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53-417: The factory was opened by DuPont chemical company in 1948 and ownership transferred to Chemours in 2015 as DuPont restructured. The factory produces chemicals used in semiconductors and in the manufacture of kitchen utensil non-stick product Teflon . Three thousand and five hundred residents are engaged in litigation against the factory following the contamination of soil and groundwater. Washington Works

106-487: A bidding war with the giant distillery Seagram Company Ltd. Seagram became DuPont's largest single shareholder, with four seats on the board of directors. On April 6, 1995, after being approached by Seagram Chief Executive Officer Edgar Bronfman Jr. , DuPont announced a deal in which the company would buy back all the shares owned by Seagram. In 1999, DuPont spun off Conoco and sold all of its shares. Conoco later merged with Phillips Petroleum Company . DuPont acquired

159-545: A diverse range of technologies for many markets including agriculture, genetic traits, biofuels , automotive, construction, electronics, chemicals, and industrial materials. In 2002, the company sold the Clysar business to Bemis Company for $ 143 million. In 2004, the company sold its textiles business, which included some of its best-known brands such as Lycra ( Spandex ), Dacron polyester, Orlon acrylic, Antron nylon and Thermolite, to Koch Industries . In May 2007

212-543: A diversified industrial firm. CFO Lori Koch was named CEO effective 1 June 2024, as current CEO Ed Breen transitioned to executive chairman. The split is expected to be completed in 18 to 24 months. The company's corporate headquarters and experimental station were located in Wilmington, Delaware . The company's manufacturing, processing, marketing, and research and development facilities, as well as regional purchasing offices and distribution centers were located throughout

265-463: A major supplier of gunpowder. DuPont developed many polymers such as Vespel , neoprene , nylon , Corian , Teflon , Mylar , Kapton , Kevlar , Zemdrain, M5 fiber , Nomex , Tyvek , Sorona , Corfam and Lycra in the 20th century, and its scientists developed many chemicals, most notably Freon ( chlorofluorocarbons ), for the refrigerant industry. It also developed synthetic pigments and paints including ChromaFlair . In 2015, DuPont and

318-422: A new identity that is "fundamentally different" from DowDuPont. The company published a list of sustainability commitments to be achieved by 2030. In February 2020, DuPont announced that it is bringing back Edward D. Breen as its CEO after removing former Chief Executive Marc Doyle and CFO Jeanmarie Desmond less than a year after they assumed their roles. Lori D. Koch, previously head of investor relations, assumed

371-521: A permit to investigate soil and ground water contamination. The investigation found the four of the five waste management units on site had contaminated soil and/or groundwater. The EPA report on the contamination described the contaminants as primarily " methylene chloride , and trace levels of tetrachloroethene , and 1,1,2-trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane" with lesser quantities of contamination from perfluorooctanoic acid (C8). In 2005, residents of Parkersburg began finding level of C8 in their bloodstream at

424-476: A volume that exceeded Environmental Protection Agency guidelines. Residents launched 3,500 compensation claims, blaming the factory for contaminating water, air, and soil. A DuPont-commissioned survey undertaken by ChemRisk stated that DuPont released over 1.7 million pounds of C8, 632,468 pounds of that into the Ohio River system. 394,486 pounds was reported to be buried in unlined landfills and 686,233 pounds

477-437: Is a more stable oil with greater flexibility in food and industrial applications." Plenish is genetically engineered to "block the formation of enzymes that continue the cascade downstream from oleic acid (that produces saturated fats), resulting in an accumulation of the desirable monounsaturated acid." In October 2001, the company sold its pharmaceutical business to Bristol Myers Squibb for $ 7.798 billion. In 2011, DuPont

530-510: Is a plastics factory that occupies a 1,200 acre site. It is located on DuPont Road, Washington , six miles from Parkersburg, West Virginia , on the Ohio River . The factory manufactures fluoropolymers that are used in semiconductors and perfluorooctanoic acid (commonly known as C8) used to make cookware non-stick coating Teflon . In total, the factory manufactures over 150,000 tons of materials per annum. The factory opened in 1948 and

