Siemens Celebrates 125 Years as a Stock-Listed Company

Yesterday, Siemens celebrated its 125th year on the stock exchange. On March 8, 1899, company shares were traded for the first time on the floor of the Berlin Stock Exchange.

As a result, Siemens is one of the oldest continuously listed companies in Germany’s stock exchange history. One hundred and twenty-five years later, Siemens remains a leading technology company in the fields of industry, infrastructure, transport, and healthcare and is one of the top 100 most valuable companies in the world.

“Our 125th year on the stock exchange underscores our strong ability to innovate, transformation capabilities, and financial strength, which have made Siemens a leading global technology company and a relevant player in the capital market,” said Ralf P. Thomas, CFO of Siemens.

“Thanks to numerous innovations, Siemens has not only written industrial and technological history worldwide over the years but also reinvented itself time and again. We’re optimally positioned strategically, technologically, and economically to continue creating sustainable value in the future, too,” added Thomas.

Siemens was founded in Berlin as a small workshop for pointer telegraphs on October 1, 1847. Just a few decades later, it was already an internationally successful company. Company founder Werner von Siemens had always been opposed to the company transitioning into a stock-listed company. He wanted to keep the company completely in the family’s hands. His younger brother Carl von Siemens, however, was convinced that a stock corporation would be much more powerful than a private business.

To gain access to new financing options during the electrical industry’s dynamic economic development from the 1890s onward, wanting to continue seizing the rapid growth opportunities, especially for major projects, the company opened up to the capital market. In 1897, the company changed its legal form to that of a stock-listed company called Siemens & Halske AG. In March 1899, the company made its stock-market debut.

Another milestone in the stock market history of Siemens, which is the name under which the company has been conducting business since 1966, was its inclusion in the German stock index DAX, which was introduced in 1988. Since then, Siemens has continuously been listed in the DAX, the most important index for Germany as a financial center.