Interesting Lee.

Out of college I went to work for ITT for a few years starting in Jan 1982. At the time I think they were something like the 11th largest company in the world. Was make up of many many companies. I know they included telecom, Continental Bakery (hostes twinkies), Scotts Turfbuilder, part ownership in Sharaton Hotels, an insurance company (I believe Hartford), and the list goes on. That was the Geneen way he built a conglomerate. I believe it was his successor Rand Airaskog (spelling is wrong) that started to sell pieces off to consentrate on a few sectors.

There was a book on ITT that came out in the late 80's and it talked about the possibility they were helping to influence a coup of a small country. I forget which one. I think it was in South America.

Did a quick google, and cut the snippet from a wikipedia article and pasted below.

ITT CorporationIn 1970, U.S. conglomerate ITT owned of 70% of Chitelco, the Chilean Telephone Company, and funded El Mercurio, a Chilean right-wing newspaper. Declassified documents released by the CIA in 2000 suggest that ITT financially helped opponents of Salvador Allende's government prepare a military coup.[16][17] On September 28, 1973, ITT's headquarters in New York City, New York, was bombed by protesters for alleged involvement in the September 11th overthrow of the democratically elected and emerging socialist government in Chile.[18]

In 1972 newspaper columnist Jack Anderson disclosed a memo of ITT's Washington lobbyist, Dita Beard, which revealed a relationship between ITT's providing funds for the Republican National Convention and a Justice Department settlement of an antitrust suit favorable to ITT.[19]