Unilever
From Graces Guide
Unilever is a multi-national corporation, formed of Anglo-Dutch parentage, that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products.
Unilever employs nearly 180,000 people and had a worldwide revenue of almost €40 billion, or just over US$50 billion, in 2005.
Unilever has two parent companies: Unilever NV in Rotterdam, and Unilever PLC in London. Both Unilever companies have the same directors and effectively operate as a single business.
- 1930 Unilever was created by the merger of British soap maker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie, a logical merger as palm oil was a major raw material for both margarine and soaps and could be imported more efficiently in larger quantities.
- 1930s The business of Unilever grew and new ventures were launched in Latin America.
- 1972 Unilever purchased A and W Restaurants, A and W (Canada)'s Canadian division but sold its shares through a management buyout to former A and W Food Services of Canada CEO Jeffrey Mooney in July 1995.
- By 1980, soap and edible fats contributed just 40% of profits, compared with an original 90%.
- In 1984 the company bought the brands Brooke Bond (maker of PG Tips tea), Fabergé and Elizabeth Arden, but the latter was later sold (in 2000) to FFI Fragrances.
- 1987 Unilever acquired Chesebrough-Ponds, the maker of Ragú, Ponds, and Vaseline, which strengthened its position in the world skin care market.
- 1997 Sold four businesses to ICI: National Starch, Quest, Unichema, and Crosfield
- In 2000, the company absorbed the American business Best Foods, strengthening its presence in North America and extending its portfolio of foods brands. In a single day in April 2000, it bought, ironically, both Ben and Jerry's, known for its calorie-rich ice creams, and Slim Fast.
- Today the company is fully multinational with operating companies and factories on every continent and research laboratories at Colworth and Port Sunlight in England; Vlaardingen in the Netherlands; Trumbull, Connecticut, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey in the United States; Bangalore in India (see also Hindustan Unilever Limited); Pakistan; and Shanghai in China. Its European IT infrastructure headquarters is based in Unity House, Ewloe in Flintshire, Wales.
- 1990s The US division continued to carry the Lever Brothers name until the 1990s, when it adopted the parent company's moniker. The American unit is now headquartered in New Jersey, and no longer maintains a presence at Lever House, the iconic skyscraper on Park Avenue in New York City.
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