Viad

Last updated

Viad Corp
FormerlyThe Dial Corp
Company typePublic company
Founded1926 (as Motor Transit Corporation)
1930 (as The Greyhound Corporation)
1990 (as Greyhound Dial Corporation)
1991 (as The Dial Corp)
1996 (as Viad Corp)
Founders Eric Wickman
Orville Caesar
Headquarters,
United States
Area served
United States, Canada, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates
Key people
  • Richard H. Dozer
  • (Chairman)
  • Steve W. Moster
  • (President and CEO)
RevenueDecrease2.svg $415 million (2020)
Decrease2.svg -$374 million (2020)
Total assets Decrease2.svg $853 million (2020)
Total equity Decrease2.svg $95 million (2020)
Website www.viad.com
Footnotes /references
[1]

Viad Corp provides experiential leisure travel and face-to-face events in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United Arab Emirates via two divisions: GES and Pursuit.

Contents

Pursuit (formed in 2017) includes travel attractions and hotels in and around Banff, Denali, Glacier, Jasper, Kenai Fjords, and Waterton Lakes National Parks in Canada and the United States. Properties that Pursuit operates under its Glacier Park Collection include Grouse Mountain Lodge in Whitefish, Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier, St. Mary Lodge and Resort in St. Mary, Stewart Hotel near Lake McDonald Lodge, Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton, Alberta. Pursuit's Alaska Collection includes Denali Backcountry Lodge, Denali Backcountry Adventure, Denali Cabins, Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, Seward Windsong Lodge, Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge, Kenai Fjords Tours. [1] [2]

GES partners with show organizers, exhibitors, and brand marketers to create face-to-face events. The company handles design and production, material handling, rigging, electrical, and other on-site event services. [1]

The company evolved from The Greyhound Corporation, which established Greyhound Lines and later became a diversified conglomerate between the 1960s and the 1990s.

History

Viad Corp was founded in 1926 as Motor Transit Corporation after intercity bus operators Eric Wickman and Orville Caesar joined forces and consolidated several bus operations. By 1930, more than 100 bus lines had been consolidated and recognizing the need for a more memorable name, the company was renamed The Greyhound Corporation. The Greyhound name had its origins in the inaugural run of a bus route from Superior, Wisconsin, to Wausau, Wisconsin. While passing through a small town, Ed Stone, the route's operator, saw the reflection of his bus in a store window. The reflection reminded him of a greyhound and he adopted that name for that segment of the Blue Goose Lines. The Greyhound name became popular, and was applied to the entire bus network as well as the parent company. [3]

Wickman retired as president of Greyhound in 1946 and was succeeded by Caesar. Wickman died at the age of 66 in 1954. [4] Caesar died on May 19, 1965, a day before his 75th birthday.

In 1954, Greyhound established Greyhound Financial Corporation, the captive finance operation of the bus line. During the 1960s, Greyhound began its transformation into a conglomerate by diversifying into other industries: financial services (Travelers Express); food and consumer products (Armour and Company); food service (Prophet Company); restaurants (Horne's); airport services (Aircraft Services International); and ocean cruises (Premier Cruise Line).

Greyhound exited the transportation industry with the sale of Greyhound Lines in 1987. By then, The Dial Corporation (formerly, Armour-Dial, Inc., established in 1967 as a subsidiary of Armour and Company) was its largest subsidiary. Greyhound was renamed Greyhound Dial Corporation in 1990 [5] and as The Dial Corp [6] the following year. After the renaming, the Dial consumer business became known as The Dial Corp Consumer Products Group.

The company exited the financial services industry in 1992 with the sale of GFC Financial Corporation (including Greyhound Financial Corporation, Greyhound European Financial Group and Verex Corporation).

In 1995, GFC Financial Corporation changed its name to The FINOVA Group, Inc. and Greyhound Financial Corporation to FINOVA Capital Corporation. [7]

The FINOVA Group filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and was dissolved in 2009. [8] [9]

In 1996, the company announced the splitting of its businesses into two entities. [10] The Dial consumer products business was spun-off as the new Dial Corporation.

After the split, the company was renamed Viad Corp and consisted of companies involved in airline catering (Dobbs International Service); airplane fueling and ground handling (Aircraft Service International); convention and exhibit services (GES Exposition Services and Exhibitgroup/Giltspur); concession operations (Glacier Park, Inc.); contract food services (Restaura, Inc.); ocean cruises (Premier Cruise Lines); airport and cruise ship duty-free concessions (Greyhound Leisure Services); travel services (Brewster Transport, Jetsave, and Crystal Holidays); and payment services (Travelers Express).

By early 21st century, most of the businesses were sold except for Travelers Express, Glacier Park, GES Exposition Services, and Exhibitgroup/Giltspur.

In 2003, Viad began the process of engineering a reverse tax-free spinoff of Travelers Express. Thus, a new subsidiary was formed, MoneyGram International, Inc., which early in 2004 received the payment services business and its stock was distributed to Viad stockholders. Viad then conducted a one-for-four reverse stock split.

