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This article is about the technology company sometimes referred to as "Big Blue". For other uses of these terms, see IBM (disambiguation) and Big Blue (disambiguation). International Business Machines Corporation IBM logo.svg

Type 	Public Traded as 	NYSE: IBM NASDAQ: IBM Dow Jones Component S&P 500 Component Industry 	Computer hardware, Computer software, IT services, IT consulting Founded 	Endicott, New York, U.S. (June 16, 1911) Founder(s) 	Thomas J. Watson Headquarters 	Armonk, New York, U.S. Area served 	Worldwide Key people 	Ginni Rometty (President & CEO) Samuel Palmisano (Chairman) Revenue 	increase US$ 106.91 billion (2011)[1] Operating income 	increase US$ 20.28 billion (2011)[1] Net income 	increase US$ 15.85 billion (2011)[1] Total assets 	increase US$ 116.43 billion (2011)[1] Total equity 	decrease US$ 20.13 billion (2011)[1] Employees 	426,751 (2010)[1] Divisions 	Financing, Hardware, Services, Software Website 	IBM.com

International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology.[2] As of September 2011, IBM was the second-largest publicly traded technology company in the world by market capitalization.[3]

The company was founded in 1911 as the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation through a merger of three companies: the Tabulating Machine Company, the International Time Recording Company, and the Computing Scale Corporation.[4][5] CTR adopted the name International Business Machines in 1924, using a name previously designated to CTR's subsidiary in Canada and later South America. Its distinctive culture and product branding has given it the nickname Big Blue.

In 2011, Fortune ranked IBM the 18th largest firm in the U.S.,[6] as well as the 7th most profitable.[7] Globally, the company was ranked the 31st largest firm by Forbes for 2011.[8][9] Other rankings for 2011 include #1 company for leaders (Fortune), #2 best global brand (Interbrand), #1 green company worldwide (Newsweek), #12 most admired company (Fortune), and #18 most innovative company (Fast Company).[10] At December 31, 2010, IBM had over 426,751 employees serving clients in over 170 countries,[11] with occupations including scientists, engineers, consultants, and sales professionals.[12]

IBM holds more patents than any other U.S.-based technology company, and has nine research laboratories worldwide.[13] Its employees have garnered five Nobel Prizes, four Turing Awards, nine National Medals of Technology, and five National Medals of Science.[14] Famous inventions by IBM include the automated teller machine (ATM), the floppy disk, the hard disk drive, the magnetic stripe card, the relational database, the Universal Product Code (UPC), the financial swap, SABRE airline reservation system, DRAM, and Watson artificial intelligence.

The company has undergone several organizational changes since its inception, acquiring companies like SPSS (2009) and PwC consulting (2002), spinning off companies like Lexmark (1991), and selling off product lines like ThinkPad to Lenovo (2005).

Sam Palmisano stepped down as chief executive officer on January 1, 2012, but retained his position as chairman. He was replaced by veteran IBMer Ginni Rometty.[15][16]