Johns Manville
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Johns Manville is an American corporation based in Denver, Colorado that manufactures insulation, roofing materials, and engineered products. The stock was included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average from January 29, 1930 to August 27, 1982 when it was replaced by American Express. Berkshire Hathaway bought the company in 2001. Chairman & CEO Jerry Henry retired in 2004; Steve Hochhauser became Chairman, President & CEO. Todd Raba succeeded him in the summer of 2007; Raba came from Mid-American Energy Holdings, another Berkshire Hathaway company.
Manville, New Jersey is named for the company; it had a large plant in the borough.
[edit] History
The company was founded as the H. W. Johns Manufacturing Company in New York City in 1858 as an early asbestos manufacturer of roofing materials.
The Manville Covering Company was founded in Wisconsin in 1885 by C. B. Manville. C. B. Manville's grandson was the much-married socialite Tommy Manville.
H. W. Johns and Manville merged in 1901 to form H. W. Johns-Manville, renamed Johns-Manville in 1926.
Industrialist Lewis H. Brown was president of the Johns-Manville Corporation in the 1930s.
The Canadian branch of the corporation was involved in the extremely violent Asbestos Strike in Canada in 1949.
The company actively marketed its insulation services through a range of materials featuring Rosemary Melcher in 1978.
The corporation also faced major class action lawsuits in the 1980s based on asbestos-related injuries such as asbestosis and peritoneal mesothelioma. When Manville filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1982 amid growing thousands of lawsuits related to asbestos as well as a defective wall system, it was the largest company in United States history to have done so. The filing shocked financial analysts; but a few, such as Gary J. Aguirre, had predicted the filing and had forced Manville to post a bond to guarantee payment to their clients.[1][2]
The bankruptcy was resolved by the formation of the Manville Trust to pay asbestos tort claimants in an orderly fashion by giving the trust the lion's share of the equity in the company. The bankruptcy took over 5 years to process and resulted in protracted litigation. The Manville Trust is still in operation today.[3]
The company emerged from Chapter 11 in 1988 as Manville Corporation.
In 1997 the company changed its name back to Johns Manville, the name under which it does business today.
In 2001, Johns Manville became a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B).
[edit] References
- ^ Was Aguirre Prophetic on Manville Filing?" San Diego Daily Transcript (October 28, 1982)
- ^ "83 San Diegans to Watch in '83". San Diego Magazine (January 1983) p. 105
- ^ Thompson, David; G. Marcus Cole (2007). "The Intersection of Bankruptcy and Mass Torts". In Robert Rammusen. Bankruptcy Stories. Foundation Press. ISBN 1599410184.
[edit] External links
- Johns Manville Website
- About the class action suit in the Asbestos Hazards Handbook (London Hazards Centre)
- Johns Manville 150 year commemoration publication
- Home Insulation site
- Building Materials site
- Energy Tax Credit
- Insulation
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