Siemens vs Trimble: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Siemens and Trimble side by side

1. 1847Siemens

   Siemens & Halske is founded

   Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske found the company as an electrical telegraph and engineering business.

2. 1897Siemens

   Siemensstadt Founded

   Siemens & Halske acquires land west of Berlin to build a vast new industrial site, later known as Siemensstadt, that grows into an UNESCO World Heritage-listed company town.

3. 1966Siemens

   Siemens AG takes modern form

   Several Siemens predecessor companies combine into the modern Siemens AG structure.

4. 1978Trimble

   Trimble Navigation Founded

   Charles Trimble, R. Calvin Burns, and M. Kent Wories incorporate Trimble Navigation in Los Altos, California, with approximately $300,000 in initial capital.

5. 1982Trimble

   LORAN-C Revenue Milestone

   Trimble achieves approximately $1 million in annual LORAN equipment sales, establishing early commercial traction while awaiting GPS constellation completion.

6. 1984Trimble

   World's First Commercial GPS Receiver

   Trimble develops the 4000S, the world's first commercial GPS receiver for surveying and mapping applications. This breakthrough establishes Trimble as a pioneer in civilian GPS technology.

7. 1990Trimble

   Initial Public Offering

   Trimble holds its IPO, becoming one of the first GPS technology companies to go public. The same year, the company begins selling GPS-enabled personal position finders to the U.S. military.

8. 1990Trimble

   Gulf War Demand Surge

   Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, U.S. military demand for Trimble's GPS position finders surges, driving monthly sales from approximately $5 million to $19 million.

9. 1991Trimble

   Inc. Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year

   Charles Trimble is named Inc. Magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year. The company employs approximately 750 people.

10. 1993Trimble

    First Commercial RTK Product

    Trimble releases the Site Surveyor System, the first commercially available real-time kinematic (RTK) positioning product, enabling centimeter-level accuracy for surveying.

11. 1995Trimble

    Caterpillar Partnership Begins

    Trimble begins working with Caterpillar to develop GNSS receivers for heavy construction vehicles, laying groundwork for the CTCT joint venture.

12. 1998Trimble

    Charles Trimble Steps Down

    Charles Trimble steps down as CEO. Steve Berglund, previously president of Spectra Precision, takes over as CEO in 1999.

13. 2000Trimble

    Acquisition of Spectra Precision

    Trimble acquires Spectra Precision, adding optical surveying instruments, lasers and construction positioning products to its GPS portfolio.

14. 2002Trimble

    Caterpillar Trimble Control Technologies Joint Venture

    Caterpillar and Trimble form CTCT, a joint venture to develop machine control systems for construction equipment. The first product is a blade-mounted GNSS tool for bulldozers.

15. 2007Siemens

    UGS acquisition deepens software

    Siemens acquires UGS, building the PLM base that later becomes central to its industrial software strategy.

16. 2007Trimble

    Revenue Reaches $1 Billion

    Trimble's annual revenues reach approximately $1 billion, up from $270 million in 1999. The company employs approximately 3,400 people in 18 countries.

17. 2008Siemens

    Bribery Settlement

    Siemens agreed in December 2008 to pay about $1.6 billion to US and German authorities to settle bribery investigations.

18. 2011Trimble

    Acquisition of Tekla

    Trimble acquires Tekla, a Finnish firm specializing in building information modeling (BIM) software, expanding into structural engineering and construction modeling.

19. 2012Trimble

    Acquisition of SketchUp from Google

    Trimble acquires SketchUp, the popular 3D modeling software, from Google. The same year, Trimble acquires TMW Systems, entering the transportation management market.

20. 2016Trimble

    Rebranding to Trimble Inc.

    The company changes its name from Trimble Navigation to Trimble Inc., reflecting diversification beyond navigation into software, services, and integrated solutions.

21. 2017Siemens

    Mentor Graphics Acquired

    Siemens completed its purchase of the chip-design software company Mentor Graphics in 2017 for about $4.5 billion.

