Valspar
Encyclopedia
The Valspar Corporation is an international manufacturer of paint
Paint
Paint is any liquid, liquefiable, or mastic composition which after application to a substrate in a thin layer is converted to an opaque solid film. One may also consider the digital mimicry thereof...

 and coating
Coating
Coating is a covering that is applied to the surface of an object, usually referred to as the substrate. In many cases coatings are applied to improve surface properties of the substrate, such as appearance, adhesion, wetability, corrosion resistance, wear resistance, and scratch resistance...

s based in Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. It is the fifth largest paint and coating corporation in the world. The 200+ year old Valspar was founded in 1806 as a paint dealership in Boston, Massachusetts. The Valspar name emerged in 1903 as a new clear varnish
Varnish
Varnish is a transparent, hard, protective finish or film primarily used in wood finishing but also for other materials. Varnish is traditionally a combination of a drying oil, a resin, and a thinner or solvent. Varnish finishes are usually glossy but may be designed to produce satin or semi-gloss...

, and became the company name in 1932.

19th century beginnings

In 1806, Samuel Tuck established a paint dealership in Boston, Massachusetts, called "Paint and Color." Over the course of 50 years, the dealership changed owners and names several times, and was eventually acquired by Augustine Stimson. In 1832, Lawson Valentine had incorporated Valentine and Company as a varnish manufacturer in Boston. The two businesses eventually merged
Mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...

 under the name Stimson & Valentine.

Later in 1855, Otis Merriam joined as a principal owner, and in 1860 Henry Valentine, Lawson Valentine's brother, joined the company. By 1866, both Stimson and Merriam were retired from the group and the company was renamed back to Valentine & Company and Lawson Valentine hired Charles Homer as a chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...

 for the company. Homer, being one of few chemists in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 at the time, was the first such specialist recruited into the American varnish industry.

In 1870, Valentine & Company relocated to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and acquired the Minnesota Linseed Oil Paint Company. Around this time, the company began to develop varnishes for use on vehicle
Vehicle
A vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....

s which could compete with English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

-made varnishes. Henry Valentine succeeded his brother as president in 1882, taking over a company with operations in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and on the West Coast of the United States
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...

. Later their operations expanded to Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.

The Valspar name

Valspar was the first ever clear varnish, and was developed by L. Valentine Pulsifer, Lawson Valentine's grandson. Pulsifer had joined the company in 1903 after earning a degree in chemistry from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

. After three years of experimentation, he created the clear varnish, which went into production by 1905. The Valspar varnish was the company's main product for the next thirty-some years. The advertising tagline
Tagline
A tagline is a variant of a branding slogan typically used in marketing materials and advertising. The idea behind the concept is to create a memorable phrase that will sum up the tone and premise of a brand or product , or to reinforce the audience's memory of a product...

, "the varnish that won't turn white" made Valspar a household name. Famous uses of Valspar by Robert Peary
Robert Peary
Robert Edwin Peary, Sr. was an American explorer who claimed to have been the first person, on April 6, 1909, to reach the geographic North Pole...

 in his 1909 expedition, the United States military in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...

's 1927 flight helped boost its fame.

In 1932, the Valspar Corporation was formed, with Valentine & Company retained as a subsidiary. In 1960, Valspar merged with Ralph Baudhuin's Rockcote which gave them more manufacturing in the Midwestern United States
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....

 and a new headquarters in Ardmore, Pennsylvania
Ardmore, Pennsylvania
Ardmore is a census-designated place in Delaware and Montgomery counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The population was 12,455 at the 2010 census...

. Under the leadership of Ralph and F. J. Baudhuin, Valspar averaged almost two acquisitions per year through the 1960s. In June 1970, Valspar merged with Minnesota Paints and relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

, and its former president, C. Angus Wurtele, became chairman of Valspar in 1973. The influx of cash from this latest acquisition boosted Valspar's acquisition power and by the end of the decade, their annual revenue
Revenue
In business, revenue is income that a company receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. In many countries, such as the United Kingdom, revenue is referred to as turnover....

 had increased by $74 million.

Era of acquisitions

Prior to the 1980s, Valspar's primary focus had been on consumer business, but in 1984 they acquired Mobil
Mobil
Mobil, previously known as the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, was a major American oil company which merged with Exxon in 1999 to form ExxonMobil. Today Mobil continues as a major brand name within the combined company, as well as still being a gas station sometimes paired with their own store or On...

's coatings business for $100 million. This effectively doubled Valspar's business; their revenue was almost equal to Mobil's coatings division. Furthermore, as the division represented less than 0.5% of Mobil's total business at the time, they were willing to sell it off for a low price. Valspar completed integration of Mobil's operations by 1986.

Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Valspar continued to acquire paint and coatings companies and continued growing. Enterprise Paint Companies in 1987, the McCloskey Corporation in 1989, and Hi-Tek Polymers and portions of Cook Paint and Varnish Company
Cook Paint and Varnish Company
Cook Paint and Varnish Company was a paint and varnish manufacturer in the Kansas City metropolitan area from 1913 until 1991.-History:The paint factory was established in 1913 at 21st and Broadway in Kansas City by Charles R. Cook...

 in 1991. In 1993, Valspar announced that it would acquire Cargill
Cargill
Cargill, Incorporated is a privately held, multinational corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Founded in 1865, it is now the largest privately held corporation in the United States in terms of revenue. If it were a public company, it would rank, as of 2011, number 13 on the Fortune 500,...

's resin products division, but the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...

 tried to block it as Valspar would have too large a share of the resin market in the Midwestern United States. Valspar went ahead with the deal anyway, but divided the business among two companies McWhorter Technologies and Engineered Polymer Solutions.

Richard Rompala
Richard Rompala
Richard M. Rompala is an American executive currently on the board of directors of the Olin Corporation. He was chairman of Valspar from February 1998 until his retirement in July 2005. He had previously served as both CEO and president of Valspar...

, formerly of PPG Industries
PPG Industries
PPG Industries is a global supplier of paints, coatings, optical products, specialty materials, chemicals, glass and fiber glass. With headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, PPG operates in more than 60 countries around the globe. Sales in 2010 were $13.4 billion...

, became president in 1994, CEO in 1995 and chairman in 1998. He pushed the then-primarily North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n company into China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 and acquiring some companies. In 2000, Valspar acquired Lilly Industries, which required them to divest their mirror coatings business in order to avoid United States antitrust law. However, due to the cooling economy and restructuring
Restructuring
Restructuring is the corporate management term for the act of reorganizing the legal, ownership, operational, or other structures of a company for the purpose of making it more profitable, or better organized for its present needs...

 charges from fourteen plant closings in 2001, Valspar's twenty six consecutive years of earnings growth was halted.

Brands

The Valspar Corporation sells its products under a number of separate brand names, many of which have been acquired through a series of buyouts in the past 20 years.
  • Valspar
  • Plasti-Kote
  • House of Kolor
  • Cabot Stain
  • Barn and Fence
  • De Beer
  • LIC

Notable employees

  • Joseph Campbell
    Joseph Campbell (accountant)
    Joseph Campbell was the fourth Comptroller General of the United States, in office from December 14, 1954 - July 31, 1965. He was born in New York City. His first marriage was to Marjorie Louise Goetze on September 1, 1925. The couple had five boys: Frederick, , , Alan, and...

    , fourth Comptroller General of the United States
    Comptroller General of the United States
    The Comptroller General of the United States is the director of the Government Accountability Office , a legislative branch agency established by Congress in 1921 to ensure the fiscal and managerial accountability of the federal government...


External links

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