583-664: Is used in armor, belts, hoses, composite structures, cable sheathing, gaskets, brake pads, clutch linings, friction pads, slot insulation , phase barrier insulation, and interturn insulation. Following the DuPont and Dow merger and subsequent spinoff, this product line remained with DuPont. On the company's 200th anniversary in 2002, it was presented with the Honor Award by the National Building Museum in recognition of DuPont's "products that directly influence

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636-527: The Clayton Antitrust Act forced DuPont to divest its shares of General Motors. In the 1920s, DuPont continued its emphasis on materials science , hiring Wallace Carothers to work on polymers in 1928. Carothers invented neoprene , a synthetic rubber ; the first polyester super polymer ; and, in 1935, nylon . The invention of Teflon followed a few years later and has since been proven responsible for health problems in those exposed to

689-541: The Dow Chemical Company agreed to a reorganization plan in which the two companies would merge and split into three. As a merged entity, DuPont simultaneously acquired Dow and renamed itself to DowDuPont on August 31, 2017, and after 18 months spun off the merged entity's material science divisions into a new corporate entity bearing Dow Chemical's name and agribusiness divisions into the newly created Corteva ; DowDuPont reverted its name to DuPont and kept

742-690: The Hanford plutonium producing plant in Hanford, Washington . In 1950 DuPont also agreed to build the Savannah River Plant in South Carolina as part of the effort to create a hydrogen bomb . DuPont was one of an estimated 150 American companies that provided Nazi Germany with patents, technology and material resources that proved crucial to the German war effort . DuPont maintained business connections with various corporations in

795-892: The Niagara River at Tonawanda, New York , the Sabine River Works Plant in Orange, Texas , and the Parlin Site in Sayreville, New Jersey . The facilities in Vadodara , Gujarat and Hyderabad , Telangana in India constituted the DuPont Services Center and DuPont Knowledge Center respectively. The European Commission opened a probe to assess whether the proposed merger was in line with

848-987: The Pioneer Hi-Bred agricultural seed company in 1999. DuPont ranked 86th in the Fortune 500 on the strength of nearly $ 36 billion in revenues, $ 4.848 billion in profits in 2013. In April 2014, Forbes ranked DuPont 171st on its Global 2000, the listing of the world's top public companies. During this time, DuPont businesses were organized into the following five categories, known as marketing "platforms": Electronic and Communication Technologies, Performance Materials, Coatings and Color Technologies, Safety and Protection, and Agriculture and Nutrition. The agriculture division, DuPont Pioneer , made and sold hybrid seed and genetically modified seed , some of which produces genetically modified food . Genes engineered into their products included LibertyLink , which provides resistance to Bayer's Ignite Herbicide /Liberty herbicides;

901-823: The $ 2.1 million DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion Harbor Reserve, a wildlife observatory and interpretive center on the Delaware Bay near Milford, Delaware was opened to enhance the beauty and integrity of the Delaware Estuary. The facility is state-owned and operated by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC). In 2010, DuPont Pioneer received approval to market Plenish soybeans, which contain "the highest oleic acid content of any commercial soybean product, at more than 75 percent. Plenish has no trans fat, 20 percent less saturated fat than regular soybean oil, and

954-511: The 1960s, DuPont began tests to see if it could resist a lead bullet. This research would ultimately lead to the bullet-resistant vests that are used by police and military units. In 1962, DuPont applied for a patent on the explosion welding process, which was granted on June 23, 1964, under US Patent 3,137,937[123] and resulted in the use of the Detaclad trademark to describe the process. On July 22, 1996, Dynamic Materials Corporation completed

1007-589: The CFO position. In November 2021, DuPont announced that it intended to acquire Rogers Corporation in a deal valued at $ 5.2 billion. While the deal had been approved by many other regulatory agencies, due to Chinese regulators prolonging the review, DuPont decided on November 1, 2022, to walk away from the deal. DuPont paid Rogers a termination fee of US$ 162.5 million. In May 2024, DuPont announced it would split into three publicly traded companies, separating its electronics and water businesses while continuing as

