Weyerhaeuser

This article is about the company. For the village by this name, see Weyerhaeuser, Wisconsin.

Weyerhaeuser Company

Company type	Public (NYSE: WY) S&P 500 Component
Industry	Pulp and Paper
Founded	1900, Longview, Washington, USA
Headquarters	Federal Way, Washington, USA
Key people	Daniel S. Fulton (CEO)
Revenue	US$16.9 billion (2008)
Operating income	3,080,000,000 United States dollar (2022)
Net income	US$ 0.79 billion (2008)
Number of employees	14,900 (2009, worldwide)
Website	www.weyerhaeuser.com

Weyerhaeuser is one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world. It is the world's largest private sector owner of softwood timberland; and the second largest owner of United States timberland, behind Plum Creek Timber. Weyerhaeuser has approximately 20,000 employees in 13 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, Mexico, Ireland, France, and Uruguay.

History

In January 1900, Frederick Weyerhaeuser founded Weyerhaeuser Timber Company with 15 partners and 900,000 acres (3,600 km²) of Washington timberland purchased from James J. Hill of the Great Northern Railway. In 1929, the company built what was then the world's largest sawmill in Longview, Washington. Weyerhaeuser's pulp mill in Longview, which began production in 1931, sustained the company financially during the Great Depression. In 1959, the company eliminated the word "Timber" from its name to better reflect its operations. In 1965, Weyerhaeuser built its first bleached kraft pulp mill in Canada. Weyerhaeuser implemented its High Yield Forestry Plan in 1967 which drew upon 30 years of forestry research and field experience. It called for the planting of seedlings within one year of a harvest, soil fertilization, thinning, rehabilitation of brushlands, and, eventually, genetic improvement of trees.

Weyerhaeuser consolidated its core businesses in the late 1990s and ended its services in mortgage banking, personal care products, financial services, and information systems consulting. Weyerhaeuser also expanded into South America, Australia, and Asia. In 1999, Weyerhaeuser purchased MacMillan Bloedel Limited, a large Canadian forestry company. Then in 2002 after a protracted hostile buyout, the company acquired Willamette Industries, Inc. of Portland, Oregon. On August 23, 2006, Weyerhaeuser announced a deal which spun off its fine paper business to be combined with Domtar, a $3.3 billion cash and stock deal leaving Weyerhaeuser stock holders with 55 percent ownership of the new Domtar company.

In March 2008, Weyerhaeuser Company announced the sale of its Containerboard Packaging and Recycling business to International Paper for $6 billion in cash, subject to post closing adjustments. The transaction included nine containerboard mills, 72 packaging locations, 10 specialty-packaging plants, four kraft bag and sack locations and 19 recycling facilities. The transaction affected approximately 14,300 employees.

In late 2008 Weyerhaeuser created a wholly owned subsidiary, Weyerhaeuser NR, to contain its non-timber business activities including, among others, the Cellulose Fibers and iLevel businesses, and hold ownership of the company's vast timber lands. Weyerhaeuser NR's corporate articles on file with the Washington State Secretary of state authorize the issue of 200 shares of general stock by Weyerhaeuser NR, but it is unknown at this time whether such shares have issued or who holds them. Weyerhaeuser NR's board of directors and officers are all also officers or directors of the parent company. Separating these businesses was necessary to facilitate the company's transition into a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), which it announced on December 15, 2009.

Weyerhaeuser underperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 in total shareholder return both in 2008 and over the previous five years. According to Peter Robison and Christopher Donville of Bloomberg News, as reported in the Seattle Times (April 17, 2009), "Weyerhaeuser is in a financial crisis so deep the largest U.S. lumber producer turns down the heat in its offices to save money..." On September 28, 2009, Moody's reported Weyerhauser's proposed new notes rated at Ba1, a rating that puts them with junk bonds. S&P rated Weyerhaeuser's credit at BBB- and downgraded Weyerhaeuser stock from stable to negative on December 16, 2009.

Operations

Financial Information
	2006	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001
Net Sales (US$M)	21,896	22,629	21,931	19,873	18,521	14,545
Net Earnings (Loss) (US$M)	395	733	1283	277	241	354

Weyerhaeuser imports timber products from Malaysia, Chile, and Brazil, and has timber operations or offices in 44 American states, Canada, and 18 other countries. Weyerhaeuser is one of North America's largest distributors of wood products; it owns more than seven million acres (28,000 km²) of land in the U.S., and holds logging rights to more than 35 million acres (142,000 km²) of land in Canada. Weyerhaeuser has expanded beyond its roots in lumber and wood products; it controls more than 100 subsidiaries in fields such as construction, real estate sales, and development.

The company's operations are divided into four major business segments:

• Timberlands — Growing and harvesting trees in renewable cycles.
• Wood Products — Manufacturing and distribution of building materials for homes and other structures.
• Pulp and Paper — Produces a variety of papers and the pulp used to produce papers, absorbent products, photographic film, and several others.
• Real Estate — Builds homes and develops land. Weyerhaeuser has six subsidiaries collectively called Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Company or WRECO, the largest of which is Pardee Homes.

North Carolina TOSA Program

Weyerhaeuser also offers teachers the opportunity to experience life outside their classrooms during their summer breaks. The North Carolina TOSA Program, Teachers on Summer Assignment, offers a variety of internships to teachers, featuring such activities as forestry research, assisting in the pine nurseries, and reptile/amphibian tracking (to name a few). This six-week paid program provides teachers with insight on the business and its principles of sustainable pine farming and encourages the teachers to develop curricula for use in their classrooms that are not only aligned with the standard courses of study, but also include favorable views on Weyerhaeuser's tree farm management practices.

Corporate governance

The Weyerhaeuser board of directors consists of: Debra A. Cafaro, Mark Emmert, Daniel S. Fulton, John W. Kieckhefer, Arnold Langbo, Don Mazankowski, Nicole Piasecki, Steven Rogel, Richard Sinkfield, D. Michael Steuert, James Sullivan, Kim Williams, and Charles Williamson.

Environmental record

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified Weyerhaeuser as the 63rd-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with roughly 17.5 million pounds of toxic air released annually into the air. Major pollutants indicated by the study include formaldehyde, sulfuric acid, acetaldehyde, manganese compounds, and chlorine dioxide. The Environmental Protection Agency has named it a potentially responsible party for at least 18 Superfund toxic waste sites.

External links

• Weyerhaeuser (official website)
• Weyerhaeuser 2008 SEC Form 10K (annual report)
• Historical Annual Reports for Weyerhaeuser