American publicly owned company with part ownership with General Electric and AT&T, formed from the US government's takeover of the American wing of the British owned Marconi company in the First World War. It had become a major corporation by the 1960s but declined in the 1970s. From the 1970s, it was known as the RCA Corporation. It was broken up in two parts in 1986 with assets going to Thomson SA and Sony BMG Music Entertainment. The RCA trademark is still in use (2021), owned by Technicolor SA (formerly known as Thomson SA).