1060-475: The Clinton administration, Dan Glickman , and former Governor of Nebraska , Mike Johanns , by creating a single, independent, U.S.-based and – owned pure agriculture company, Dow and DuPont would be able to compete against their still larger global peers. The merger was not opposed by competition authorities around the world due to the view that it did not have noticeable impact on the global seed markets. On

1113-468: The EU's respective regulations. The Commission investigated whether the deal reduced competition in areas such as crop protection, seeds and petrochemicals. The closing date for the merger was repeatedly delayed due to these regulatory inquiries. Ed Breen said the companies were negotiating possible divestitures in their pesticide operations to win approval for the deal. As part of their EU counterproposal,

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1166-836: The Herculex I Insect Protection gene, which provides protection against various insects; the Herculex RW insect protection trait, which provides protection against other insects; the YieldGard Corn Borer gene, which provides resistance to another set of insects; and the Roundup Ready Corn 2 trait that provides crop resistance against glyphosate herbicides. DuPont had 150 research and development facilities located in China, Brazil, India, Germany, and Switzerland, with an average investment of $ 2 billion annually in

1219-547: The Materials Science Committee. These Committees were intended to oversee their respective businesses, and would work with both CEOs on the scheduled separation of the businesses’ standalone entities. Announced in February 2018, DowDuPont's agriculture division is named Corteva Agriscience, its materials science division is named Dow, and its specialty products division is named DuPont. In March 2018, it

1272-569: The Third Reich from 1933 until 1943 when all of DuPont's assets in Germany were seized by the Nazi government along with those of all other American companies. Irénée du Pont , a descendant of Éleuthère Irénée du Pont and the president of the company during the buildup to World War II, was also a financial supporter of Nazi Führer Adolf Hitler and keenly followed Hitler since the 1920s. After

1325-520: The US. Both duopolies would become the "big two" industry dominators. DuPont has been awarded the National Medal of Technology four times: first in 1990, for its invention of "high-performance man-made polymers such as nylon, neoprene rubber , " Teflon " fluorocarbon resin, and a wide spectrum of new fibers, films, and engineering plastics"; the second in 2002 "for policy and technology leadership in

1378-464: The acquisition of DuPont's Detaclad operations for a purchase price of $ 5,321,850 (or about $ 10.34 million today). In 1981, DuPont acquired Conoco Inc. , a major American oil and gas producing company, which gave it a secure source of petroleum feedstocks needed for the manufacturing of many of its fiber and plastics products. The acquisition, which made DuPont one of the top ten U.S.-based petroleum and natural gas producers and refiners, came about after

1431-516: The chemical through manufacturing and home use. DuPont introduced phenothiazine as an insecticide in 1935. DuPont ranked 15th among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. As the inventor and manufacturer of nylon , DuPont helped produce the raw materials for parachutes , powder bags, and tires . DuPont also played a major role in the Manhattan Project in 1943, designing, building and operating

1484-631: The cleanup of 171 former DuPont sites, which DuPont says will cost between $ 295 million and $ 945 million, was transferred to Chemours. In October 2015, DuPont sold the Neoprene chloroprene rubber business to Denka Performance Elastomers, a joint venture of Denka and Mitsui . On December 11, 2015, DuPont announced a merger with Dow Chemical Company, in an all-stock transaction. The combined company, DowDuPont, had an estimated value of $ 130 billion, being equally held by both companies’ shareholders, while also maintaining its two headquarters. The merger of

1537-468: The companies offered to dispose of a portion of DuPont's crop protection business and associated R&D, as well as Dow's acrylic acid copolymers and ionomers businesses. The remedy submission in turn delayed the commission's review deadline to April 4, 2017. The intended spins of the company businesses were expected to occur about 18 months after closing. According to the Financial Times ,

1590-665: The company at the Eleutherian Mills , on the Brandywine Creek , near Wilmington, Delaware , two years after du Pont and his family left France to escape the French Revolution and religious persecution against Huguenot Protestants. The company began as a manufacturer of gunpowder, as du Pont noticed that the industry in North America was lagging behind Europe. The company grew quickly, and by

