Thomas John Watson

Watson, Thomas John (1874–1956), U.S. business executive and philanthropist. He took over an ailing computing company (1914), changed its name to International Business Machines Corp. (IBM; 1924), and built it into one of the world's largest corporations. Under his presidency (1914–49) and chairmanship (1949–56), IBM became the leader in electronic data-processing equipment, with sales in 82 countries and assets of more than $600 million at the time of his death.