Mr Kleisterlee would like a more focused Philips, dominated by high-tech products and displaying the same pioneering spirit in the Internet age that made it an early leader in the electrical age a century ago.

ECONOMIST: Philips��s new frontiersman

Royce, born in 1863, was the youngest of five children and started his own company manufacturing electrical and mechanical items at age 21.

BBC: Sir Henry Royce honoured with blue plaque in Derby

He later took up electrical engineering and set up his first company, Lexicon, in 1978 at age 31.

FORBES: Penalty box

They both earned degrees in electrical engineering, with Alain graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1986 at age 19.

FORBES: Magazine Article