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Jostens Inc.
Company typePrivate
Founded1897; 127 years ago (1897)
FounderOtto Josten
Headquarters
Minneapolis, Minnesota
,
United States
Number of locations
10 facilities in North America
Area served
United States
Canada
Mexico
Europe
ProductsClass rings
Graduation regalia
Yearbooks
Graduation announcements
Letter jackets
Championship rings
School photography
OwnerPlatinum Equity
Number of employees
3,500[1]
Websitewww.jostens.com Edit this at Wikidata

Jostens Inc. is an American manufacturer of memorabilia. The company is primarily known for its production of yearbooks,[2][3] academic regalia, and class rings[4] for various high schools and colleges as well as championship rings for sports.[5] For over 50 years, Jostens has been the supplier of the Super Bowl championship rings.[6] Jostens also produced photobook products for Disney's PhotoPass photography service offered at Disney theme parks and resorts.[7]

As well as its headquarters near Minneapolis and operational offices in Owatonna, Minnesota, Jostens has facilities in Clarksville, Tennessee; Denton, Texas; Eagan, Minnesota; Laurens, South Carolina; Sedalia, Missouri; Shelbyville, Tennessee; the Dominican Republic; and Mexico.

History

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Otto Josten founded the company as a watch-repair business in Owatonna in 1897.[8] Jostens (then called "Josten's" — the apostrophe was later dropped) began manufacturing emblems and awards for nearby schools and in 1906, the year of incorporation, Josten added class rings to his product line, to be sold to schools throughout the Midwest.[9] Jostens created the American Yearbook Company in 1950,[10] later merging it under the Jostens brand.

In 2003, Jostens was acquired by private equity firm DLJ Merchant Banking, a subsidiary of aPriori Capital Partners. The following year, in 2004, DLJ and KKR formed Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Visant Corporation.[11][12]

On October 14, 2015, consumer products manufacturer Jarden acquired Jostens from Visant Corporation, stating that it planned to take advantage of synergies with its other properties (particularly Rawlings and Yankee Candle), and "turn it into a true consumer-product business, as opposed to it historically being run like a printing asset".[13][14]

Jarden merged with Newell Rubbermaid in 2016 to form Newell Brands.[15] In 2018, Newell Brands sold Jostens to Platinum Equity for $1.3 billion.[16][17]

Products

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Jostens is the primary supplier of Super Bowl rings, and has made 37 of the 57 championship rings as of 2024.[18][19]

In April 2015, Jostens launched the world's first Adobe InDesign streaming partnership with Adobe Inc., called "Monarch," at the Journalism Education Association spring convention in Denver.[20]

References

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  1. ^ "Community Involvement | Jostens".
  2. ^ Farhad Manjoo (28 May 2013). "Most Likely to Succeed". Slate Magazine. The Slate Group. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  3. ^ Ki Mae Heussner (25 September 2012). "With $3.6M, TreeRing revives the yearbook for the Facebook generation". GigaOM. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  4. ^ Barmash, Isadore (2003). A Not-So-Tender Offer. Beard Books. p. 23. ISBN 1-58798-171-8.
  5. ^ Harmon, Michael (2005). The Savvy Guide to Fantasy Sports. Indy Tech Publishing. pp. 18. ISBN 0-7906-1313-1. Jostens +class rings.
  6. ^ Robinson, Melia. "Here are the extravagant rings given to Super Bowl champions over the years". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-10-16.
  7. ^ Hooper, Michael (January 27, 2007). "Jostens Inc. partners with Disney". Topeka Capitol-Journal..
  8. ^ "Jostens looks into expanding operations in Owatonna". 18 April 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  9. ^ "History of Jostens, Inc. – FundingUniverse". www.fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  10. ^ "History of Jostens, Inc. – FundingUniverse". www.fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  11. ^ http://pdf.secdatabase.com/737/0001047469-07-004643.pdf
  12. ^ https://aprioricapital.com/news/in-the-spotlight/
  13. ^ Picker, Leslie (2015-10-14). "Jarden Reaches Deal to Buy Jostens for $1.5 Billion". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-10-25.
  14. ^ "Jarden to Buy Yearbook Maker Jostens for About $1.5 Billion". Bloomberg. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  15. ^ "Newell Rubbermaid to buy Jarden for $13.22 bln". CNBC. 2015-12-14. Retrieved 2024-09-04.
  16. ^ "Newell Brands Announces Agreements to Sell Pure Fishing to Sycamore Partners and Jostens to Platinum Equity". Retrieved 2018-11-25.
  17. ^ "Platinum Equity Completes $1.3B Purchase of Jostens | Los Angeles Business Journal". labusinessjournal.com. 26 December 2018. Retrieved 2020-04-07.
  18. ^ Mueller, Paul (10 February 2024). "12 things you don't know about the Super Bowl ring". Fast Company. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  19. ^ Belson, Ken (4 February 2018). "In the Super Bowl City, Building the Rings". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  20. ^ "Jostens Launches Monarch™ Cloud Service for Yearbook Creation" (Press release).
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