Zebra Technologies
Zebra Technologies Corporation is an American mobile computing company specializing in technology used to sense, analyze, and act in real time.[2] The company manufactures and sells marking, tracking, and computer printing technologies. Its products include mobile computers and tablets, software, thermal barcode label and receipt printers, RFID smart label printers/encoders/fixed & handheld readers/antennas, autonomous mobile robots (AMR’s) & machine vision (MV), and fixed industrial scanning hardware & software.
![]() | |
Type | Public |
---|---|
Industry | Computer hardware, Manufacturing, Retail, Health care, Transportation and logistics |
Founded | 1969 |
Founder | Ed Kaplan Gerhard Cless |
Headquarters | Lincolnshire, Illinois, U.S. |
Key people | Michael A. Smith (Lead Independent Director) William Burns (CEO) Anders Gustafsson (Executive Chair of the Board) |
Products | RFID printers/encoders, barcode printers, mobile printers, card imaging printers, kiosk printers, real-time locating systems, UWB and related supplies and services, rugged mobile computers and tablets, scanners, software |
Revenue | ![]() |
![]() | |
![]() | |
Total assets | ![]() |
Total equity | ![]() |
Number of employees | 10,500[1] (2022) |
Website | www |
History
Zebra was incorporated in 1969 as Data Specialties Incorporated, a manufacturer of high-speed electromechanical products. The company changed its focus to specialty on-demand labeling and ticketing systems in 1982 and became Zebra Technologies Corporation in 1986. Zebra became a publicly traded company in 1991.
In 1998, Zebra Technologies merged with Eltron International, Inc.[3] In 2000, Comtec Information Systems was acquired by Zebra Technologies,[4] followed in 2003 by the acquisition of Atlantek, Inc., which was a manufacturer of photo ID printers.[5]
In 2004, the company expanded into RFID smart label manufacturing.[6][7] In the following years, Zebra also acquired Swecoin, WhereNet Corp,[8] Proveo AG,[9] and Navis Holdings (later divested in 2011).[10]
The company bought the Enterprise Solutions Group (ESG) in 2008 and renamed the group Zebra Enterprise Solutions in 2009. In the same year, Multispectral Solutions, Inc. was acquired.[11] In 2012, the companies LaserBand,[12] and StepOne Systems were purchased with a cash price of $1.5 million.[13]
In 2013, the company acquired Hart Systems for $94 million in cash from the private equity firm Topspin Partners LBO.[14]
In 2014, Zebra acquired Motorola Solutions' Enterprise Division in a $3.45 billion transaction, providing mobile computing and advanced data capture communications technologies and services. Zebra's acquisition of the Enterprise Division included the Symbol Technologies and Psion product lines.[14][15] Also in 2014, Zebra provided its real-time location system (RTLS) in NFL stadiums to track players and officials and provide location-based data for the NFL's Next Gen Stats program.[16][17] Zebra’s partnership with the NFL extends through the 2025 football season.[18]
In 2018, the company acquired Xplore Technologies, a maker of ruggedized tablets and other hard-wearing hardware.[19]
In 2019, Zebra acquired Temptime Corporation, a provider of temperature monitoring devices to the healthcare industry.[20] That same year, Zebra also acquired Profitect, a retail software company that developed a product line used for tracking and identifying inventory losses.[21][22]
In 2020, Zebra acquired Reflexis Systems, a provider of workforce scheduling and task management software to the retail, food service, hospitality, and banking industries[23] for $575 Million.[24]
In 2021, Zebra acquired Adaptive Vision (provider of graphical MV software), Fetch Robotics (manufacturer of autonomous mobile robots) and Antuit.ai (provider of AI-powered SaaS).[25][26][27]
In 2022, Zebra acquired Matrox Imaging, a developer of machine vision components and systems.[28]
Locations

Zebra Technologies has more than 128 offices in 55 countries,[1] including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.[29][30] The company also has over 10,000+ partners across 180 countries.[1] In the 2021 annual report, Zebra stated that it traded in 180 countries, with approximately 128 facilities and 9,800 employees.[2][1]
References
- "Zebra Technologies Annual Report 2022" (PDF).
- "FORM 10-K" (PDF). UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION. 2020-12-31.
- "Zebra : Zebra Technologies Corp.'s shareholders..."
- "History of Zebra Technologies Corporation – FundingUniverse". www.fundinguniverse.com.
- "Zebra to maker of photo ID card printers".
- "RedPrairie Provides Support for Zebra RP4T Mobile Thermal RFID - Bloomberg". Bloomberg (Press release). 24 September 2015. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
- "Form 10K SEC Filings". 25 September 2016.
- Journal, RFID. "Zebra Active RFID Provider WhereNet - 2007-01-12 - Page 1 - RFID Journal". www.rfidjournal.com.
- Journal, RFID. "Zebra Navis, Proveo - 2007-10-16 - Page 1 - RFID Journal". www.rfidjournal.com.
- "Zebra Technologies sells Navis unit for $190M". Crain's Chicago Business.
- "Zebra Technologies acquires Multispectral Solutions". DQ Channels.
- Barr, Diana (13 July 2012). "LaserBand sold to Zebra Technologies". St. Louis Business Journal.
- "Retail Touch Points". EWEBsite. Retrieved 31 July 2018.
- Osborne, Charlie. "Zebra Technologies Motorola enterprise unit for $3.5bn - ZDNet". ZDNet.
- "Zebra". BIAS Tech.
- Belzer, Jason. "NFL Partners With Zebra Technologies To Provide Next Generation Player Tracking". Forbes.
- "NFL Next Gen Stats".
- "Zebra Technologies extends partnership with NFL through 2025 season". SBJ.
- Lunden, Ingrid (July 5, 2018). "Zebra Technologies is buying rugged tablet maker Xplore for around $90M in cash". Tech Crunch.
- "Zebra Technologies to Temptime Corporation". www.businesswire.com. 2019-01-28. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
- Denman, Tim (May 20, 2019). "Zebra Technologies to Acquire Profitect". RIS.
- Yablonko, Yasmin (May 22, 2019). "Zebra buys Israeli retail analytics co Profitect for $100m". Globes.
- "Zebra Technologies Completes Acquisition of Reflexis Systems, Inc". www.businesswire.com. 2020-09-02. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
- "Zebra Technologies to Acquire Reflexis Systems, Inc". businesswire.com (Press release). 28 July 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-18.
- "Zebra Technologies makes acquisition, launches machine vision and fixed scanning solutions". Modern Materials Handling. 18 May 2021.
- Allinson, Mark (25 October 2021). "Zebra Technologies expands Fetch Robotics portfolio with solution to optimize fulfillment workflows". Robotics & Automation.
- Kanaan, Maha (4 November 2021). "Zebra Technologies' Acquisition of Antuit Group". Global Legal Chronicle.
- "Zebra Technologies Completes Acquisition of Matrox Imaging". Zebra Technologies. Retrieved 2022-06-07.
- "Zebra Technologies Inc". Esri.
- "Zebra Headquarters and Locations". Craft.
External links
- Business data for Zebra Technologies Corporation: