A group of leading international businessmen – representatives from all the major light bulb manufacturers, including Germany’s Osram, the Netherlands’ Philips, France’s Compagnie des Lampes, and the United States’ General Electric, gathered in a secret meeting and founded the Phoebus cartel, a supervisory body that would carve up the worldwide incandescent light bulb market, with each national and regional zone assigned its own manufacturers and production quotas. It was the first cartel in history to enjoy a truly global reach. The cartel’s grip on the lightbulb market lasted only into the 1930s. Its …
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