1643-542: The company. On May 1, 2012, DuPont announced that it had acquired from Bunge full ownership of the Solae joint venture, a soy-based ingredients company. DuPont previously owned 72 percent of the joint venture while Bunge owned the remaining 28 percent. In February 2013, DuPont Performance Coatings was sold to the Carlyle Group and rebranded as Axalta Coating Systems . In October 2013, DuPont announced that it

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1696-465: The construction and design process in the building industry." In 2005, BusinessWeek magazine, in conjunction with the Climate Group, ranked DuPont as the best-practice leader in cutting their carbon gas emissions. DuPont reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 65 percent from the 1990 levels while using 7 percent less energy and producing 30 percent more product. In 2012 DuPont

1749-580: The double-base powders combining nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine . DuPont subsequently developed the Improved Military Rifle (IMR) line of smokeless powders . In 1910, DuPont published a brochure entitled "Farming with Dynamite". The pamphlet was instructional, outlining the benefits to using their dynamite products on stumps and various other obstacles that would be easier to remove with dynamite as opposed to other more conventional and inefficient means. DuPont also established two of

1802-566: The explosives business constituted a monopoly and ordered divestment . The court ruling resulted in the creation of the Hercules Powder Company (later Hercules Inc. and now part of Ashland Inc. ) and the Atlas Powder Company (purchased by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and now part of AkzoNobel ). At the time of divestment, DuPont retained the single-base nitrocellulose powders, while Hercules held

1855-639: The first industrial laboratories in the United States, where they began the work on cellulose chemistry, lacquers and other non-explosive products. DuPont Central Research was established at the DuPont Experimental Station , across the Brandywine Creek from the original powder mills. In 1914, Pierre S. du Pont invested in the fledgling automobile industry, buying stock in General Motors (GM). The following year he

1908-511: The merger as of April, 2017, although the decision was said to consist of over a thousand pages and was expected to take several months to be released publicly. As part of the approval, Dow must also sell off two acrylic acid co-polymers manufacturing facilities in Spain and the US. China conditionally cleared the merger in May, 2017. According to former United States Secretary of Agriculture during

1961-461: The merger was "on track for approval in March" 2017. Dow Chemical and DuPont postponed the planned deadline during late March, as they struck an $ 1.6 billion asset swap with FMC Corporation in order to win the antitrust clearances. DuPont acquired the corporation's health and nutrition business, while selling its herbicide and insecticide properties. The European Commission conditionally approved

2014-627: The mid-19th century had become the largest supplier of preppy gunpowder to the United States military , supplying one-third to one-half the powder used by the Union Army during the American Civil War . The Eleutherian Mills site is now a museum and a National Historic Landmark . DuPont continued to expand, moving into the production of dynamite and smokeless powder . In 1902, DuPont's president, Eugene du Pont , died, and

2067-506: The other hand, if Monsanto and Bayer , the 1st and 3rd largest biotech and seed firms, together with Dow and DuPont being the 4th and 5th largest biotechnology and seed companies in the world respectively, both went through with the mergers, the so-called "Big Six" (including Syngenta and BASF ) in the industry would control 63 percent of the global seed market and 76 percent of the global agriculture chemical market. They would also control 95 percent of corn, soybeans, and cotton traits in

2120-429: The phaseout and replacement of chlorofluorocarbons ". DuPont scientist George Levitt was honored with the medal in 1993 for the development of sulfonylurea herbicides . In 1996, DuPont scientist Stephanie Kwolek was recognized for the discovery and development of Kevlar . In the 1980s, Dr. Jacob Lahijani, Senior Chemist at DuPont, invented Kevlar 149 and was highlighted in the "Innovation: Agent of Change. Kevlar 149

2173-399: The site are Kuraray America and Celanese Corporation . DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc. , commonly shortened to DuPont , is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours . The company played a major role in the development of the U.S. state of Delaware and first arose as

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2226-524: The specialty products divisions. Prior to the spinoffs it was the world's largest chemical company in terms of sales. The merger has been reported to be worth an estimated $ 130 billion. The present DuPont, as prior to the merger, is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware , in the state where it is incorporated . DuPont was founded in 1802 by Éleuthère Irénée du Pont , using capital raised in France and gunpowder machinery imported from France. He started

