Cinram

Cinram International Income Fund is a Toronto, Canada-based manufacturer of pre-recorded Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, CD-Audio, CD-ROMs, VHS tapes and audio cassettes. The company was established in 1969 in Montréal by Isidore Philosophe and Samuel Sokoloff. The company started manufacturing prerecorded eight-track tapes and cassettes in 1969 in the basement of a commercial building in Montreal. More than three decades later, in 2003, the company completed a US$1.1 billion purchase of the music- and movie-manufacturing assets of New York media giant Time Warner. Also that year, it bought the United States manufacturing operations of EMI and, later, Universal Media & Logistics France from Universal Music Group. Cinram opened its first CD plant in 1987, when records and cassettes were still dominant. In the 1990s, the company started investing in manufacturing operations in Europe, and in 1997, when video-store racks were still filled with VHS tapes, Cinram began producing DVDs for movie studios. The company is currently valued at over $1.6 billion.