Short answers, pulled from the story.
Hisense traces its origins to the Qingdao Number 2 Radio Factory, established in September 1969. The company, formally known as Hisense Group Co., Ltd., is headquartered in Qingdao, Shandong province, China.
Hisense has been the largest TV manufacturer in China by market share since 2004. It was the world's second-largest television manufacturer by units shipped in 2022 and the fourth-largest by market share in the first half of 2023.
Hisense sells products under multiple brand names including Hisense, Toshiba, Gorenje, Sharp, Kelon, Hitachi, Asko, Ronshen, and Fridgemaster. Gorenje was acquired with 95.4% of shares in 2018, rising to full ownership in 2019; Toshiba Visual Solutions was acquired for $114 million in November 2017.
VIDAA is a Linux-based smart TV operating system developed by VIDAA USA, Inc., a Hisense subsidiary, introduced in 2014. As of 2023, it ran on over 30 million connected devices and was the second most installed smart TV OS worldwide in 2024, behind Samsung's Tizen.
Hisense was the main sponsor of UEFA Euro 2016 and has been an official FIFA World Cup sponsor since the 2018 tournament in Russia. It was also announced as the first official partner for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup on the 30th of October 2024, and held F1 partnerships with Lotus in 2014 and Infiniti Red Bull Racing from 2015 to 2017.
In June 2017, Sharp, under new owner Foxconn, sued Hisense seeking to end a brand license agreement granted in 2015. Sharp alleged that Hisense damaged its brand equity by selling products Sharp described as shoddily manufactured, including alleged violations of U.S. electromagnetic radiation safety standards. Sharp dropped the lawsuit in February 2018.