Brunswick Corporation

Brunswick Corporation, formerly known as the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, is an American corporation that has been developing, manufacturing and marketing a wide variety of products since 1845. Brunswick has more than 13,000 employees in 24 countries. Brunswick owns a number of brands, including Mercury Marine. In 2024, Brunswick reported sales of US$5.2 billion. Brunswick's global headquarters is in the northern Chicago suburb of Mettawa, Illinois.

History

19th century

Brunswick was founded by J. M. Brunswick who came to the US from Switzerland at the age of 15. The J. M. Brunswick Manufacturing Company opened for business on September 15, 1845, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Originally J. M. Brunswick intended his company to be mainly in the business of making carriages, but soon after opening his machine shop, he became fascinated with billiards and decided that making billiard tables would be more lucrative, as the better tables then in use in the US were imported from England. Brunswick billiard tables were a commercial success, and the business expanded and opened the first of what would become many branch offices in Chicago in 1848. It was later renamed J. M. Brunswick & Brother by 1860, after a family member came on board, and the company's slogan at this time was: "The oldest and most extensive billiard table manufacturers in the United States".[3]

20th century

1900–1949

In the early 20th century, Brunswick expanded the product line to include such diverse products as toilet seats, automobile tires, and phonographs.[5] In the late 1910s, they introduced a quickly popular line of disc phonograph records, under the name Brunswick Records. In 1930, Brunswick sold the control of the record company to Warner Brothers and came out with a line of refrigerators.

During World War II, Brunswick-Balke-Collender made small target-drone aircraft for the US military. After the war, Brunswick introduced a line of school furniture. In 1949, the Brunswick "Model A" Mechanical Pinsetter fully automated unit premiered, for the purpose of handling bowling pins for ten-pin bowling, in competition with American Machine and Foundry (AMF). Previously, Brunswick had made two models of semi-automated, manually operated "spotting tables" for the tenpin sport, that the "Model A" unit replaced.

A historical marker at 623 S. Wabash Ave. in Chicago was dedicated by the Illinois State Historical Society in 1995 at the site of Brunswick's headquarters from 1913 to 1964.[6] The building today is used by Columbia College Chicago.

1950–1999

The 1950s also saw the introduction of a line of golfing equipment to compete with AMF in the leisure-products and sporting-goods markets.

The Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company officially changed its name to the Brunswick Corporation on April 10, 1960. The following year the company reported sales of $422 million. Brunswick acquired Mercury Marine in 1961. In the 1970s, Brunswick introduced the automatic scorer, which electronically tallied the score instead of the bowler doing it by hand.

With the company experiencing substantial revenue growth in the 1950s, it began considering relocating its corporate headquarters.[7] In the 1960s, it moved its corporate headquarters from the South Wabash Avenue location that it had occupied for six decades to a new modernist-style skyscraper engineered by Fazlur Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and developed by Arthur Rubloff's firm. The new Brunswick Building was built in the Chicago Loop, next to the new Chicago Civic Center (today known as Richard J. Daley Center).[7] The 1960s-built Brunswick Building was later bought by the government of Cook County, Illinois in 1996,[8]

21st century

2000s

As of the early 21st century, the Brunswick Corporation still manufactured sporting and fitness equipment (Life Fitness, Hammer Strength, Parabody) in addition to boats (Sea Ray, Bayliner, Maxum, etc.) and marine engines under the Mercury Marine brand name.

In 2001, Brunswick acquired Hatteras Yachts from Genmar Industries for approximately $80 million in cash.[16] Brunswick sold its Hatteras/Cabo brand in 2013 to Versa Capital Management.[17]

In 2004, Brunswick acquired Lowe Boats. The same year, the company also purchased Northstar Technologies, a leading marine electronics provider based in Acton, Massachusetts, from Canadian Marconi Corporation (now CMC Electronics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Esterline Technologies Corporation). Brunswick then merged Navman, based in Auckland, New Zealand, with Northstar to make Northstar/Navman a supplier to the Brunswick Boat Groups. Brunswick also acquired Mx-Marine. When George Buckley, CEO at the time, left to join 3M in 2006, new leadership decided to sell Northstar, Navman and Mx-Marine to Navico. Brunswick has established regional headquarters in Verviers, Belgium; Monterrey, Mexico; Dandenong, Australia; and Dubai, UAE, to better serve its customers by designing, engineering, manufacturing and distributing products based on local needs, using local talent.[18]

2010s

On July 17, 2014, Brunswick announced plans to leave the bowling business by the end of 2014. The company disclosed that it had agreed to sell its bowling center business, which brought in $187 million in revenue in the prior year, to competitor Bowlmor AMF (now known as Bowlero Corporation) for $270 million. It also disclosed that it had retained Lazard to find a buyer for its bowling equipment and products business. The company said it was making these changes to focus on its “core” Marine and Fitness businesses, which provided 92% of company net revenues in 2013. It would retain its heritage billiards business and report billiards financial results as part of the Fitness segment.[19] The sale of the bowling center business to Bowlmor AMF (Bowlero) was completed in September 2014.[20]

Brunswick completed its exit from the bowling business in May 2015 with the sale of its bowling equipment and products division to BlueArc Capital Management, a private investment firm. BlueArc completed the acquisition with investments from Gladstone Investment Corporation, and Capitala Finance Corp. BlueArc continues to produce bowling balls under the Brunswick and DV8 brand names,[21] and on November 15, 2019, it acquired Ebonite International

2020s

On October 4, 2021, Brunswick Corporation announced that it has completed its acquisition of Navico, a manufacturer of marine electronics and sensors for $1.05 billion, adding back to Brunswick the industry sector it had earlier divested.

type	Public
traded as	nyse: BC S&P 400 component
industry	Recreational Marine
founded	Cincinnati, Ohio September 15, 1845
founder	J. M. Brunswick
location	Mettawa, Illinois, US‡R1R‡
area served	Worldwide
key people	David Foulkes (CEO)
revenue	US$5.24 billion (2024)
operating income	US$312 million (2024)
net income	US$130 million (2024)
assets	US$5.68 billion (2024)
equity	US$1.89 billion (2024)
num employees	15,000 (2024)
website	brunswick.com
footnotes	‡R2R‡

Brunswick Corporation

History

19th century

20th century

1900–1949

1950–1999

1900–1949

1950–1999

21st century

2000s

2010s

2020s

2000s

2010s

2020s

See also

External links

References