History
Wolfson Microelectronics plc was started in 1984 by David Milne and Jim Reid. Within a year, the company had 20 employees and a deal with Fujitsu.[4] Wolfson grew and floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2003 and be listed in the FTSE 250. Both Milne and Reid had connections with the University of Edinburgh; Reid attained a First Class Honours degree in EEE, and Milne directed the Wolfson Microelectronics Institute at King's Buildings from 1973 to 1985.[5] In February, 2007, when Milne chose to step down, he was replaced in his CEO role by Dave Shrigley, previously Vice-President at Intel Corporation. His departure was one of a number of executive changes in late 2006, as Financial Director George Elliott also stood down.
In 2006, Milne was declared Entrepreneur of the Year by the CBI, and Wolfson named Company of the Year.[6] In November 2006 David Shrigley became the CEO of Wolfson, his first appointment at this level: he had previously worked for Intel in the Asia-Pacific region, and held directorships elsewhere.[7]
In 2007, Wolfson acquired Sonaptic Ltd,[8][9] consisting of former Sensaura employees, intending to expand the companys audio market and reach.[10] Sonaptic specialized in 3D positional audio for mobile devices, which lead to the acquisition.[9]
In September 2008, Mike Hickey joined Wolfson as Chief Executive Officer Designate and became Chief Executive Officer on 1 January 2009. Mr Hickey joined Wolfson from Motorola Inc, where he had held various senior positions in Motorola's mobile device business.[11] In July 2009, Andy Brannan joined Wolfson as Chief Commercial Officer. Mr Brannan previously held the position of VP of Nokia's SOSCO business, and prior to that spent eight years as Executive VP of Sales & Customer Operations at Symbian Ltd.[12]
Cirrus Logic acquired the Wolfson for 235p per share in April 2014, valuing the company at £291 million.[13][14]
