Gulf and Western Industries Inc. - Specimen Stock Certificate

Specimen Stock Certificate printed by Security-Columbian United States Banknote Corporation.

Gulf and Western Industries, Inc. (stylized as Gulf+Western) was an American conglomerate. The company originally focused on manufacturing and resource extraction, but it began purchasing a number of entertainment companies beginning in 1966 and continuing through the 1970s. Most notable among the acquisitions were film studio Paramount Pictures in 1966, television studio Desilu Productions in 1967, arcade and later video game manufacturer Sega in 1969, book publisher Simon & Schuster in 1975, and a number of music labels including Dot Records (a subsidiary of Paramount at the time of purchase). Some of these properties were reorganized under the Paramount brand, with Dot Records becoming the nuclei of Paramount Records and Desilu becoming Paramount Television. The company pivoted to focus on entertainment and publishing, selling off its other assets through the course of the 1980s. Gulf and Western re-branded itself as Paramount Communications in 1989. A controlling interest of Paramount Communications was purchased by Viacom in 1994, and the entertainment assets of Gulf and Western are today part of the media conglomerate Paramount Global. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_and_Western_Industries