Profile

Textron Inc. is an American industrial conglomerate based in Providence, Rhode Island. Textron's subsidiaries include Arctic Cat, Bell Textron, Textron Aviation , and Lycoming Engines. It was founded by Royal Little in 1923 as the Special Yarns Company. In 2018, Textron employed over 37,000 people worldwide. The company ranked 208th on the 2018 Fortune 500 of the largest United States corporations by revenue. Textron started as a textile company in 1923, when 27-year-old Royal Little founded the Special Yarns Corporation in Boston, Massachusetts. The company manufactured synthetic yarns, a niche product at the time. By the start of World War II, the company was known as Atlantic Rayon Corporation and manufactured parachutes. As war production wound down, the company started making civilian products as well and was renamed Textron: “Tex" for "textiles" and "tron" from synthetics such as "Lustron". The company was listed on the NYSE in 1947.