History

Hughes Electronics was formed when Howard Hughes' Hughes Aircraft Company was sold to General Motors and merged with their Delco Electronics unit in 1985. This group then consisted of:

• Hughes Aircraft
• Delco Electronics
• Hughes Space and Communications
• Hughes Network Systems
• and from August 1992 General Dynamics' Missile Systems business.

In 1994, Hughes Electronics founded DirecTV. In 1997, GM transferred Delco Electronics to its Delphi Automotive Systems business. Late in the year the defense operations of Hughes Electronics (Hughes Aircraft and missile business) were merged with Raytheon. The remaining companies remained under the Hughes Electronics name and within GM.

In 1996, Hughes Electronics and PanAmSat agreed to merge their fixed satellite services into a new publicly held company, also called PanAmSat with Hughes Electronics as majority shareholder. The corporation sold its commercial satellite manufacturing business to Boeing in 2000, now renamed Boeing Satellite Systems.

Sale

The remainder of the company, DirecTV, DirecTV Latin America, PanAmSat and Hughes Network Systems were sold by GM to News Corporation in December 2003. This group was renamed the DirecTV Group within the Fox Entertainment Group. PanAmSat was sold to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. in August 2004. SkyTerra Communications, Inc. completed its purchase of 100% controlling interest in Hughes Network Systems from the DirecTV Group in January 2006.