 | |
| NASDAQ:WMTT [1] | |
| Founded | 1906 |
| Defunct | June 14, 2002 [2] |
| Fate | Hostile buyout by Weyerhaeuser |
| Successor | Weyerhaeuser |
| Headquarters | Portland, Oregon |
Willamette Industries, Inc. was a Fortune 500 forest products company based in Portland, Oregon, United States. [3] In 2002, the lumber and paper company was purchased by competitor Weyerhaeuser of Federal Way, Washington in a hostile buyout and merged into Weyerhaeuser's existing operations.
Willamette Industries was founded in Dallas, Oregon, in 1906 as the Willamette Valley Lumber Company. [4] Louis Gerlinger, Sr. was president of the new company and H.L. Pittock, vice president. George T. Gerlinger served as secretary and manager while F.W. Leadbetter was treasurer. George Cone served as director and mill superintendent. [5]
In 1967, this company and several others merged to become Willamette Industries. [6] The next year the company went public. [6] The company continued to grow through acquisitions, including purchasing Bohemia, Inc. in 1991, which at the time was one of the largest lumber companies in Oregon. [7] By 1999 it had grown to 14,000 employees with $4 billion in annual revenues and more than 100 facilities across the United States. [4]
Willamette had three operating divisions. [8] A brown paper division produced bag paper, paper bags, cardboard, and liner board. [8] The white paper segment made hardwood market pulp, business forms, and uncoated free sheets. [8] The building materials unit manufactured lumber, plywood, fiberboard, particleboard, and laminated veneer lumber products. [8] Customers were located in the US, Asia, and Europe. [8]
In July 2000, the company was fined a then record $11.2 million by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for violations of the Clean Air Act. [9] As part of a settlement with the EPA and the Department of Justice, Willamette also was required to spend an additional $74 million on pollution abatement at 13 factories. [9] In May 2001, the company donated habitat to The Nature Conservancy in the form of permanent conservation easements. [3] The total amount of land 1,740 acres (7.0 km2) with a value of $1.5 million. [3]
Beginning in 1998 Washington-based competitor Weyerhaeuser contacted Willamette Industries about combining the companies. [10] At that time Willamette management did not entertain any of these proposals. On November 13, 2000, Weyerhaeuser began an unsolicited bid to purchase Willamette through a tender offer, for $5.3 billion in cash, plus the assumption of $1.7 billion in debt, or $48.00 a share, a 38% premium to Willamette's Friday, November 11, closing stock price. The shares in Willamette went up 32.7% on Monday, November 13. [11] [12]
Willamette fought this hostile take-over bid. [13] [14] On November 29 Weyerhaeuser upped the price to $48 a share, or $5.4 billion. [15] Willamette rejected this offer also. [16] On December 22, 2000, Weyerhaeuser announced that it had launched a proxy fight to oust four directors of Willamette Industries, in order to get the board to vote in its favor. [17] The offer was extended on January 5, 2001 to February 1, [18] and on February 1, 2001, Weyerhaeuser learned that a majority of the shareholders favored the merger, with 51% of shares outstanding tendered. [19] Weyerhaeuser secured three of the four board seats in the proxy fight in June 2001. [20] In October 2001, Willamette said that it was worth more: "value is in the $60-a-share range, but that they would consider an offer in the high-$50 range." [21] Willamette sought out merger talks with another forest products company, Georgia-Pacific (GP), the largest in the world to avoid the Weyerhaeuser takeover. [22] Willamette even talked with GP about Willamette buying the GP building materials businesses and greatly increasing Willamette's debt level. [23] The combination with GP that was larger than all of Willamette's operations would have created a company with annual sales of around $12.5 billion. [24] On December 13, 2001, Weyerhaeuser increased its offer to $55.00 per share, or $6.5 billion, in cash. [23]
Finally, in January 2002, Willamette Industries agreed to be bought by Weyerhaeuser for $55.50 per share, for a total cash equity value of approximately $6.08 billion. [25] The deal also included Weyerhaeuser's assumption of approximately $1.53 billion of Willamette debt, making the total value of the deal approximately $7.61 billion. [25] The deal closed in March of that year, ending a four-year process. [26]
At the time of the takeover by Weyerhaeuser, Willamette was the seventh largest forest products company in world [27] with over 90 facilities across the United States. [28] There were foreign operations in Mexico, Ireland, and France, [27] with the corporate headquarters in Portland, Oregon, in the Wells Fargo Center. [11] Willamette Industries owned 1.7 million acres (6,900 km²) of forest land, [3] and Duane C. McDougall served as the last chief executive officer of the company. [29] As of June 15, 2001 the company had $4.6 billion in annual revenues and a market value of $5.35 billion. [30]
Lake Oswego is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon, primarily in Clackamas County, with small portions extending into neighboring Multnomah and Washington counties. Population in 2020 was 40,731, a 11.2% increase since 2010, making it the 11th most populous city in Oregon. Located about 7 miles (11 km) south of Portland and surrounding the 405-acre (164 ha) Oswego Lake, the town was founded in 1847 and incorporated as Oswego in 1910. The city was the hub of Oregon's brief iron industry in the late 19th century, and is today a suburb of Portland.
Dallas is a city and the county seat of Polk County, Oregon, United States. The population was 16,854 at the 2020 census.
Wilsonville is a city primarily in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A portion of the northern section of the city is in Washington County. It was founded as Boones Landing because of the Boones Ferry which crossed the Willamette River at the location; the community became Wilsonville in 1880. The city was incorporated in 1969 with a population of approximately 1,000. The population was 13,991 at the 2000 census, and grew to 19,509 as of 2010. Slightly more than 90% of residents at the 2000 census were white, with Hispanics comprising the largest minority group.