22. 2018Siemens

    Siemens Healthineers lists

    Siemens lists Siemens Healthineers while retaining a major ownership stake.

23. 2018Trimble

    Acquisition of Viewpoint for $1.2 Billion

    Trimble acquires Viewpoint Construction Software from Bain Capital for $1.2 billion in cash, significantly expanding its construction management software portfolio.

24. 2019Trimble

    Rob Painter Becomes CEO

    Robert G. Painter, previously Trimble's CFO, is named to succeed Steve Berglund as President and CEO, effective January 2020.

25. 2020Siemens

    Siemens Energy is spun off

    Siemens separates Siemens Energy, narrowing the parent company around industrial technology.

26. 2020Trimble

    Boston Dynamics Partnership

    Trimble signs an agreement with Boston Dynamics to integrate construction data collection technologies into Spot, the robotic dog, for autonomous site monitoring.

27. 2021Siemens

    Roland Busch becomes CEO

    Roland Busch succeeds Joe Kaeser and accelerates the digital-industries and infrastructure strategy.

28. 2021Trimble

    Acquisition of AgileAssets

    Trimble acquires AgileAssets, a SaaS company for infrastructure asset management, expanding its public sector and transportation infrastructure capabilities.

29. 2021Trimble

    S&P 500 Inclusion

    Trimble moves from the S&P MidCap 400 into the S&P 500 in January 2021, replacing Concho Resources.

30. 2022Trimble

    Transporeon Acquisition Announced

    Trimble agrees in December 2022 to acquire Transporeon, a European freight and transportation management platform, for about $2.12 billion (EUR 1.88 billion). The deal closed in April 2023.

31. 2022Trimble

    Headquarters Relocation to Colorado

    Trimble relocates its headquarters from Sunnyvale, California to Westminster, Colorado.

32. 2023Trimble

    AGCO Joint Venture Announced

    AGCO agrees to acquire an 85% stake in Trimble's agriculture business to form the PTx Trimble joint venture, with Trimble keeping 15%. The transaction closes in April 2024.

33. 2024Trimble

    New Reporting Segments Announced

    Trimble announces new reporting segments AECO, Field Systems, and T&L reflecting the company's organizational structure and business model evolution.

34. 2024Trimble

    Acquisition of Flashtract

    Trimble acquires Flashtract, a payment and compliance platform for construction, rebranding it as Trimble Pay.

35. 2025Siemens

    FY2025 revenue reaches ~$89.2B (EUR78.914B)

    Siemens reports ~$89.2B (EUR78.914B) revenue and ~$11.7B (EUR10.387B) net income for FY2025.

36. 2025Siemens

    Altair Engineering Acquired

    Siemens completes its roughly $10 billion acquisition of Altair Engineering, adding simulation, high-performance computing, and AI-driven design software to its Xcelerator industrial software stack.

37. 2025Trimble

    Mobility Divestiture to Platform Science

    Trimble completes the sale of its Mobility (fleet telematics) business to Platform Science in February 2025, receiving a 32.5% equity stake in the combined company.

38. 2026Siemens

    Q2 FY2026 results show stable revenue

    Siemens reports roughly stable Q2 FY2026 revenue while maintaining its fiscal-year operating focus.

39. 2026Trimble

    Acquisition of Document Crunch

    In April 2026 Trimble agrees to acquire Document Crunch, an AI contract-analysis and risk-management platform for construction, to add to Trimble Construction One. Financial terms were not disclosed.

40. 2026Trimble

    T&L Goodwill Impairment and Raised Guidance

    In Q2 2026 Trimble records a $562.0 million goodwill impairment in its Transportation & Logistics segment, producing a quarterly GAAP net loss of $471.7 million, while ARR reaches a record $2.509 billion and FY2026 revenue guidance rises to $3.90-$3.95 billion…

Acquisitions

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