2279-481: The surviving partners sold the company to three great-grandsons of the original founder. Charles Lee Reese was appointed as director and the company began centralizing their research departments. The company subsequently purchased several smaller chemical companies; in 1912 these actions generated government scrutiny under the Sherman Antitrust Act . The courts declared that the company's dominance of

2332-547: The two largest U.S. chemical companies closed on August 31, 2017. Both companies' boards of directors decided that following the merger DowDuPont would pursue a separation into three independent, publicly traded companies: an agriculture, a materials science, and a specialty products company. Advisory Committees were established for each of the businesses. DuPont CEO Ed Breen would lead the Agriculture and Specialty Products Committees, and Dow CEO Andrew Liveris would lead

2385-490: The war, DuPont continued its emphasis on new materials, developing Mylar , Dacron , Orlon , and Lycra in the 1950s, and Tyvek , Nomex , Qiana , Corfam , and Corian in the 1960s. DuPont has been the key company behind the development of modern body armor . In the Second World War , DuPont's ballistic nylon was used by Britain 's Royal Air Force to make flak jackets . With the development of Kevlar in

2438-998: The world. Major manufacturing sites included the Spruance plant near Richmond, Virginia , (currently the company's largest plant), the Washington Works site in Washington, West Virginia , the Mobile Manufacturing Center (MMC) in Axis, Alabama , the Bayport plant near Houston , Texas, the Mechelen site in Belgium , and the Changshu site in China. Other locations included the Yerkes Plant on

2491-453: Was announced that Jeff Fettig would become executive chairman of DowDuPont on July 1, 2018, and Jim Fitterling would become CEO of Dow Chemical on April 1, 2018. In October 2018, the company's agricultural unit recorded a $ 4.6 billion loss in the third quarter after lowering its long-term sales and profits targets. In 2019, DuPont completed its spin off from DowDuPont and the company adapted its marketing and branding in order to establish

2544-532: Was invited to be on GM's board of directors and would eventually be appointed the company's chairman. The DuPont company would assist the struggling automobile company further with a $ 25 million purchase of GM stock ($ 752,960,526 in 2023 dollars ). In 1920, Pierre S. du Pont was elected president of General Motors. Under du Pont's leadership, GM became the number one automobile company in the world. However, in 1957, because of DuPont's influence within GM, further action under

2597-623: Was named after George Washington , who was granted the land in 1772. In 1984, high levels of C8 were found during secretive tests of community drinking water in Little Hocking, Ohio , located across the Ohio River from the factory. DuPont, who did the tests, did not inform regulators of their findings until 2002. A 98 acre wildlife habitat was created on the site in 1988. In 1989, the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued DuPont

2650-550: Was named to the Carbon Disclosure Project Global 500 Leadership Index. Inclusion is based on company performance on sustainability metrics, emissions reduction goals, and environmental performance transparency. In 2014 DuPont was the top scoring company in the chemical sector according to CDP, with a score of "A" or "B" in every evaluation area except for supply chain management. Synthetic pigment Too Many Requests If you report this error to

2703-717: Was planning to spin off its Performance Chemicals business into a new publicly traded company in mid-2015. The company filed its initial Form 10 with the SEC in December 2014 and announced that the new company would be called The Chemours Company . The spin-off to DuPont shareholders was completed on July 1, 2015, and Chemours stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the same date. DuPont then focused on production of GMO seeds, materials for solar panels , and alternatives to fossil fuels. Responsibility for

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2756-429: Was released into the environment via chimneys. The factory was operated by DuPont until 2015. In 2015, DuPont formed Chemours , transferring the factory's ownership to the company. Despite the name change, the factory remained under the leadership of the same leadership team. As of 2019, Jay Valvo was the plant manager. That year there was 608 full time employees and 432 full time contractors working on site. Also using

2809-409: Was the largest producer of titanium dioxide in the world, primarily provided as a white pigment used in the paper industry . On January 9, 2011, DuPont announced that it had reached an agreement to buy Danish company Danisco for US$ 6.3 billion. On May 16, 2011, DuPont announced that its tender offer for Danisco had been successful and that it would proceed to redeem the remaining shares and delist

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