Carl Zeiss AG

"Protar" redirects here. For scale model kit brand, see Tarquinio Provini.
"ZEISS" redirects here. For the optician, see Carl Zeiss.
For the football club founded by Carl Zeiss employees, see FC Carl Zeiss Jena.

Carl Zeiss AG
Company typeAktiengesellschaft
IndustryImaging
FoundedJena, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, German Confederation
1846; 178 years ago (1846)
FounderCarl Zeiss
HeadquartersOberkochen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Key people
Karl Lamprecht,[1] CEO and President
ProductsSemiconductor lithography equipment, light, electron and ion microscopes, coordinate-measuring machines, medical devices, eyeglasses, binoculars, spotting scopes, telescopes, planetarium projectors, and other optical equipment.
RevenueIncrease€10,108 million[2] (2022/23)
Increase EBIT €1,686 million[2] (2022/23)
OwnerCarl-Zeiss-Stiftung
Number of employees
Increase 42,992 (30 September 2023)[2]

Carl Zeiss AG (/zaɪs/ ZYSE, German: [kaʁl ˈtsaɪs]),[3][4] branded as ZEISS, is a German manufacturer of optical systems and optoelectronics, founded in Jena, Germany in 1846 by optician Carl Zeiss. Together with Ernst Abbe (joined 1866) and Otto Schott (joined 1884) he laid the foundation for today's multinational company. The current company emerged from a reunification of Carl Zeiss companies in East and West Germany with a consolidation phase in the 1990s.[5] ZEISS is active in four business segments with approximately equal revenue (Industrial Quality and Research, Medical Technology, Consumer Markets and Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology) in almost 50 countries, has 30 production sites and around 25 development sites worldwide.[6]

Carl Zeiss AG is the holding of all subsidiaries within Zeiss Group, of which Carl Zeiss Meditec AG is the only one that is traded at the stock market. Carl Zeiss AG is owned by the foundation Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung. The Zeiss Group has its headquarters in southern Germany, in the small town of Oberkochen, with its second largest, and founding site, being Jena in eastern Germany. Also controlled by the Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung is the glass manufacturer Schott AG, located in Mainz and Jena. Carl Zeiss is one of the oldest existing optics manufacturers in the world.[7]

  1. ^ Executive Board of Carl Zeiss AG
  2. ^ a b c "Key Figures". zeiss.com. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  3. ^ Krech, Eva-Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz Christian (2009). Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch [German Pronunciation Dictionary] (in German). Berlin: de Gruyter. p. 1066. ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6.
  4. ^ Wells, John C. (2008), Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.), Longman, ISBN 9781405881180
  5. ^ "The Carl Zeiss Story – 20 Years of Reunification at Carl Zeiss". zeiss.com. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  6. ^ "ZEISS Group – International Segments and Sites". zeiss.com. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  7. ^ "ZEISS Group – Company History Overview and Sources". zeiss.com. Retrieved 3 July 2019.