User:Danise Lopes/draftjacuzzi

Jacuzzi is a private company that manufactures and markets hot tubs, pools, spas, bathtubs, and other bath products. It was influential in the trend towards larger and more luxurious bathrooms. Headquartered in Irvine, California, USA, it is the owner of the Jacuzzi registered trademark.

The company was founded in 1915 by seven brothers from the Jacuzzi family. At first, it developed aviation products, until one of the brothers died in a plane crash. Afterwards, it developed pumps for agricultural use and other products. In 1948, Jacuzzi created water pumps to treat adolescent Kenneth Jacuzzi's juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. The water pumps were a niche medical product until they were integrated into the first recreational hot tub in 1968. As the popularity of hot tubs grew, Jacuzzi created more models that were more advanced. Jacuzzi was run by the Jacuzzi family until 1979. It then changed hands several times over the decades, usually as part of a larger purchase or spin-off from its parent company, before being bought by its current owner InvestIndustrial in 2019.

Early history
Jacuzzi was founded in 1915 in West Berkeley, California under the name Jacuzzi Brothers Inc. by seven brothers in the Jacuzzi family: Giocondo, Frank, Rachele, Candido, Joseph, Gelindo, and Valeriano Jacuzzi. Their original last name was Iacuzi, but when the first two brothers moved from Friuli, Italy to New York City in 1907, immigration staff mis-spelled their name "Jacuzzi". All seven brothers had moved to the United States by 1910, as the ones in the U.S. worked on railroads and farms across the U.S. to pay for the other brothers' transit.

Jacuzzi began as a machining company. The brothers worked on a citrus farm owned by an early aviation inventor. They offered to help develop aviation products, creating an early wood propeller that was curved instead of flat and was used in World War I. One of the first propellers they made is now on display at the Smithsonian Institute. The brothers also developed pumps for the citrus grove that replaced carrying barrels of oil by hand, and one of the first fully-enclosed cabins for airplanes, called the Jacuzzi J-7, which was used to transport mail.

In 1921, a plane delivering mail crashed near Yosemite Park, killing all of the passengers on board, including Giocondo Jacuzzi. There were several theories on what caused the crash, but Roy Jacuzzi believed it was because the pilot flew too low in an effort to show off in front of his girlfriend down below. After the crash, the brothers abandoned the aviation business and started selling their agricultural pumps to farmers from the back of a truck. They also experimented with several other products, but the first successful one was a water pump created by Rachele Jacuzzi in 1926. This was the predecessor to Jacuzzi's modern hot tub products. From there, the Jacuzzi business expanded into a variety of pumps for industrial applications and later for swimming pools.

In 1948, Candido Jacuzzi developed the first hydrotherapy pump, called the J-300, to treat his son Kenneth's rheumatoid arthritis between hospital visits. He patented the pump in 1952. Initially, it was marketed as a niche medical product for joint and muscle issues. Roy Jacuzzi, who was a descendent of the founding Jacuzzi brothers, created the first tub with jets integrated into the shell in 1968, with a hot tub called the Roman Bath. The Roman Bath is considered the world's first whirlpool tub designed for relaxation, rather than for medical use. Jacuzzi used celebrity actress Jayne Mansfield and others to market the tubs, which initially gained popularity among Hollywood movie stars. In the 1970s, Jacuzzi products were featured on several TV shows and grew in popularity in California. The company started developing larger models that could fit more than one person. They also added filters and heaters, so the tub didn't need to be drained with each use.

Changes in ownership
By 1979, there were 257 Jacuzzi family members involved in the Jacuzzi brand and there was a growing number of disputes between them. A potential deal to sell Jacuzzi to Textron fell through. Then, Kidde acquired the business for $70 million. Most of the Jacuzzi family members left the company, except Roy Jacuzzi, who stayed on as the head of the hot tub and bath division. In 1987, a British conglomerate called Hanson PLC acquired Jacuzzi's parent company Kidde Inc. for $1.6 billion. Afterwards, Jacuzzi Inc. became the parent company of two Jacuzzi subsidiaries with Roy Jacuzzi serving as its new CEO. By 1989, the Jacuzzi business had 2,200 employees.

Initially, Jacuzzi primarily sold through contractors and home-builders, but in 1993 it started selling through large retailers. Jacuzzi also expanded internationally in the 1990s, especially in Italy and Spain. By the end of the 1990s, half of its sales were outside the US. In 1995, Jacuzzi's parent company, Hanson, spun-off Jacuzzi and other brands into a public company called U.S. Industries, which funded a series of acquisitions by Jacuzzi in the late 1990s. Jacuzzi became the largest manufacturer of above-ground pools in 1996 with the acquisition of Haugh Products. It then bought competitors Sundance Spas and Gatsby Spa in 1998 and 1999 respectively. Jacuzzi also bought Zurn Industries, a maker of toilets, sinks, and other water products, in 1998 for $745 million. As Jacuzzi expanded through acquisitions, it reduced manufacturing costs by using its own pumps, instead of the third-party vendors the acquired company used previously, and by buying raw materials in larger volume. The company also expanded into shower products, through its own R&D efforts.

By the end of the 1990s, Jacuzzi had taken on too much debt and started selling off some of its divisions to pay it off. Citicorp's venture capital arm bought an 18.6% interest in Jacuzzi for $600 million. Jacuzzi also sold more than $600 million worth of businesses in tangential industries, such as landscaping, vacuum cleaners, sanitation, and lighting. In 2003, the parent company USI renamed itself to Jacuzzi Brands, the current namesake of the Jacuzzi business. Jacuzzi Brands sold its plumbing division, Zurn Industries, to Rexnord Corporation in 2007 for $950 million. One month later, Jacuzzi Brands itself was acquired by Apollo for $1.25 billion.

Recent history
In 2017, Jacuzzi Brands announced plans to acquired Hydropool and Liners Direct, which manufactured hot tubs and bath products respectively, for $170 million. Jacuzzi Brands was purchased by its current owner InvestIndustrial in 2019. It also acquired BathWraps, a company that renovates and customizes showers and bathtubs.

Products
Jacuzzi manufactures and markets hot tubs, pools, and other bath products. It owns the Jacuzzi, ThermoSpas, Sundance Spas, and Dimension One brands, but is best known for the "Jacuzzi" brand and for its hydrotherapy products. It is the largest manufacturer of hot tubs in Europe. The company has eight factories, with its largest one being in Valvasone Arzene, Italy.