Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company#Timeline

File:Goodyearheadquartersandfactory.jpg

File:Goodyear hq akron foto by andy hemmer cincinnati.jpg

The first Goodyear factory opened in Akron, Ohio, in 1898. The company originally manufactured bicycle and carriage tires, rubber horseshoe pads, and poker chips, and grew with the advent of the automobile.{{Cite web|title=Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company {{!}} American company|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Goodyear-Tire-and-Rubber-Company|access-date=2020-06-18|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}

In 1901, Goodyear founder Frank Seiberling provided Henry Ford with racing tires.{{Cite web|date=2018-04-09|title=What Goodyear Has Learned on the Racetrack, It's Taking to the Bicycle|url=https://gearpatrol.com/2018/04/09/goodyear-bicycle-tires/|access-date=2020-06-18|website=Gear Patrol|language=en-US}} In 1903, Goodyear president, chairman and CEO Paul Weeks Litchfield was granted a patent for the first tubeless automobile tire.{{Cite book|last1=Danon|first1=Mihajlo Borisavljević, Miroslav Terzić, Gradimir|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AZADwAAQBAJ&dq=Paul+Weeks+Litchfield+patent&pg=PA118|title=PUMA 2016 Zbornik radova: IX Naučna konferencija PneUMAtici|last2=Trifunović|first2=Ivan Ivković, Dragan Sekulić, Aleksandar|last3=Petrović|first3=Predrag|last4=Vasić|first4=Gradimir Danon, Branko|last5=Petrović|first5=Saša|last6=Stanković|first6=Petar|last7=Stamenković|first7=Goran Vorotović, Ivan Blagojević, Branislav Rakićević, Časlav Mitrović, Dragan|last8=Trajanović|first8=Nikola Korunović, Miloš Madić, Miroslav|last9=Vasić|first9=Vlastmir Bukvić, Gradimir Danon, Branko|date=2016-09-30|publisher=Institut za istraživanja i projektovanja u privredi|isbn=978-86-84231-32-3|page=118|language=sr}} In 1910, the company purchased an existing rubber factory in Bowmanville, Ontario, in Canada, which expanded their manufacturing outside of the United States for the first time.{{cite web |title=Goodyear Plant Bowmanville |url=https://hikingthegta.com/2022/04/30/goodyear-plant-bowmanville/ |website=hikingthegta.com |date=May 2022 |publisher=Hiking the GTA |access-date=27 May 2024}}

In 1916, Litchfield found land in the Phoenix area suitable for growing long-staple cotton, which was needed to reinforce its rubber in tires. The 36,000 acres purchased were controlled by the Southwest Cotton Company, formed with Litchfield as president. (This included land that would develop into the towns of Goodyear and Litchfield Park.)

In 1924, Litchfield forged a joint venture with the German Luftschiffbau Zeppelin Company to form the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OVVOAAAAYAAJ&q=Goodyear-Zeppelin+Corporation+1924+merger&pg=PA2116|title=The Commercial and Financial Chronicle|date=1924|publisher=National News Service|language=en}} From the late 1920s to 1940, the company worked with Goodyear to build two Zeppelins in the United States. The partnership continued even when Zeppelin was under Nazi control and only ended after World War II began.{{cite web|url=http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=899&nm=Goodyear-Zeppelin-Company|title=Goodyear Zeppelin Company – Ohio History Central|website=www.ohiohistorycentral.org|access-date=November 13, 2018}}

File:PaulLitchfield.jpg

On August 5, 1927, Goodyear had its initial public offering and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.[https://www.nyse.com/about/listed/gt.html GT | NYSE] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526194217/http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/gt.html |date=May 26, 2013 }}

By 1930, Goodyear had pioneered what would later become known as "tundra tires" for smaller aircraft—their so-called low inflation pressure "airwheel" aviation wheel-rim/tire sets were initially available in sizes up to 46 inches (117 cm) in diameter.{{cite web |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1930/untitled0%20-%200428.html |title=Flight Magazine – The Goodyear Air Wheel|pages=404–405 |author= |date=April 4, 1930 |website=flightglobal.com |publisher=Flightglobal/Archive |access-date=October 23, 2013}}

Over the next few decades, Goodyear grew to become a multinational corporation. It acquired their rival Kelly-Springfield Tire in 1935. During World War II Goodyear manufactured F4U Corsair fighter planes for the U.S. Military. Goodyear ranked 30th among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts.{{Cite book|title=The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis|last1=Peck|first1=Merton J.|last2=Scherer|first2=Frederic M.|publisher=Harvard Business School|year=1962|pages=619|author-link=Whiz Kids (Department of Defense)|author-link2=Frederic M. Scherer|name-list-style=amp}} WWII forced the dissolution of the Goodyear-Zeppelin partnership in December 1940. By 1956 they owned and operated a nuclear processing plant in Ohio.

