The company began as an operator of telephone monopolies out of the United States. Later during the 1960s and 1970s it became one of the dominant conglomerates owning a variety of companies ranging from Sheraton hotels, to Levitt home builders. In 1997 ITT completed a merged with Starwood Hotels and Resorts selling off it's non-hotel and resorts business and disposing of their world headquarters at 1330 Avenue of the Americas in New York City (Formerly the American Broadcasting Company building). Several former ITT subsidaries are still very active including one which is still a major defense contractor, though it has shed a number of it's own internal businesses. It has engendered much controversy due to its influence in elections in the United States and abroad, particularly in the early 1970s. On September 28th, 1973, ITT headquarters in New York City was bombed in protest of ITT's involvement with the September 11 Coup in Chile which saw the overthrow of the democratically elected government headed by Salvador Allende by a military junta led by General Augusto Pinochet.
See also:
- Harold Geneen
- American Broadcasting Company (Proposed merger with ITT)
- Starwood Hotels and Resorts (Merger of ITT and Starwood)
