Rank Xerox

Rank Xerox was formed in 1956 as joint venture between the Xerox Corporation of United States (aka Haloid Photographic) and the Rank Organisation of the United Kingdom, to manufacture and market Xerox equipment initially in Europe and later in Africa and Asia. A further joint venture between Rank Xerox and Modi Group in India formed Modi Xerox (now Xerox India) to manufacture and sell Xerox equipment in the Indian subcontinent.

The initial joint venture was 50% Xerox and 50% Rank Organisation, but this changed after a few years to a 60/40 split. Later, Xerox bought a further share making the split 80/20, and in the late 1990s, completed the purchase, so Rank Xerox formally became Xerox.

In 1956 the Rank Organisation was looking for a product to sit alongside a small business it had making camera lenses. Thomas Law, who was the head of the business, found his answer in a scientific magazine he picked up by chance. He read about an invention that could produce copies of documents as good as the original Mr Law tracked down the backers, an obscure photographic-supply company in Rochester, New York, named Haloid.