In 1944, Goodyear created a subsidiary in Mexico in a joint venture with Compañía Hulera, S.A. de C.V., Compañía Hulera Goodyear-Oxo, S.A. de C.V. or Goodyear-Oxo.

Goodyear is the only one of the five biggest tire firms among US tire manufacturers in 1970 to remain independent into the 21st century. Goodyear's success was partly due to the challenge posed by radial tire technology, and the varied responses.{{cite web| url=http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/the-dynamics-of-standing-still-firestone-tire-rubber-and-the-radial-revolution| title=The Dynamics of Standing Still: Firestone Tire & Rubber and the Radial Revolution|first=Donal |last=Sull |publisher=Harvard Business School|date=November 27, 2000 | access-date=June 27, 2016}} At the time, the entire US tire industry produced the older bias-ply technology. Estimates to fit factories with new machinery and tools for making the new product were between $600 million and $900 million. This was a substantial amount in a low margin business with sales revenue in the low billions.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/denialwhybusines00rich|title=Denial: Why Business Leaders Fail to Look Facts in the Face – and what to Do about it|last=Tedlow|first=Richard S.|publisher=Portfolio|year=2010|isbn=978-1591843139|location=New York|oclc=430051381|url-access=registration}} The US market was slowly shifting towards the radial tire, as had already been the case in Europe and Asia. In 1968, Consumer Reports, an influential American magazine, acknowledged the superiority of radial construction, which had been developed in 1946 by Michelin.{{cite news| url=https://www.bloomberg.com/bw/stories/2006-05-04/a-tale-of-two-tiresbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice | work=Bloomberg | title=A Tale of Two Tires}}

When Charles J. Pilliod Jr. became CEO in 1974, he faced a major investment decision regarding the radial tire, which today has a market share of nearly 100%.{{cite web|url=http://www.jags.org/TechInfo/2001/05May01/tires/historyoftires.htm|title=History|website=www.jags.org|access-date=January 19, 2018|archive-date=March 6, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150306211250/http://www.jags.org/TechInfo/2001/05May01/tires/historyoftires.htm|url-status=dead}} Despite heavy criticism at the time, Pilliod invested heavily in new factories and tooling to build the radial tire.

{{cite news| url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/charles-pilliod-kept-goodyear-out-of-rivals-hands-1918-2016-1461922202| title=Charles Pilliod Kept Goodyear Out of Rivals' Hands: 1918–2016 World War II bomber pilot led tire maker when it was besieged by Japanese and European competitors |publisher=Wall Street Journal |page=A6 |date=May 1, 2016| access-date=June 27, 2016}} Sam Gibara, who headed Goodyear from 1996 to 2003, has noted that without the action of Pilliod, Goodyear "wouldn't be around today."

Sales for 1969 topped $3 billion. Five years later sales topped $5 billion and Goodyear operated in 34 countries. In 1978, the original Akron plant was converted into a Technical Center for research and design. By 1985, worldwide sales exceeded $10 billion.

Goodyear Aerospace, a holding that developed from the Goodyear Aircraft Company after World War II, designed a supercomputer for NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center in 1979, the MPP. The subsidiary was sold in 1987 to the Loral Corporation as a result of restructuring.

In 1987, Goodyear formed a business partnership with Canadian tire retailer Fountain Tire.{{cite web|url=http://www.fountaintire.com/tires/history|title=Corporate History|website=Fountain Tire|access-date=January 19, 2018|archive-date=March 3, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303184626/http://www.fountaintire.com/tires/history|url-status=dead}}

In the 1980s, incoming Goodyear CEO Robert E. Mercer argued that the tire and automobile-related businesses that formed the core of Goodyear to that date were slow growing and a handicap. He set a strategy "to get away from the cyclical nature of the automobile business through mergers or purchase of businesses unrelated to tires or vehicles."{{Cite news|last=Kleinfield|first=N. r|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/09/business/goodyear-to-acquire-celeron.html|title=Goodyear to Acquire Celeron|date=1983-02-09|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-04-10|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

In 1983, Goodyear acquired the natural gas company Celeron Corporation in exchange for stock valued at more than $740 million. It went on to invest heavily in gas exploration including the 1,200 mile crude oil "All American" pipeline from California to Texas. The project was initially estimated to cost $600 million{{Cite news|agency=Reuters|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/12/business/celeron-pipeline.html|title=Celeron Pipeline|date=1983-11-12|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-04-10|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} but ultimately cost almost $1 billion.{{Cite web|url=https://corporate.goodyear.com/en-US/about/history.html|title=History|website=Goodyear Corporate|language=en|access-date=2020-04-11}}

