Gulf and Western Industries, Inc., for a number of years known as Gulf+Western, was a United States conglomerate. A conglomerate is a large company that consists of divisions of often seemingly unrelated businesses. ...

Its prosaic origins date to a manufacturer named Michigan Bumper Co. founded in 1934, though Charles Bluhdorn treated his 1958 takeover of what was then Michigan Plating & Stamping as its "founding" for the purpose of later anniversaries. 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Charles Blühdorn (September 20, 1926_February 20, 1983) was an Austrian-born American industrialist. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Under Bluhdorn the company diversified widely, leaving behind things like stamping metal bumpers not only for communications properties like Paramount Pictures and Simon and Schuster but clothing (Kayser-Roth, which happened to own the Miss Universe pageant because it had bought Pacific Mills, which had invented the pageant to sell its Catalina brand of swimsuits), cigars, zinc mines, auto parts, Madison Square Garden, and Caribbean sugar plantations. The company also purchased Desilu Productions from Lucille Ball in 1967, which included most of Ball's television product, as well as such properties as Star Trek and Mission Impossible. (It would make millions on both series over the following decades with Star Trek's various hit follow-up TV projects and films, beginning in the late 1970s, as well as the hit Mission Impossible theatrical remake in the 1990s.) The Paramount Pictures logo used since 2003. ... Jean-François Millet Le Semeur (The Sower) Simon & Schuster logo, circa 1961. ... Natalie Glebova of Canada is congratulated by Miss Universe 2004 Jennifer Hawkins of Australia during the Grand Finale of Miss Universe 2005 on May 31st, 2005 in Bangkok, Thailand. ... Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG, has been the name of four arenas in New York City, United States. ... Desilu Productions was a company jointly owned by American actors Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. ... Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedian and star of I Love Lucy. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Star Trek collectively refers to a science-fiction franchise spanning six unique television series, 726 episodes and ten motion pictures in addition to hundreds of novels, video games, fan stories and other works of fiction all set within the same fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry in the mid-1960s. ... Mission: Impossible is the name of an American television series which aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to September 1973. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ...

In 1983 Bluhdorn died on a plane en route home from the sugar plantation to New York headquarters, and the board bypassed president David Judelson and named senior vice president Martin S. Davis, who had come up through Paramount Pictures, as the new Chief Executive Officer. Davis slimmed down the company's wilder diversifications and focussed it on communications. In 1989 he renamed Gulf+Western to Paramount Communications, and sold all of its non-entertainment and non-publishing assets. 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 27th 141,205 km² 455 km 530 km 13. ... A chief executive officer (CEO) or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or executive officer of a corporation, company, or agency. ... Paramount Communications resulted from the 1989 restructuring and renaming of Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. ...

It was under this name that the company was taken over by Viacom. Davis was named a member of the board of National Amusements, which controlled Viacom, but ceased to manage the company. Viacom is a high-growth media conglomerate with various worldwide interests in cable / satellite television networks (MTV Networks and BET), video gaming (Sega of America), and movie production and distribution (the Paramount Pictures movie studio and DreamWorks). ... National Amusements is a chain of movie theaters spanning 1,300 screens, mainly in the New England and Mid-Atlantic areas of the United States. ...

Pop Culture References

The Talking Heads song "Puzzling Evidence" which is about the commercialization of America mentions the conglomerate in the line "With your Gulf and Western and your Mastercard, got what you wanted and lost what you had". Talking Heads. ...