Washington Mutual, Inc. was an American savings bank holding company based in Seattle. It was the parent company of WaMu Bank, which was the largest savings and loan association in the United States until its collapse in 2008.
The Weyerhaeuser Company is an American timberland company which owns nearly 12,400,000 acres of timberlands in the U.S., and manages an additional 14,000,000 acres of timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. The company has manufactured wood products for over a century. It operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT). Weyerhaeuser is notable for litigating the 2018 Supreme Court case Weyerhaeuser Company v. United States Fish and Wildlife Service, in which Weyerhaeuser advocated for destroying one of the few remaining habitats which could sustain the critically endangered Mississippi gopher frog, so that the Company could profitably develop the land.
Neil Edward Goldschmidt is an American businessman and Democratic politician from the state of Oregon who held local, state and federal offices over three decades. After serving as the United States Secretary of Transportation under President Jimmy Carter and governor of Oregon, Goldschmidt was at one time considered the most powerful and influential figure in Oregon's politics. His career and legacy were severely damaged by revelations he raped a young teenage girl in 1973, during his first term as mayor of Portland.
Portland General Electric (PGE) is a Fortune 1000 public utility based in Portland, Oregon. It distributes electricity to customers in parts of Multnomah, Clackamas, Marion, Yamhill, Washington, and Polk counties – 44% of the inhabitants of Oregon. Founded in 1888 as the Willamette Falls Electric Company, the company has been an independent company for most of its existence, though was briefly owned by the Houston-based Enron Corporation from 1997 until 2006 when Enron divested itself of PGE during its bankruptcy.
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LP) is an American building materials manufacturer. The company was founded in 1973 and LP pioneered the U.S. production of oriented strand board (OSB) panels. Currently based in Nashville, Tennessee, LP is the world's largest producer of OSB and manufactures engineered wood building products. LP products are sold to builders and homeowners through building materials distributors and dealers and retail home centers.
Wells Fargo Center is a 40-story, 166.4 m (546 ft) tower and a five-story adjacent office building with three levels of parking below the surface in Portland, Oregon. The tower became the tallest building in the state of Oregon when it was completed in 1972.
The Portland and Western Railroad is a 516-mile (830 km) Class II railroad serving the U.S. state of Oregon, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of shortline and regional railroad holding company Genesee & Wyoming Inc. The PNWR includes a subsidiary, the Willamette and Pacific Railroad.
Precision Castparts Corp. is an American industrial goods and metal fabrication company that manufactures investment castings, forged components, and airfoil castings for use in the aerospace, industrial gas turbine, and defense industries. In 2009 it ranked 362nd on the Fortune 500 list, and 11th in the aerospace and defense industry. In 2015 it ranked 322nd overall and 9th in the aerospace and defense industry. In 2014 it ranked 133rd on the S&P 500 based on market capitalization. In January 2016, the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. Before that event, it used to be one of the three Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Oregon.
Louis Gerlinger Sr. was a businessperson in the railroad and timber industries in the U.S. state of Oregon in the early 20th century.
George T. Gerlinger was influential in the railroad and lumber products business in the U.S. state of Oregon in the early 20th century. The oldest son of Louis Gerlinger, Sr., in 1902 he organized a group of investors in Dallas, Oregon to build railroad lines in the area.
Bruce Starr is an American politician and businessman in Oregon. A Republican, he served two terms in the Oregon House of Representatives before winning election to the Oregon State Senate in 2002. There he joined his father Senator Charles Starr and they became the first father-son team to serve at the same time in Oregon's Senate. Bruce had previously been a member of the Hillsboro City Council, and was re-elected to the Senate in 2006 and 2010, but lost a bid in 2012 to be the Oregon Labor Commissioner.
Willamette Valley Medical Center is a for-profit Level III acute care hospital in McMinnville, Oregon, United States, adjacent to the McMinnville Airport on Oregon Route 18. Opened at a different location as McMinnville Community Hospital, the four-story medical center has 60 licensed hospital beds. It is owned by Lifepoint.
The economy of the U.S. state of Oregon is made up of a number of sectors. During the 1990s and 2000s, Oregon has attempted to transition its economy from one based on natural resources to one based on a mix of manufacturing, services, and high technology.
Portland City Grill is a restaurant located on the 30th floor of the U.S. Bancorp Tower in Portland, Oregon. Known for its happy hour and views of the city and surrounding landscape, Portland City Grill is often listed as a recommended restaurant to eat at in Portland. Portland City Grill is owned by Restaurants Unlimited Inc, based in Seattle.
Hoffman Construction Company is a privately held construction founded in 1922. It is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. It also has an office location in Seattle. With a revenue of US$3.9 billion in FY2022, Hoffman was the largest general contractor in the Pacific Northwest as of June 2023.
Swan Island is located on the Willamette River about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) downriver from downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Although presently connected to the Willamette's east bank by land fill, it existed as a river island under natural conditions.
La Carreta Mexican Restaurant was a Mexican restaurant in Portland, Oregon. The menu offered traditional cuisine including burritos, chile rellenos, chimichangas, enchiladas, fajitas, flautas, quesadilla, taquitos, and tostadas. Established in 1990, La Carreta had a banquet hall upstairs and hosted a variety of events. The restaurant's colorful interior featured hanging plants, murals, flags, tiled tables, and stucco walls. The restaurant received a generally positive reception, especially for its margaritas and other drink options.
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