National Steel
The National Steel Corporation was a major US steel manufacturer. It was founded in 1929 through a merger of Weirton Steel with some assets of the Great Lakes Steel Corporation and the MA Hanna Company . Despite the difficult market conditions during the Great Depression in 1930, the company generated a profit of 8.4 million US $. Unlike many of its competitors, the company was still profitable in 1931. The steel manufacturer owed its success primarily to its sales in the automotive industry . Large parts of his steel works were located near Detroit in Michigan , which was associated with low transport costs through ship transport, especially to the neighboring auto industry. Not least because of this, National Steel remained profitable every year during the Great Depression.
Post-war years
The post-war years were associated with record profits for National Steel because of the high demand for steel. The company remained profitable through the 1970s, though that decade saw some slumps. The increase in imported steel has often been cited as a cause. The 1979 takeover of United Financial , a savings and loan company, exacerbated the problems.
1980s
Beginning in 1980, the Dow Jones listed company experienced a serious decline in demand and the resulting profits in its core activities. Sales, with a steep increase and a sharp decrease in the following year, described a roller coaster due to increasing imports and low demand. In 1983 the shareholders accepted the establishment of the National Intergroup as a holding company in which many steel units were to be merged. The corporate reorganization was a further step in a process that began in 1982 and created six independent units from the group. The intention was to better manage the diversified group that combined steel, aluminum and financial activities. In the same year, the workers at Weirton Mill bought their National Steel factory to continue operating as an independent worker.
In February 1984, Nippon Kokan KK , a large Japanese steelmaker, acquired a 50% stake in National Steel valued at US $ 292 million from National Intergroup. The Japanese company later increased its stake by 20% of its equity stake. The National Intergroup was keen to get rid of the steel business. The company went through difficult times with mass layoffs that ended in an initial bankruptcy in 1991.
1990s
In 1991 National Steel announced that it would relocate its longstanding headquarters from Pittsburgh to South Bend, Indiana . In 1994 it caused a stir in the industry when it fired nearly all of its vice presidents along with its president and CFO , replacing nearly all of the head of the US Steel Gary Works, including V. John Goodwin, who was named new president of National Steel. US Steel was upset and initiated a lawsuit that resulted in an out-of-court settlement. Still, the drastic change in personnel had little effect when Goodwin left in 1996 as a result of a dispute with Japanese shareholders. In 1998 almost all “emigrants” left the ship.
2000s
The darkest days of National Steel management came in 2000 when a tip-off from an in -house auditor discovered that longtime employee James Squires had received millions of dollars in a kick-back bribe from a scrap supplier. This was particularly painful because Squires had been viewed as a self-made man who had risen from rolling mill worker to vice president and headed the financial administration over the course of a 42-year career . Nonetheless, Squires was charged by federal court in August 2001 with kickbacks and in 2002 sentenced to two years in prison. In a civil lawsuit, he was forced to pay National Steel approximately US $ 3 million in damages. In his closing remarks before his conviction, Squires apologetically admitted that he had taken the unclean payments because the company had promoted the "Harvard MBAs" faster than him.
insolvency
In the years that followed, the company slipped deeper and deeper into problems, hampered by indecisive management. The final bankruptcy was reached in 2002 as the result of a deep depression combined with hesitant management.
The company has not enjoyed an extended profitable period since the late 1970s. When it went bankrupt in March 2002 , it had assets of US $ 2.3 billion and debt of US $ 2.6 billion. Following a bidding competition between AK Steel and US Steel , the remains of National Steel were sold to US Steel in May 2003 for US $ 850 million in exchange for a debt-discharging takeover of US $ 200 million.
See also
Web links
- National Steel website ( Memento of July 24, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ^ "National Steel Net $ 3.91 a share," Wall Street Journal , March 21, 1931
- ↑ "One Steel Maker Earns Dividends", Wall Street Journal , June 30, 1932
- ^ Goodbye, Pittsburgh. National Steel headquarters moving to Indiana
- ^ "Ex-Steel executive gets 2 years in kickbacks case," St. Louis Post Dispatch, Jan. 5, 2002
- ^ "Former National Steel exec to pay $ 3M to settle charge," American Metal Market, June 6, 2001