thresholds

    TCS expands globally across industries and delivery centers under new then-CEO N. Chandrasekaran.

15. 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.

16. 2013TCS

    N. Chandrasekaran Becomes CEO

    Chandrasekaran becomes CEO, leading TCS through a period of rapid international expansion before his 2017 elevation to Tata Sons chairman.

17. 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…

18. 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.

19. 2020TCS

    F.C. Kohli Passes Away

    F.C. Kohli, TCS co-founder and first CEO, dies at age 96, having lived to see the company he helped build become one of the worlds largest IT services firms.

20. 2023TCS

    K. Krithivasan becomes CEO

    K. Krithivasan becomes CEO and managing director of TCS, succeeding Rajesh Gopinathan.

21. 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…

22. 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.

23. 2026TCS

    FY2026 revenue is reported

    TCS reports FY2026 revenue of $30.017B and net margin of 19.8%.

24. 2026TCS

    Q1 FY2027 AI run-rate grows

    TCS reports Q1 FY2027 revenue of $7.624B and annualized AI revenue of $2.6B.

25. 2026TCS

    Tata Sons chairman succession opens

    On August 12, 2026, N. Chandrasekaran said he would not seek another term as Tata Sons chairman after February 2027; TCS shares fell about 4% on the news.

Acquisitions

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