| Massey Ferguson
The firm was founded by Daniel Massey as Newcastle Foundry and Machine Manufactory in Newcastle, Ontario, Canada in 1847. The company began assembling some of the world's first mechanical threshers, then designing and building their own. Daniel's eldest son Hart Almerrin Massey took over operations and renamed the company to Massey Manufacturing Co. and in 1879 he moved the company to Toronto. Canadian tariffs kept the company strong and through aggressive advertising and marketing, Hart expanded the company on an international level. Massey merged with the A. Harris, Son & Co. Ltd. in 1891 to become Britain's largest agricultural equipment maker, Massey-Harris Co. In 1910 they opened a US plant, becoming one of Canada's first multinational firms. Massey-Harris introduced the first self-propelled combine harvester and produced one of the world's first four-wheel drive tractors in the 1930s. Hart Massey's sons, Charles, Chester, Walter, and Fred eventually took over operations. The company merged with Ferguson Company to create Massey-Harris-Ferguson in 1953. Due to increased competition and agricultural industry hardship, the company started struggling. In 1955, Massey-Ferguson purchased the Australian company Sunshine. In 1958 the company became Massey-Ferguson. In 1959, M-F bought its Italian assembly subcontractor, Landini. In 1966, Massey purchased a third of Spanish tractor and auto company Ebro, or Motor Iberica. Ebro had built Ford tractors, but now began building tractors for Massey-Ferguson. M-F sold its interest in Ebro to Nissan in the 1980s. Massey-Ferguson sold two-thirds of the company to ARGO SpA in 1989 and some to Iseki later on. The construction equipment division was aqcuired by its management in 1992 to form Fermec which ran it until J.I. Case bought it in 1997. The final portion of Massey-Ferguson was sold by AGCO in 2000. Even throughout its hardships, Massey-Ferguson outsold tractors of all other competitors by at leat 25% and there are more Massey tractors than any other, worldwide.
http://www.masseyferguson.com/
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