In February 2020, the German multinational firm Thyssenkrupp announced it will sell its elevator division. The choice to sell the company was made in order to lower debt and strengthen the company’s financial condition. In order to maintain its competitiveness, the move also planned to concentrate on its core business operations.
More than a third of Thyssenkrupp’s earnings came from its elevator industry, which was one of its most lucrative endeavors. The business, however, had serious financial issues and had been fighting to survive. The company was considered as having a lifeline when it sold its elevator business, allowing it to pay off its debt, make investments in its core business functions, and streamline operations.
With a sale price of €17.2 billion ($18.9 billion), the sale of Thyssenkrupp’s elevator division represented the greatest transaction in the history of the company. A group of investors, led by Advent International and Cinven, purchased the company. The transaction was finished in July 2020, and the new business was given the name TK Elevator.
Elevators are among the safest modes of transportation, and it is exceedingly unlikely that one will ever fall. Elevators have a number of safety mechanisms installed, such as a brake system, governor, and counterweight, to make sure they stop safely in the event of a malfunction. Accidents can, however, happen as a result of poor maintenance, human mistake, or mechanical failure.
The Shanghai Tower in China is home to the tallest elevator in the world. The elevator takes just 55 seconds to go to the top of the skyscraper and moves at a speed of 20.5 meters per second, reaching a height of 632 meters. After Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the Shanghai Tower is the second-tallest structure in the world.
There were 104 elevators in the Twin Towers, which were destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. There were 99 elevators in each tower, including speed elevators that took just 37 seconds to ascend from the lobby to the top floor. The elevators were regarded as some of the most modern and effective elevators available at the time.
In order to strengthen its financial position and concentrate on its main business operations, Thyssenkrupp sold its elevator division. The transaction was finished in July 2020, and the new business was given the name TK Elevator. Elevators are among the safest modes of transportation, and it is exceedingly unlikely that one will ever fall. The Shanghai Tower in China has the tallest elevator in the world, and the Twin Towers had 104 elevators altogether.
Elisha Otis, an American industrialist and inventor who created the Otis Elevator Company in 1853, went by the moniker of Otis. His most notable invention, which revolutionized the elevator industry and allowed for the construction of tall structures, was a safety system that stopped lifts from plummeting if the hoisting rope snapped.
Blaise-Henri Arnoult, the royal architect of King Louis XV, created the “flying chair”—the first elevator—in 1743. Elisha Otis created and received a patent for the first safety elevator, which was more akin to the elevators we are familiar with today, in 1852.