MeadWestvaco

MeadWestvaco Corporation was an American packaging company based in Richmond, Virginia. It had approximately 23,000 employees. In February 2006, it moved its corporate headquarters to Richmond. In March 2008, the company announced a change to start using "MWV" as its brand, but the legal name of the company remained MeadWestvaco.[3]

MeadWestvaco announced in January 2015 that it would form a combined $16 billion company with RockTenn to take on market leaders in the packaging industry in the U.S.[4] The combined company was named WestRock.

Overview

MeadWestvaco was a producer of packaging, specialty papers, consumer and office products and specialty chemicals. The company had 153 operating and office locations in 30 countries, and served customers in over 100 countries. The company’s paperboard, package and paper brands included Carrier Kote, Custom Kote, Printkote, Tango, Digipak, Amaray, Dosepak and Vision. MeadWestvaco held leading positions in the markets it served. MeadWestvaco managed over 3 million acres (12,000 km2) of forestlands that met environmental standards and was certified to Sustainable Forestry Initiative standards.

History

MeadWestvaco was formed in January 2002 as the result of a merger between The Mead Corporation of Dayton, Ohio, and Westvaco.[7][8]

1800s

The Mead Corporation was founded as Ells, Claflin & Co in 1846.[9][10] In 1856, the name was changed to Weston & Mead.[10] In 1861, it became Mead & Weston.[10] In 1881, the company's name changed again, this time to The Mead Paper Company.[10] In 1890, the Ingham Mill in Chillicothe was purchased by the Mead Paper Company, making it a two mill operation.[11] In June 1906, the mill in Dayton closed and milling operations shifted to the Ingham Mill.[12]

In 1888, Westvaco's predecessor company was founded as Piedmont Pulp & Paper Co.[9][13]

1900-1950

In March 1920, the Mead Fibre Company was created to take over operations of the Kingsport Pulp Corporation in Kingsport, Tennessee.[14][15] In 1921, the Mead Sales Company was formed to sell the Mead Paper Company's projects.[16] In 1928, the Mead Paperboard Corporation was formed to operate mills in Virginia, South Carolina and Tennessee.[16] In 1930, the Mead Corporation was formed to unite the several Mead companies under one umbrella.[16][17]

During the 1930s and '40s, the company acquired several mills and companies, including the Dill and Collins mill in Philadelphia, the Brunswick Pulp and Paper Company in Brunswick, Georgia and the Escanaba Paper Company.[16]

1951-2000

In 1955, Mead acquired the Chillicothe Paper Company and the Jackson Box Company.[19][20] In 1957, Mead acquired Cleveland Paper, a merchant paper distributor.[19]

In 1966, Mead acquired Westab, a school supply company whose product line included the Big Chief tablet, Spiral Notebook brand and Hytone Notebooks.[21][22]

In 1968, Mead entered the information technology sector by acquiring Data Corporation for $6 million and renaming it Mead Data Central.[23] Mead was originally interested in an inkjet printing

2000 to present

In 2005, the Papers business unit—including both Mead and Westvaco paper mills—was sold to the investment firm Cerberus Capital Management for about $2.3 billion. The new company was called NewPage Corporation.

In 2008, MeadWestvaco sold its Charleston, SC kraft paper mill to Kapstone Paper and Packaging.[30] Also in 2008, MeadWestvaco began using the "MWV" brand.[31]

In February 2011, MeadWestvaco sold its Envelope Products Business, including the Columbian Brand Envelope, to Cenveo Corporation's Quality Park Envelope Products Group.

In 2012, ACCO Brands acquired Mead.

In January 2015, MeadWestvaco and Rock-Tenn Co agreed to a merger.[32]

type	Public
fate	Merged with RockTenn
predecessor	The Mead Corporation Westvaco
successor	WestRock
foundation	January 2002
defunct	July 1, 2015
location	Richmond, Virginia
key people	John A. Luke, Jr., Chairman & CEO James A. Buzzard, President E. Mark Rajkowski, CFO & Senior Vice President
revenue	US$6,060,000,000 (2011)‡R1R‡
operating income	US$422,000,000 (2011)‡R1R‡
net income	US$246,000,000 (2011)‡R1R‡
num employees	23,000 (2014) ‡R2R‡
homepage	www.mwv.com

Overview

Financial information

History

1800s

1900-1950

1951-2000

2000 to present

Environmental record

MeadWestvaco Foundation

See also

External links

References