Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products.
Kimberly-Clark brand name products include Kleenex facial tissue, "Kotex" feminine hygiene products, "Cottonelle" toilet paper, Wypall utility wipes, "KimWipes" scientific cleaning wipes, and "Huggies" disposable diapers. Based in Irving, Texas, it has approximately 55,000 employees.
1872 Kimberly, Clark and Co was founded by John A. Kimberly, Havilah Babcock, Charles B. Clark, and Franklyn C. Shattuck in Neenah, Wisconsin with USD$30,000 capitalization.
The group's first business was operating paper mills, which the collective expanded throughout the following decades.
1914 The company developed cellu-cotton, a cotton substitute used by the United States Army as surgical cotton during World War I. Army nurses used cellu-cotton pads as disposable sanitary napkins.
1920 The company introduced Kotex, the first disposable feminine hygiene product.
1924 Kleenex, the first disposable handkerchief, followed.
1926 Kimberly and Clark joined with The New York Times Company to build a newsprint mill in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada.
1928 The company went public as Kimberly-Clark.
1950s The firm expanded internationally, opening plants in Mexico, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
1960s It began operations in 17 more foreign locations.
1984 The company formed Midwest Express Airlines from its corporate flight department.
1985 Kimberly-Clark's headquarters moved from Neenah, Wisconsin to Irving, Texas, the following year.
1991 Kimberly-Clark and The New York Times Company sold its jointly owned paper mill in Kapuskasing, Ontario.
1994 Kimberly-Clark entered a joint venture to produce personal care products in Argentina and also bought the feminine hygiene units of VP-Schickedanz (Germany) and Handan Comfort and Beauty Group (China).
1995 Kimberly-Clark bought Scott Paper for $9.4 billion.
1997 Kimberly-Clark sold its 50% stake in Canada's Scott Paper to forest products company Kruger and bought diaper operations in Spain and Portugal and disposable surgical face masks maker Tecnol Medical Products.
1999 Augmenting its presence in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, the company paid $365 million for the tissue business of Swiss-based Attisholz Holding. Adding to its offerings of medical products, the company bought Ballard Medical Products for $744 million.
2000 Examination glove maker Safeskin was acquired for about $800 million. The company bought virtually all of Taiwan's S-K Corporation; the move made Kimberly-Clark one of the largest manufacturers of consumer packaged goods in Taiwan and set the stage for expanded distribution in the Asia/Pacific region. The company later purchased Taiwan Scott Paper Corporation for about $40 million and merged the two companies, forming Kimberly-Clark Taiwan.
2001 Kimberly-Clark bought Italian diaper maker Linostar, and announced it was closing four Latin American manufacturing plants.
2002 Kimberly-Clark purchased paper-packaging rival Amcor's stake in an Australian joint venture.
2003 Adding to its global consumer tissue business, Kimberly-Clark acquired the Polish tissue-maker Klucze.
2004 Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Falk began implementation of the global business plan the company detailed in July 2003. The firm combined its North American and European groups for personal care and consumer tissue under North Atlantic groups and was working to ensure that Asian, Latin American, and Eastern European markets were supplied, specifically in the areas of value-tiered diapers, light-end incontinence, and health care products.