Company type | Private |
---|---|
Founded | 1915 |
Founder | Jacuzzi family |
Headquarters | , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Products | Bath and spa products |
Owner | Investindustrial |
Website |
www |
Jacuzzi is an American private company that manufactures and markets hot tubs, pools, and other bath products. [1] It is best known for the Jacuzzi hydrotherapy products. [2] [1] The company is headquartered in Irvine, California. It is the largest hot tub manufacturer in Europe [1] with eight factories, the largest being in Italy. [3]
The company was founded in 1915 by seven brothers from the Jacuzzi family in Berkeley, California. [4] It developed a variety of products including pumps for agricultural use. In 1948, Jacuzzi created water pumps to treat a family member's rheumatoid arthritis. [5] The water pumps were a niche medical product until they were integrated into a recreational hot tub in 1968. As the popularity of hot tubs grew, Jacuzzi created more models that were more advanced. Jacuzzi was family-run until 1979, after which it then changed hands several times, before being bought by its current owner Investindustrial in 2019.
The Associated Press Stylebook lists Jacuzzi as a trademark brand for products like hot tubs, whirlpool spas, and whirlpool baths [6] and it may not be legal to use the name in a commercial context without permission.
Jacuzzi was founded by seven brothers in the Jacuzzi family: Giocondo, Frank, Rachele, Candido, Joseph, Gelindo and Valeriano, who were from Casarsa della Delizia in northern Italy. [7] Their original last name was Iacuzzi, but when the first two brothers immigrated from Italy to the US in 1907, immigration staff misspelt their name as "Jacuzzi". [8] All seven brothers had immigrated by 1910. [8] More family members immigrated to the U.S. when the brothers won a contract to provide propellors to the U.S. for World War I planes. [9]
Jacuzzi began as a machining company. [10] The brothers worked on a citrus farm owned by an early aviation inventor. [8] They offered to help develop aviation products, creating an early wood propeller that was curved instead of flat [8] and was used in World War I. [11] One of the first propellers they made is now either in storage at or on loan from the Smithsonian Institution. [8] They also developed one of the first fully-enclosed cabins for airplanes, called the Jacuzzi J-7, which was used to transport mail. [8]
In 1921, a mail plane crashed, killing all of the passengers on board, including Giocondo Jacuzzi. [8] The brothers subsequently abandoned the aviation industry and experimented with several other products, the first successful one being a water pump created by Rachele Jacuzzi in 1926. [12] The product line expanded into a variety of pumps. [13]
In 1948, Candido Jacuzzi developed an improved full body hydrotherapy pump, the J-300, to treat his son's (Ken Jacuzzi) rheumatoid arthritis between hospital visits, after noting his positive response the smaller Hubbard tank at the Herrick hospital in Berkeley. [14] He patented the pump in 1952 [10] and began marketing it between 1955 and 1956 as a therapeutic aid. [14] The pump was a portable device that could turn any regular bathtub into a spa. [15]
From 1968, a whirlpool bath was produced, which included jets that mixed air and water. This product (called the Roman Bath) was developed by Roy Jacuzzi, a 3rd-generation member of the family. [16] This is considered the first whirlpool tub designed for relaxation, rather than for medical use. [17] Jacuzzi used celebrity Jayne Mansfield and others to market the tubs, which initially gained popularity among Hollywood movie stars. [14] In the 1970s, Jacuzzi products were featured on Queen for a Day and other TV shows and grew in popularity in California. [9] The company started developing larger models that could fit more than one person. They also added filters and heaters, so the tub didn't need to be drained with each use. [18] From 1970, family-sized spas were producted. [19]
By 1989, Jacuzzi had 2,200 employees. [13] Initially, Jacuzzi primarily sold through contractors and builders, but in 1993 it started selling through retailers. [20] In the 1990s Jacuzzi entered markets outside the US, especially in Italy and Spain. By the end of the 1990s, half of its sales were outside the US. [18]
Jacuzzi was influential in the trend towards larger and more luxurious bathrooms. [12]
By 1979, [9] there were 257 Jacuzzi family members involved in the Jacuzzi brand and there was a growing number of disputes among them. [20] Then the business was acquired by Kidde for $70 million. [9] Most of the Jacuzzi family members left the company, except Roy Jacuzzi, who stayed on as the head of the hot tub and bath division. [21] In 1987, Kidde was acquired by Hanson PLC. [22] In 1995 Hanson spun off Jacuzzi and other brands into a public company called U.S. Industries. [18] USI renamed itself Jacuzzi Brands in 2003. [23] This was in turn bought out by Apollo Management, [2] and then by Investindustrial in 2019. [24]
Acquisitions since the 1990s have included Haugh Products [20] (above-ground pools), Sundance Spas, [20] Gatsby Spas, [20] Zurn Industries (toilets, sinks), Hydropool (hot tubs), Liners Direct (bath products), BathWraps (shower and bathtub renovation). [25] In the 1990s, Jacuzzi had taken on too much debt and sold more than $600 million worth of businesses. [18] The business segment producing industrial, irrigation, well water, submersible, and centrifugal systems was sold to Franklin Electric in 2004. The plumbing division, Zurn Industries, was sold in 2007 for $950 million. [26] Current brands include ThermoSpas, Sundance Spas, and Dimension One.