Gulf and Western Industries, Inc., (stylized as Gulf+Western) was an American multi-industry conglomerate. Gulf and Western's origins date to a manufacturer named the Michigan Bumper Company founded in 1934, although Charles Bluhdorn treated his 1958 takeover (of what was then Michigan Plating and Stamping) as its "founding" for the purpose of later anniversaries. Originally, the company focused on manufacturing and resource extraction. Beginning in 1966, and continuing throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the company purchased a number of entertainment companies, most notably Paramount Pictures in 1966, Desilu Productions in 1967, and a number of record companies including Dot Records (a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures at the time of purchase) and Stax Records. These became the nucleuses of P