Between 1981 and 2013, Glacier Park Inc. was also the concessionaire for Lake McDonald Lodge, Apgar Village Inn, Rising Sun Auto Camp, Swiftcurrent Inn, Many Glacier Hotel, Two Medicine Store, and the Red Jammers within Glacier National Park. The National Park Service awarded this concession to Xanterra Parks and Resorts starting in 2014. [11]

In 2010, the company established GES (Global Experience Specialists, Inc., formerly GES Exposition Services, Inc.) by merging GES Exposition Services, Inc., Exhibitgroup/Giltspur, and Becker Group. [12]

In 2012, Pursuit acquired the 162-room Banff International Hotel. Pursuit also operates other Banff and Jasper area attractions under the Brewster Travel Canada brand, including Banff's 133-room Mount Royal Hotel, Jasper National Park's 32-room Glacier View Lodge, Banff Lake Cruises and the Banff Gondola. [13]

In 2017, the company established its Pursuit division and acquired FlyOver Canada, a 60-seat flight simulation experience in Canada Place, Vancouver, British Columbia which features various Canadian landmarks. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greyhound Lines</span> North American intercity bus service

Greyhound Lines, Inc. (Greyhound) is a company that operates the largest intercity bus service in North America. Services include Greyhound Mexico, charter bus services, and Amtrak Thruway services. Greyhound operates 1,700 coaches produced mainly by Motor Coach Industries and Prevost serving 230 stations and 1,700 destinations. The company's first route began in Hibbing, Minnesota in 1914 and the company adopted the Greyhound name in 1929. The company is owned by Flix North America, Inc., an affiliate of FlixBus, and is based in Downtown Dallas.

MoneyGram International, Inc. is an American interstate and international peer-to-peer payments and money transfer company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It has an operations center in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, and regional and local offices around the world.

Laidlaw, organized as Laidlaw International, Inc. was the largest provider of intercity bus services, contract public transit and paratransit, and contract school bus service in both the United States and Canada. In February 2007, FirstGroup, a bus and rail transportation operator in the United Kingdom with subsidiaries in North America, acquired Laidlaw International, Inc. FirstGroup completed the acquisition of Laidlaw International on October 1, 2007, and rebranded Laidlaw services under the First umbrella. The deal combined North America's two largest private school bus operators—Education Services and First Student Inc.—giving them a combined 40% of the school bus contractor market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greyhound Canada</span> Canadian intercity bus company

Greyhound Canada Transportation ULC began as a local British Columbia bus line in the early 1920s, expanded across most of Canada, and became a subsidiary of the US Greyhound in 1940.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armour and Company</span> Former American company

Armour & Company was an American company and was one of the five leading firms in the meat packing industry. It was founded in Chicago, in 1867, by the Armour brothers led by Philip Danforth Armour. By 1880, the company had become Chicago's most important business and had helped make Chicago and its Union Stock Yards the center of America's meatpacking industry. During the same period, its facility in Omaha, Nebraska, boomed, making the city's meatpacking industry the largest in the nation by 1959. In connection with its meatpacking operations, the company also ventured into pharmaceuticals and soap manufacturing, introducing Dial soap in 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henkel North American Consumer Goods</span> American company

Henkel Corporation, doing business as Henkel North American Consumer Goods and formerly The Dial Corporation, is an American company based in Stamford, Connecticut. It is a manufacturer of personal care and household cleaning products and is a subsidiary of multinational company Henkel AG & Co. KGaA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake McDonald Lodge</span> United States historic place

The Lake McDonald Lodge is a historic lodge located within Glacier National Park, on the southeast shore of Lake McDonald. The lodge is a 3+12-story structure built in 1913 based on Kirtland Cutter's design. The foundation and first floor walls are built of stone, with a wood-frame superstructure. The lobby is a large, open space that extends to the third story. It has a massive fireplace and a concrete floor scored in a flagstone pattern, with messages in several Indian languages inscribed into it. The rustic lodge was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987 as one of the nation's finest examples of large-scale Swiss chalet architecture. Lake McDonald Lodge is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glacier Park Lodge</span> Hotel in Montana

Glacier Park Lodge is located just outside the boundaries of Glacier National Park in the village of East Glacier Park, Montana, United States. The lodge was built in 1913 by the Glacier Park Company, a subsidiary of the Great Northern Railway. It was the first of a series of hotels built in and near Glacier National Park by the Great Northern to house visitors brought to the park by the railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doyon, Limited</span> Oil services company

Doyon, Limited, is one of thirteen Alaska Native Regional Corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) in settlement of aboriginal land claims. Doyon was incorporated in Alaska on June 26, 1972. Headquartered in Fairbanks, Alaska, Doyon is a for-profit corporation with about 18,000 Alaska Native shareholders primarily of Alaskan Athabaskan descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greyhound Bus Museum</span> Transport museum in Minnesota, United States

The Greyhound Bus Museum is located in Hibbing, Minnesota, United States, where Carl Wickman and Andrew "Bus Andy" Anderson started their first bus service in 1914 transporting fellow miners in a 1914 Hupmobile.

