The
Rank Organisation was a
British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist
J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most
vertically integrated film company in Britain, owning production, distribution and exhibition facilities. It also diversified into the manufacture of radios, TVs and photocopiers (as one of the owners of
Rank Xerox). The company name lasted until February 1996 when the name and some of the remaining assets were absorbed into the newly structured
the Rank Group Plc and in recent years asset stripping and streamlining of the business has left it a shadow of its former self, with all their remaining operating interests now in
gambling.