Philips

In Development | Series

A series about the turbulent and spectacular history of Holland’s first multinational.

1891. In the aftermath of the second industrial revolution, brothers Anton and Gerard are faced with fierce competition to get their electric incandescent light bulbs factory Philips & Co to flourish. But Anton dreams big and his visions of bringing the world into the light lead to an Elon Musk kind of behaviour. Consequently, manipulation, secret deals, night-time smuggle journeys, fraud, seduction, blackmail, corporate espionage are not shunned. 

But thanks to his wife Anna he manages to walk this thin line, and she appears to be the real key to the business’ success. In times where social responsibility was never heard of, she comes up with a radical new idea; the ‘Philips village’. Philips was the first company in the world that provided proper housing, education, health care, insurance, and sports facilities for their employees. Instead of exploiting people over profit, they shared. And as a result, Philips grew into world domination. ‘Growing good by doing good.’ A true story.