The man who invented the American computer giant

In 1968 the film was released 2001: A Space Odyssey, a futuristic film full of very strange details. This Stanley Kubrick work soon became a cult film with varied interpretations. Without a doubt, one of the central elements of the plot was a computer with very human reactions called HAL 9000. Official sources related to the film have always insisted that the device's name comes from the expression heuristically programmed algorithmic computer, what does it mean algorithmic computer programmed with heuristics. But there's a long-standing urban legend that claims the name HAL is actually an alphabetical transposition of another name: what you get if you take the letter that follows the originals in alphabetical order, that is, IBM. The computer manufacturer IBM has been firmly embedded in popular culture around the world for many years.

Leaving aside the film and subsequent speculation, IBM's history has its roots in ancient times, specifically in 1911, when engineer Charles Flint merged several companies to create the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR). Flint had previously joined a shipping business as a partner, following in his father's entrepreneurial tradition. He also ventured into the diplomatic world, serving as Chilean Consul in New York and, later, Consul General of Nicaragua and Costa Rica in the United States.

In the business world, Flint discovered the advantages of creating large companies by merging several pre-existing firms, which he did when he played a key role in creating a large rubber company, US Rubber, in 1892. He repeated the process to create American Chicle by combining Adams Chewing Gum (Thomas Adams), Chiclets (Thomas Adams), Dentyne (Franklin V. Canning), and Beemans (Edward E. Beeman) in 1893.

But the great merger that Flint would project into history is the one we began the story with, when he brought together four calculating machine companies to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR), a firm that would eventually become known as International Business Machines, or IBM. The merged companies were the Tabulating Machine Company, the International Time Recording Company, the Computing Scale Company of America, and the Bundy Manufacturing Company.

It is said that throughout his life, Flint was the driving force behind more than twenty company mergers. With this entrepreneurial trajectory, it is no surprise that he was known in his time as the Father of Trusts. He is only known to have failed once in his strategy of merging companies, and that was when he was president (1880) of the United States Electric Company: he attempted to bring all the interests of the electricity sector under a single umbrella, but was unsuccessful. His obsession with creating business integrations was based on the conviction that, beyond the importance of technology in optimizing processes, a company's organizational system was key to generating savings during production.

Businessman and athlete

Outside of his professional life, he still had time to enjoy various sports, especially hunting, fishing, and sailing. He was a member of the syndicate that built the boat Vigilant, which defended the America's Cup title in 1893. He also met the great magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt in the group of manufacturers. He was also among the elite founders of the Automobile Club of America (1899), the first entity of its kind in the United States, which survived until the Great Depression. It seems proven that he also had a relationship with the Wright brothers and that there were negotiations to market their brand new invention, the airplane.

The IBM name for the company Flint helped found emerged in 1924, after the name had been applied to some of its subsidiaries since 1917. Today, this pioneering computer company still exists, albeit after undergoing numerous changes. The current CEO is Arvind Krishna, an Indian-born electrical engineer. The company focuses on three main areas: software, IT infrastructure, and consulting, with a strong presence of artificial intelligence in all its activities. It has annual revenues of over $60 billion, and its ownership is spread across a large number of investment funds and small stock market shareholders.