Procter & Gamble (P&G) is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods.In 2011, P&G recorded $82.6 billion dollars in sales. Fortune magazine ranked P&G at fifth place of the "World's Most Admired Companies" list, which was up from sixth place in 2010.Procter & Gamble is the only Fortune 500 company to issue C Share common stock.
History
William Procter, a candlemaker, and James Gamble, a soapmaker, emmigrated from England and Ireland respectively. They settled in Cincinnati initially and met when they married sisters, Olivia and Elizabeth Norris.Alexander Norris, their father-in-law, called a meeting in which he persuaded his new sons-in-law to become business partners. On October 31, 1837, as a result of the suggestion, Procter & Gamble was born.In 1858–1859, sales reached $1 million. By this point, approximately 80 employees worked for Procter & Gamble. During the American Civil War, the company won contracts to supply the Union Army with soap and candles. In addition to the increased profits experienced during the war, the military contracts introduced soldiers from all over the country to Procter & Gamble's products.In the 1880s, Procter & Gamble began to market a new product, an inexpensive soap that floats in water. The company called the soap Ivory. William Arnett Procter, William Procter's grandson, began a profit-sharing program for the company's workforce in 1887. By giving the workers a stake in the company, he correctly assumed that they would be less likely to go on strike.The company began to build factories in other locations in the United States because the demand for products had outgrown the capacity of the Cincinnati facilities. The company's leaders began to diversify its products as well and, in 1911, began producing Crisco, a shortening made of vegetable oils rather than animal fats. As radio became more popular in the 1920s and 1930s, the company sponsored a number of radio programs. As a result, these shows often became commonly known as "soap operas."The company moved into other countries, both in terms of manufacturing and product sales, becoming an international corporation with its 1930 acquisition of the Thomas Hedley Co., based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Procter & Gamble maintained a strong link to the North East of England after this acquisition. Numerous new products and brand names were introduced over time, and Procter & Gamble began branching out into new areas. The company introduced Tidelaundry detergent in 1946 and Prell shampoo in 1947. In 1955, Procter & Gamble began selling the first toothpaste to contain fluoride, known as Crest. Branching out once again in 1957, the company purchased Charmin Paper Mills and began manufacturing toilet paper and other paper products. Once again focusing on laundry, Procter & Gamble began making Downy fabric softenerin 1960 and Bounce fabric softener sheets in 1972. One of the most revolutionary products to come out on the market was the company's Pampers, first test-marketed in 1961. Prior to this point disposable diapers were not popular, although Johnson & Johnson had developed a product called Chux. Babies always wore cloth diapers, which were leaky and labor intensive to wash. Pampers provided a convenient alternative, albeit at the environmental cost of more waste requiring landfilling.Procter & Gamble acquired a number of other companies that diversified its product line and significantly increased profits. These acquisitions included Folgers Coffee, Norwich Eaton Pharmaceuticals (the makers of Pepto-Bismol), Richardson-Vicks, Noxell (Noxzema), Shulton's Old Spice, Max Factor, and the Iams Company, among others. In 1994, the company made headlines for big losses resulting from leveraged positions in interest rate derivatives, and subsequently sued Bankers Trust for fraud; this placed their management in the unusual position of testifying in court that they had entered into transactions that they were not capable of understanding. In 1996, Procter & Gamble again made headlines when the Food and Drug Administration approved a new product developed by the company, Olestra. Also known by its brand name 'Olean', Olestra is a lower-calorie substitute for fat in cooking potato chips and other snacks that during its development stages is known to have caused anal leakage and gastrointestinal difficulties in humans.Procter & Gamble has dramatically expanded throughout its history, but its headquarters still remains in Cincinnati.In January 2005 P&G announced an acquisition of Gillette, forming the largest consumer goods company and placing Unilever into second place. This added brands such as Gillette razors, Duracell, Braun, and Oral-B to their stable. The acquisition was approved by the European Union and the Federal Trade Commission, with conditions to a spinoff of certain overlapping brands. P&G agreed to sell its SpinBrush battery-operated electric toothbrush business to Church & Dwight. It also divested Gillette's oral-care toothpaste line, Rembrandt. The deodorant brands Right Guard, Soft & Dri, and Dry Idea were sold to Dial Corporation. The companies officially merged on October 1, 2005.Liquid Paper, and Gillette's stationery division, Paper Mate were sold to Newell Rubbermaid. In 2008, P&G branched into the record business with its sponsorship of Tag Records, as an endorsement for TAG Body Spray.P&G's dominance in many categories of consumer products makes its brand management decisions worthy of study. For example, P&G's corporate strategists must account for the likelihood of one of their products cannibalizing the sales of another.On August 24, 2009, the Ireland-based pharmaceutical company Warner Chilcott announced they had bought P&G's prescription-drug business for $3.1 billion.P&G exited the food business in 2012 when it sold its Pringles snack food business to Kellogg's. The company had previously sold Jif peanut butter and Folgers coffee in separate transactions to Smucker'sProcter and Gamble is a tier one sponsor of the London's Olympic Games 2012 and sponsors 150 Athletes.
Managment
The board of directors of Procter & Gamble currently has eleven members: Robert A. McDonald, Angela Braly, Meg Whitman, Johnathan A. Rodgers, Ernesto Zedillo, Scott Cook, Patricia A. Woertz, Susan D. Desmond-Hellmann, Maggie Wilderotter, W. James McNerney, Jr. andKenneth Chenault. In March 2011 Rajat Gupta resigned from the board after an SEC accusation of Galleon Group insider trading.In October 2008, P&G was named one of "Canada's Top 100 Employers" by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was featured in Maclean's news magazine. Later that month, P&G was also named one of Greater Toronto's Top Employers, which was announced by the Toronto Starnewspaper.In May 2011 Fortune editor-at-large Patricia Sellers praised P&G's board diversity, as five of the company's eleven current directors are female and have all been on Fortune's annual Most Powerful Women list.Procter & Gamble is a member of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based coalition of over 400 major companies and NGOs that advocates for a larger International Affairs Budget, which funds American diplomatic and development efforts abroad.On November 19, 2011, the Associated Press and USA Today reported that a company spokesman confirmed Dr. John Smale, former CEO, has died at age 84. Online memorial page for Dr. John Smale.
