ITT also stands for ITT Technical Institute, Institute of Technology, Tallaght and Institute of Technology, Tralee.
ITT, originally International Telephone and Telegraph, was a large conglomerate that owned a variety of businesses during the 1960s under Harold Geneen. In the 1970s ITT was forced to sell off the majority of its holdings and became a shell of its 1960s glory.
Owner in 1970 of 70% of Chitelco, the Chilean Telephone Company, ITT funded "El Mercurio", a chilean right-wing newspaper, and financially helped opponents of Salvador Allende's governement prepare a military coup, as revealed the CIA , when it released in 2000 classified documents about Pinochet 's coup in 1973 National Security Archives.
In 1959 Harold Geneen was elected as CEO. Using leveraged buyouts, he turned the minor building of the 1950s into a major force during the 1960s. Under Geneen, ITT bought over 300 companies in the 1960s, including some hostile takeovers. The deals included well-known businesses like the Sheraton hotel chain, Wonder Bread maker Continental Baking, Hartford insurance company, and Avis Rent-a-Car. ITT also absorbed smaller operations in auto parts, energy, books, semiconductors and cosmetics. In 1963, ITT attempted to purchase the television network ABC for $700 million. The deal was halted by federal antitrust regulators who feared the ITT was growing too large.
ITT's sales grew from about $700 million in 1960 to about $8 billion in 1970, and its profit from $29 million to $550 million. However, when the higher interest rates started eating away at profits in the late 1960s, ITT's growth slowed considerably. On September 28, 1973, headquarters in New York City, New York was bombed by protesters for alleged involvement in the overthrow of the democratically elected government in Chile.
Geneen's remained CEO of ITT until 1977 while many conglomerates had removed their CEOs due to lack of profits. His successor, Rand Araskog, dismantled much of ITT, selling most of its holdings, including the last of ITT's telecommunications businesses.
The business historian Robert N. Sobel published ITT: The Management of Opportunity in 1982.
ITT Kellogg was also part of the 1989 sale to Alcatel. The company was then sold to private investors in the U.S. and went by the name Cortelco Kellogg. Today the company is known as Cortelco
ITT merged its long distance division with Metromedia Long Distance, creating Metromedia-ITT. Metromedia-ITT would eventually be acquired by Long Distance Discount Services, Inc. (LDDS) in 1993. LDDS would later change its name to Worldcom in 1995.
In 1995, ITT Corporation split into 3 separate public companies: