KONE Oyj (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈko̞ne̞ʔ]; officially stylized as KONE and trading as KONE Corporation), founded in 1910 and headquartered in Espoo near Helsinki, Finland, is an international engineering and service company employing some 55,000 personnel across 60 countries worldwide. In addition, KONE builds and services moving walkways (referred to by the company as autowalks),[2][3] automatic doors and gates, escalators and elevators. The company provides local service for builders, developers, building owners, designers and architects in 1,000 offices in over 50 countries.[citation needed]
Since 1924, KONE has been controlled by one of Finland's wealthiest families, the Herlin family. After Harald Herlin purchased the company in 1924, he served as its Chairman until 1941. Afterwards, his son, Heikki H. Herlin, took over his father's post from 1941–1987. Control of the company was then handed down to his son, Pekka Herlin, which he retained from 1987–2003. The current Chairman of KONE's Board of Directors from 2003 onwards is Antti Herlin, the son of Pekka Herlin. As of December 2019, Antti Herlin controls directly or indirectly 62% of the voting rights and 22% of the shares of the company[citation needed] which is listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.
