Service Corporation International

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Service Corporation International
legal form Corporation
ISIN US8175651046
founding 1962
Seat Houston , Texas , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
management Thomas L. Ryan ( CEO )
Number of employees 23,428
sales 3.1 billion US dollars
Branch Funeral services
Website www.sci-corp.com
As of December 31, 2017

Company headquarters in Houston

Service Corporation International (short: SCI) is a Texas funeral home based in Houston . SCI describes itself as the largest provider of funeral and cemetery services in North America and was founded in 1962 by undertaker Robert L. Waltrip. The company's shares are traded on the NYSE . Among other things, SCI operates the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery .

history

Company founder Waltrip, whose family owned their own funeral home , realized in the early 1960s that he could use great synergies if he brought together several independent undertakers and concentrated bookkeeping, transport and embalming in one place. After initial successes, he applied this business model to the entire United States and Canada and thus incorporated around 1,400 funeral directors and cemeteries into his network by 1992 . In the following year, SCI expanded beyond the borders of North America to Australia, the United Kingdom, France and other countries in Europe and South America. At the end of 1999 there were over 4,500 undertakers, cemeteries and crematoriums in 20 countries in the group of companies. Due to increasing cost pressure due to increasing competition, the company management decided in 2000 to close most of the branches outside North America and some domestic subsidiaries, as these did not achieve the required profitability. Large takeovers from competitors such as the purchase of the Alderwoods Group in 2006 or the acquisition of Stewart Enterprises in 2013 made SCI grow again. After the acquisition of Stewart Enterprises, SCI had facilities in 45 US states and the District of Columbia , as well as in eight Canadian provinces and Puerto Rico.

criticism

Service Corporation International was the focus of public reporting on several occasions in connection with contentious business conduct. Among other things, it was criticized that the prices for the services offered are sometimes significantly higher than the independent undertakers. Unauthorized embalming, improper burials and overcrowding in cemeteries have also been criticized in the recent past and have sometimes led to legal disputes.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ SCI: Board of Directors , accessed February 15, 2019
  2. ↑ SCI: SEC-Filing Form 10-K , accessed on February 15, 2019
  3. ↑ SCI: Our Business History , accessed February 15, 2019
  4. ↑ Bloomberg: Is Funeral Home Chain SCI's Growth Coming at the Expense of Mourners? (Payment barrier), accessed on February 15, 2019
  5. ↑ The Austin Chronicle: Final Disposition , accessed February 15, 2019
  6. ^ Washington Post: Funeral Home Firm Service Corporation International Faces Lawsuits, Complaints , accessed February 15, 2019