Burlington Northern Inc.

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Burlington Northern Incorporated

logo
legal form Incorporation
founding May 14, 1981
resolution December 22, 1995
Reason for dissolution Merger with Santa Fe Pacific Corporation
Seat Seattle (1981–1988)
Fort Worth (1988–1995)
Branch Transportation, energy

Burlington Northern Inc. (BNI) was an American holding company. From May 1981 she was the management company of the Burlington Northern Group. The most important subsidiary was the railway company Burlington Northern Railroad . In 1995 it merged with the Santa Fe Pacific Corporation to form the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation .

history

In 1970, the merger of the Great Northern Railway , the Northern Pacific Railway , the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railroad resulted in the railway company operating as Burlington Northern Inc. (BN). After the merger with the St. Louis - San Francisco Railway in 1980, the group was reorganized and the railway company was renamed Burlington Northern Railroad on May 14, 1981, while the newly established holding company (Burlington Northern Holding Co.) was renamed Burlington Northern Inc. received. At the same time, some of the company divisions, previously managed as departments, have become independent companies.

Rising wage costs and prolonged strikes in the railway sector indicated the risk that the economic situation of the entire company could be strongly influenced by the largest subsidiary, the railway company. The plan of President Richard M. Bressler was therefore to build up a branch in the energy and raw materials business that was comparable to the railway company. On December 13, 1983, the pipeline company El Paso Company and 1985 the oil and gas company Southland Royalty Company were taken over.

The airline Burlington Northern Air Freight was sold to the Pittston Company in 1982 . Burlington Northern Motor Carrier Inc. (formerly BN Transport Inc.) was sold in 1988.

It became apparent that the raw materials and energy company was rated higher than the company as a whole. In order to improve shareholder value , it was therefore decided to outsource this part of the company. In addition, the risks of the individual business areas are now limited to the respective companies. In May 1988, the previous subsidiaries Meridian Oil, El Paso Natural Gas, Plum Creek Timber, Meridian Minerals and the Glacier Park Company were transferred to the newly created Burlington Resources Inc. This company went public for the first time on July 7, 1988, and at the end of the year this area was completely spun off.

The mergers in the rail sector since the beginning of the 1980s, especially the takeover of the direct competitor Union Pacific Railroad in the early 1990s, meant that Burlington Northern was also looking for a merger partner. A suitable company was found in the Santa Fe Pacific Corporation. After approval by the Interstate Commerce Commission , the merger between Santa Fe Pacific Corporation and Burlington Northern Inc. to form Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation was completed on September 22, 1995.

Company headquarters

Continental Plaza, 777 Main Street Ft. Worth, corporate headquarters from 1988 to 1995

Seattle was chosen as the company's headquarters when the company was founded. Burlington Northern moved into office space in the newly built high-rise 1111 Third Avenue from 1983 in the Wells Fargo Center 999 Third Avenue . After the spin-off from Burlington Resources in 1988, it remained in Seattle, while Burlington Northern Inc. moved its headquarters to Fort Worth (Texas) to the headquarters of the railway company in Continental Plaza ( 777 Main Street ). At the same time, the company began planning and building a new company headquarters in the north of Fort Worth, which, among other things, was to take over the entire operational monitoring of rail operations. The completion and commissioning of this complex in the north of Fort Worth took place after the merger with the Santa Fe Pacific Corporation and is now the headquarters of the BNSF.

Subsidiaries

When Burlington Northern Inc. was founded in 1981, the following independent subsidiaries were created:

At the time of the merger to form Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation in 1995, the company had the following subsidiaries:

Corporate management

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The New York Times September 5, 1988: BUSINESS PEOPLE; Burlington Motor Chief Calls Its Spinoff a Gain
  2. ^ The New York Times June 3, 1988: Burlington Northern's Spinoff Plan
  3. ^ The New York Times October 21, 1988: BUSINESS PEOPLE; Burlington Northern Names 2 Executives
  4. ^ The New York Times July 1, 1994: 2.7 Billion Merger for Big Railroads
  5. ↑ Annual Report Burlington Northern Inc. 1981
  6. ↑ Annual Report Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. 1995