The United States Rubber Company was the original name of the tire company which later became Uniroyal Inc.. A rubber manufacturer founded by Charles R. Flint in 1892, it became one of the original 12 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Uniroyal was taken private, and then in turn was bought out by the Michelin et Cie tire company of France.

One of Uniroyal's best known products is the Tiger Paw tire introduced in the 1960s and included as original equipment for that decade's musclecars such as the Pontiac GTO, which itself was promoted as The Tiger during its early years. Today, Uniroyal still uses the Tiger Paw brand name in its tire line.

Origins

On May 26, 1896 Charles Dow created the Dow Industrial average of twelve industrial manufacturing stocks, which included among them U.S. Rubber Company.^[1]

In 1916, the Dow-Jones Industrial average expanded to a list of 20 stocks, and continued to include U.S. Rubber Company.^[1]

In 1928, the Dow-Jones Industrial average expanded to 30 stocks for the first time, but by then U.S. Rubber Company was no longer listed among them.^[1]

In 1931, U.S. Rubber Company bought a substantial interest in the Gillette Safety Tire Company, founded by Raymond B. Gillette. The rubber tire manufacturing plant was located in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The purchase by U.S. Rubber was part of an effort to increase its share of the automobile tire market.^[2]

After 1931, the Gillette plant, with its contracts with the General Motors Corporation, became one of the world's largest supplier of original equipment tires. It produced Gillete brand tires, along with Ward, Atlas, and U.S. Rubber's brand, U.S. Royal.^[2]

In 1940, U.S. Rubber Company fully purchased and took over the Gillette company, and then expanded and modernized the Eau Claire factory. It increased production, and for the war effort produced truck and airplane tires.^[2]

In 1942 when the United States government put a freeze on scarce rubber for civilian use, the company sold the Eau Claire plant to the government, which then converted it to make small caliber ammunition, and renamed it the Eau Claire Ordnance plant.^[2]

On December 31, 1943, U.S. Rubber repurchased the plant from the government for over US$1 million, and converted it back to synthetic rubber tire production. The Eau Claire plant was greatly expanded after that, and ultimately closed in 1991.^[2]

Uniroyal

In 1961 the company name was changed to Uniroyal Inc.^[1]

As Uniroyal, the company became defendant in a landmark gender discrimination case, Chrapliwy v. Uniroyal, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The case went on for years, ending up in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit by 1982.

In 1980 Uniroyal Australia, a subsidiary, was purchased by Bridgestone Australia, which took over the Australian plants operated by the Uniroyal Tyre Company. Bridgestone Australia has three major manufacturing plants in Australia. Bridgestone Australia was traded on the Australian stock exchange, as a majority-owned subsidiary of Japan's tire company, Bridgestone Corporation. On May 11, 2007 Bridgestone Australia Ltd. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation of Japan. (TYO: 5108)

Uniroyal Goodrich Tire

In August 1986 Uniroyal Inc. was taken private,^[1] when it merged with the tire segment of the S&P 500-listed tire and rubber fabricator, B.F. Goodrich Company (NYSE: GR), in a joint venture private partnership, to become the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company. B.F. Goodrich Company held a 50% stake in the new tire company.^[3] Goodrich made high-performance replacement tires.^[2]

The new Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company headquarters was set up at the former B. F. Goodrich corporate headquarters, within its 27-building downtown complex in Akron, Ohio which contained Goodrich's original factory. In the fall of 1987 B.F. Goodrich Company shut down several manufacturing operations at the site, and most of the complex remained vacant until February 1988, when B.F. Goodrich announced plans to sell the vacant part of the complex to the Covington Capital Corporation, a group of New York developers.^[4]

In 1987, its first full year of operation, the new Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company generated almost US$2 billion in sales revenue, with profit of about US$35 million.^[3]

However, the merger soon proved to be difficult.^[2] In June 1988 B.F. Goodrich sold its 50% stake for US$225 million. The buyers were a group of investors led by Clayton & Dubilier, Inc. a private New York investment firm.^{[3] [5]} At the same time, B.F. Goodrich also received a warrant to purchase indirectly up to 7% of the equity in Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company.^[6]

Also in June 1988 as part of the sale deal, the new privately-held tire company acquired publicly-held debt of $415 million.^[7] The Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company offered the debt securities in two parts through underwriters led by Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc. The two instruments were a US$250 million issue of 14 ⅛% notes due in 1998, and a US$165 million issue of 14 ½% subordinated debentures due in 2000.^[8]

For the year 1988, Uniroyal Goodrich Tire posted sales revenue of US$2.2 billion, while profit declined to about a third of the prior year, less than US$12 million, which included an extraordinary credit of nearly US$2 million from the purchase of Canadian annuity pension obligations, and also a charge of over US$16 million from the June 1988 recapitalization resulting from the selloff by B.F. Goodrich.^[9]

Also in 1988, Michelin Group, a subsidiary of the French tire company Michelin et Cie (Euronext: ML) proposed to acquire the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company, and began acquiring a stake.^[2]

In 1989 Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company posted sales revenue that was up to almost US$2.3 billion, but profit was down by 90% to just over US$1 million, but included over US$9 million extraordinary credit that year for the ongoing Canadian annuity pension obligation purchase. 1989 year-end net income results were also hurt by increased interest expense of nearly US$31 million on the June 1988 debt recapitalization, and a US$29 million charge for deferred employee compensation related to the proposed purchase of the company by Michelin Group.^[9]

Michelin Group

By May 1990, Michelin Group had completed its buyout of Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company from Clayton & Dubilier of New York. The deal was valued at about US$1.5 billion.^[10] B.F. Goodrich surrended its 7% warrant to Michelin Group, and received US$32.5 million additional revenue from the sale.^[6]

B.F. Goodrich then exited the tire business entirely, and changed its name to Goodrich Corporation, in line with its plan to build its chemicals and aerospace businesses through reinvestment and acquisitions.^[5]

Michelin Group continued to operate the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Company as its tire manufacturing unit in the United States and Canada.

In January 1991 Michelin Group cut all 1,350 jobs at the historical Eau Claire, Wisconsin plant, prior to its closure that year. Later in 1991 it also closed three Uniroyal Goodrich Tire plants in Canada. On August 30, 1991 it closed its tire-cord manufacturing plant in Lindsay, Ontario, with 74 workers, and then its two tire factories with 1,000 jobs in Kitchener, Ontario due to overcapacity.^[11]

In mid 1991, the Uniroyal tiger returned to national television after a 10-year hiatus, featured in a new 30-second spot created by Wyse Advertising of Cleveland, Ohio. The animated Uniroyal tiger had been a television advertising icon for the company up through the 1970s. The new commercial appeared on ESPN and CNN sports-related programming, and also was run by Uniroyal dealers in local markets.^[12]

By 1993 Michelin North America employed 28,000 people at 18 plants, in South Carolina, Alabama, Oklahoma, Indiana, Nova Scotia and Ontario. In mid 1993 Michelin North America cut 2,500 of those jobs, which represented about 9% of its work force in the United States and Canada, because of softening demand for tires.^[13]

Through at least 1994, the Uniroyal Goodrich Tire unit continued to operate with 800 workers at its tire plant in Woodburn, Indiana and also with two plants in Alabama.^[14]

References

External links

• Uniroyal Official Homepage
• UWEC Uniroyal Archive Homepage
• Works by United States Rubber Company at Project Gutenberg