The Great Lakes Greyhound Lines, a highway-coach carrier, was a Greyhound regional operating company, based in Detroit, Michigan, USA, from 1941 until 1957, when it merged with the Northland Greyhound Lines, a neighboring operating company, thereby forming the Central Division of The Greyhound Corporation, called also the Central Greyhound Lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Wickman</span> Swedish entrepreneur

Carl Eric Wickman was the founder of Greyhound Lines.

The Southeastern Greyhound Lines, a highway-coach carrier, was a Greyhound regional operating company, based in Lexington, Kentucky, USA, from 1931 until 1960, when it became merged with the Atlantic Greyhound Lines, a neighboring operating company, thereby forming the Southern Division of The Greyhound Corporation, called also the Southern Greyhound Lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dixie Greyhound Lines</span> American commercial intercity bus service

The Dixie Greyhound Lines, a highway-coach carrier, was a Greyhound regional operating company, based in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, from 1930 until 1954, when it became merged into the Southeastern Greyhound Lines, a neighboring operating company.

The Teche Greyhound Lines, a highway-coach carrier, was a Greyhound regional operating company, based in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, from 1934 until 1954, when it was merged into the Southeastern Greyhound Lines, a neighboring operating company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florida Greyhound Lines</span>

The Florida Greyhound Lines, a highway-coach carrier, was a Greyhound regional operating company, based in Jacksonville, Florida, USA, from 1946 until 1957, when it was merged into the Southeastern Greyhound Lines, a neighboring operating company.

The Atlantic Greyhound Lines, a highway-coach carrier, was a Greyhound regional operating company, based in Charleston, West Virginia, USA, from 1931 until 1960, when it became merged with the Southeastern Greyhound Lines, a neighboring operating company, thus forming the Southern Division of The Greyhound Corporation, which division became called also the Southern Greyhound Lines (GL).

The Capitol Greyhound Lines, a highway-coach carrier, was a Greyhound regional operating company, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, from 1930 until 1954, when it was merged into the Pennsylvania Greyhound Lines, a neighboring operating company.

Central Greyhound Lines is a name used in six different contexts or applications in the intercity highway-coach industry in the USA. In each of the first five instances, the name was used for a regional operating company of The Greyhound Corporation. In the last instance, the name was used for an internal administrative department of the (second) Greyhound Lines, Inc., the (second) GLI, a separate, independent, unrelated firm, after the GLI bought the core bus business of The Greyhound Corporation.

The New England Greyhound Lines, an intercity highway-coach carrier, was a Greyhound regional operating company, based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, from 1937 until 1955, when it became a part of the Eastern Division of The Greyhound Corporation (called also the Eastern Greyhound Lines, the first of four huge new divisions.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Viad Corp 2020 Form 10-K Annual Report". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
  2. "Pursuit announces new leader for Alaska Collection". Alaska Business. Alaska Business.
  3. Sunnucks, Mike (November 2, 2015). "Evolution changes Greyhoud from Dial to Viad". American City Business Journals .
  4. "Carl Wickman, Greyhound Bus Founder, Dead". Chicago Tribune . February 6, 1954 via Newspapers.com.
  5. "A New Name: Greyhound Dial". The New York Times. February 28, 1990. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  6. "Greyhound Dial Is Now Dial Corp". The New York Times. March 6, 1991. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  7. "GFC Financial Corporation adopts new name; GFC Financial changes name to The FINOVA Group Inc". BusinessWire. January 25, 1995. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  8. "FINOVA Group files for bankruptcy protection". The New York Times. March 8, 2001. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  9. "The FINOVA Group, Inc. announces dissolution". Business Wire. November 18, 2009. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  10. "Dial Corp. splits into two companies: Dial Corp. said it..." Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
  11. Cederberg, Jenna (August 14, 2013). "Glacier Park Inc. shocked by loss of contract" . Missoulian. Missoulian.
  12. "Viad Corp changes name of Vegas-based convention business". Las Vegas Sun. February 2, 2010. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
  13. King, Danny. "Viad acquires Banff hotel". Travel Weekly. Travel Weekly. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  14. "Vancouver's FlyOver Canada sold to American Viad Corp". blooloop.
  15. Chan, Kenneth. "FlyOver Canada sold to Phoenix-based travel group ahead of global expansion". Daily Hive Vancouver.
  16. "Viad Corp Schedules Third Quarter 2017 Earnings Call". KTEN.com.
  17. Katz, Daniel (March 8, 2017). "Brewster attractions rebrand under 'Pursuit' name". Brewster attractions rebrand under ‘Pursuit’ name. Bow Valley Crag and Canyon.
  18. "Viad Corp announces new Pursuit brand". Pax News West. March 1, 2017.