Aiwa was originally a Japanese company founded in 1951, and was once a globally well-regarded brand known for making quality audio products, such as speakers, boomboxes and stereo systems. It was the market leader in several product categories. Aiwa created the first cassette tape recorder in 1964. The company was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange from October 1961 until September 2002. The company went into the red in the late 1990s, and was fully bought by Sony in 2002. Aiwa was then rebranded as a new youth-focused division of Sony, but it was unsuccessful and the brand was discontinued by 2006.
