Litton Industries

Litton Industries, Inc.

Company type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: LIT
Industry	Defense
Founded	1953
Founders	Charles Bates "Tex" Thornton Roy Ash Hugh Jamieson
Defunct	2001
Fate	Acquired by Northrop Grumman
Successor	Northrop Grumman
Headquarters	Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Products	Shipbuilding Aerospace Electronic components Information technology
Website	Archived 15 May 2001 at the Wayback Machine

Litton Industries, Inc., was an American defense contractor that specialized in shipbuilding, aerospace, electronic components, and information technology. The company was founded in 1953 and was named after inventor Charles Litton Sr., who was also an early investor in the company.

During the 1960s, the company began acquiring many unrelated firms and became one of the largest conglomerates in the United States. At its peak, in addition to many defense-related companies, it also owned both Royal Typewriters and Adler, Moffat major appliances, Stouffer's frozen foods, and various office equipment and furniture companies.

Like many conglomerates, the company suffered significant declines in the 1970s, selling off many of its unrelated brands and had largely returned to its defense roots by the 1980s. The company continued to shrink after the ending of the Cold War and by the late 1990s was a corporate takeover target. The company was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2001.