Schneider Electric SE is a French multinational company that specializes in digital automation and energy management. It addresses homes, buildings, data centers, infrastructure and industries, by combining energy technologies, real-time automation, software, and services. Schneider Electric is a Fortune Global 500 company, publicly traded on the Euronext Exchange, and is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. In FY2020, the company posted revenues of €25.2 billion. Schneider Electric is the parent company of Square D, APC, and others. It is also a research company. Head office Schneider Electric has had its head office in Rueil-Malmaison, France since 2000. The company uses an international operations model wherein its key personnel and large numbers of its staff are spread across main offices in Reuil-Malmaison, Hong Kong, Noida, and Boston. History 1836-1963 In 1836, brothers Adolphe and Joseph-Eugene Schneider took over an iron foundry in Le Creusot, France. Two years later, they founded Schneider-Creusot, the company that would eventually become Schneider Electric. Initially, Schneider-Creusot specialized in the production of steel, heavy machinery, and transportation equipment. In 1871, following France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the company significantly developed its capacity for weapons manufacturing. Over the first half of the 20th century, Schneider-Creusot continued to grow, establishing manufacturing sites in France and abroad, including in pre-Soviet Russia and Czechoslovakia. 1963-1999 In the 1960s, following the death of Charles Schneider, Schneider-Creusot was absorbed by Belgium's Empain group, which merged Schneider-Creusot with its own corporate structures to form Empain-Schneider. In 1981, the Empain family sold its controlling stake to Paribas. In the 1980s and 1990s, the company, once again operating under the Schneider name, divested from steel and shipbuilding and, through strategic acquisitions, began to focus on the electricity sector. These acquisitions included Télémécanique in 1988, Square D in 1991, and in 1992. 1999-present In January of 1999, Schneider acquired the Scandinavian switch-maker Lexel. Later that year, the company renamed itself Schneider Electric, to reflect its focus on the electricity sector. In October 2006, Schneider Electric announced that it would acquire the data center equipment manufacturer American Power Conversion for $6.1 billion. The following February, the move was finalized following its approval by the European Commission. In June of 2010, Schneider and the rolling stock manufacturer Alstom jointly purchased Areva's transmission and distribution businesses in a transaction totaling $2.73 billion. In 2016, Schneider acquired Tower Electric, a British company that manufactured fixings and