General Tire
The General Tire and Rubber Company is a former US conglomerate . The company was founded in 1915 as a tire manufacturer in Akron , Ohio by William F. O'Neil.
In 1943, General Tire expanded from its core business and bought the Yankee Network and the radio stations it owned from Boston's Shepard Stores. In the following years General Tire expanded its broadcasting business and bought Don Lee Broadcasting System, a successful radio network on the west coast of the United States. KHJ-AM-FM and KFRC-AM-FM were also acquired and, in 1952, WOR-AM-FM-TV in New York. As a result, General Tire merged all of its broadcasting activities into the new General Teleradio division.
General Tire made a final step into the entertainment business in July 1955 with the purchase of RKO Radio Pictures from Howard Hughes for around 25 million US dollars. The subsidiary RKO Teleradio Pictures emerged from the merger of RKO and General Teleradio, which was half-heartedly continued as a film studio by the new owners until the beginning of 1957. The interest lay in RKO's extensive film library, which was used for the programs of its own television stations. The two RKO studio lots in Hollywood and Culver City, on the other hand, were sold to Desilu Productions for a good 6 million dollars in 1957 . Remaining, as yet unpublished films by RKO were given to other companies for cinema distribution; after the last release of an RKO movie in March 1959, the broadcast subsidiary was renamed RKO General .
In the years that followed, RKO General became General Tires' subholding for all non-core businesses, which at times included beverage bottling , hotel companies and a stake in Frontier Airlines . The most important pillar, however, remained the broadcasting business, with radio stations in particular leading the way in North America. However, the entire business area was cast in a bad light in 1965 for the first time that General Tire had booked its independent tire dealerships with the RKO television stations for advertising time. The FCC determined in 1969 that the allegations were true, but nonetheless conditionally extended the broadcasting licenses for terrestrial TV stations in three cases, accompanied by hearings and investigations lasting for years.
Accounting irregularities prompted the SEC to conduct an in-depth business audit in 1976 , which in July 1977 led to a complaint for bribery and running a reptile fund. Due to the misconduct of General Tire, as well as the withholding of incriminating material and falsification of the balance sheet by RKO General, the FCC decided in June 1980 that RKO General as a station owner was unacceptable and that the broadcasting license for the television station WNAC should be revoked. The FCC's view was supported in two appeals, ultimately by the Supreme Court in April 1982.
In 1981, General Tire had annual sales of $ 885 million worldwide and a world market share of 2.9 percent. In October 1982 the company signed a cooperation agreement with the German tire company Continental AG , which provided for the production of 500,000 tires annually in the USA.
In February 1983, the FCC began to push General Tire to give up the broadcast business. Competing applications for a broadcast license were accepted for all broadcasters. General Tire responded to pressure from the regulatory authority with a restructuring. The new parent company was GenCorp in 1984 with General Tire and RKO General as equal subsidiaries, without a joint business relationship.
The new CEO of GenCorp was Bill Reynolds in 1985, who continued the restructuring that had begun and sold the loss-making 45% stake in Frontier Airlines. The television station WOR was advertised for sale in 1986 and - after approval by the FCC - sold to the MCA in November . The money was immediately used to buy back shares to prevent an imminent hostile takeover. In direct connection, the management's decision was made to concentrate on the aerospace division Aerojet in the future and to sell the original core business combined in General Tire. General Tire went to Continental for US $ 660 million in 1987, with which GenCorp also got rid of the risk of an intended, hostile takeover by two investment companies.
The name General Tire is still used as a regional brand for automobile tires in the United States, whereas the former General Tire company operates as Continental Tire North America . Since the closure of plants in Mayfield, CN and (2004) Charlotte, NC (2006) is the work in Mount Vernon, IL , the only remaining Continental tire plant in North America.