Arianespace was founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial satellite launch company. Its shareholders include the French space agency CNES, Astrium and all European space companies, representing 10 European countries. As of January 1, 2014, the company had 330 employees, at corporate headquarters in Evry, at the Guiana Space Center (CSG) - launch site for Ariane 5, Soyuz and Vega - and at local offices in Washington D.C., Singapore and Tokyo. Since its creation, Arianespace has signed contracts with 85 customers worldwide carrying out 217 Ariane launches, 33 Soyuz launches (seven at CSG and 26 at Baikonur via its subsidiary, Starsem) and the three first launches of Vega. More than half of the commercial satellites in service today were launched by Arianespace. more... See more text