In October 1986 British financier James Goldsmith in conjunction with the investment group Hanson purchased 11.5% of Goodyear's outstanding common stock.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2011/11/25_years_ago_driving_back_the.html|title=25 years ago: Driving back the raider at the gates of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.|date=November 27, 2011|access-date=2015-08-08}} This was viewed as a greenmail attack by some, and as shareholder activism by Goldsmith, who viewed the company's move into areas far removed from tire development production and sale as commercially ill-advised and wanted the company to divest, especially, its oil interests which he viewed as depressing the value of the company.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQiMcb7IiYk| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211103/BQiMcb7IiYk| archive-date=2021-11-03 | url-status=live|title=The Goodyear takeover Debate| date=January 26, 2015|via=YouTube|access-date=April 11, 2020}}{{cbignore}}

On November 20, 1986, Goodyear acquired all of the stock held by Goldsmith's group (12,549,400 shares) at an above-market price of $49.50 per share.{{Cite news|title =Goodyear Buys Out Goldsmith |url = https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/21/business/goodyear-buys-out-goldsmith.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 1986-11-21|access-date = 2015-08-08|issn = 0362-4331|first = Jonathan P.|last = Hicks}} Goodyear also made a tender offer for up to 40 million shares of its stock from other shareholders at $50 per share. The tender offer resulted in Goodyear buying 40,435,764 shares of stock in February 1987.

As a result of the stock buyback, Goodyear took a charge of $224.6 million associated with a massive restructuring plan. It sold its Goodyear Aerospace business to Loral Corporation for $588 million and its motor wheel business to Lemmerz Inc. for $175 million.{{Cite web|url=http://www.maxionwheels.com/en/about-us/history.aspx|title=We didn't invent the wheel... just every innovation since.|website=www.maxionwheels.com|access-date=2020-04-11}} Two subsidiaries involved in agricultural products, real estate development, and a resort hotel in Arizona were sold for $220.1 million. The company also sold the Celeron gas and oil corporation. In 1998, the All American Pipeline, Celeron Gathering, and Celeron Trading and Transportation were sold, largely completing what Goldsmith's hostile takeover had suggested good management should do. In the years following 1987, the company invested in its tire business. President Tom Barrett succeeded Chairman Robert Mercer in 1989, and began a process of modernizing and expanding Goodyear plants in cities like Lawton, Oklahoma, Napanee, Canada, Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Scottsboro, Alabama. In the 2000s, the move of business into low-wage countries, facilitated by GATT (which Goldsmith had warned government against, calling it "a policy to impoverish"{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fBMCXg79OA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/7fBMCXg79OA |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live|title=Senate Commerce Committee on GATT|website=YouTube|date=January 26, 2015 }}{{cbignore}}), resulted in plants across North America being shuttered, for instance Cumberland, Maryland; New Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Windsor, Vermont were closed.

File:Goodyear, GIMS 2019, Le Grand-Saconnex (GIMS0042).jpg

The last major restructuring of the company took place in 1991. Goodyear hired Stanley Gault, former CEO of Rubbermaid, to expand the company into new markets.{{Cite web|title=Stanley Gault, former head of Goodyear and Rubbermaid, dies|url=https://www.beaconjournal.com/akron/business/stanley-gault-former-head-of-goodyear-and-rubbermaid-dies|access-date=2020-06-18|website=Akron Beacon Journal|archive-date=June 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618043453/https://www.beaconjournal.com/akron/business/stanley-gault-former-head-of-goodyear-and-rubbermaid-dies|url-status=dead}} The moves resulted in 12,000 employees being laid off.{{Cite web|url=https://sec.report/Document/0000950152-95-000443/0000950152-95-000443.txt|access-date=2020-06-18|website=sec.report|title=Archived copy|archive-date=June 19, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200619031636/https://sec.report/Document/0000950152-95-000443/0000950152-95-000443.txt|url-status=dead}}

In 2005, Titan Tire purchased the farm tire business of Goodyear, and manufactures Goodyear agricultural tires under license.{{Cite web|last=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission|date=2019|title=Annual Report Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019|url=https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/899751/000089975120000005/twi1231201910-k.htm|access-date=June 18, 2020|website=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission}} This acquisition included the plant in Freeport, Illinois.

In the summer of 2009, the company announced it would close its tire plant in the Philippines as part of a strategy to address uncompetitive manufacturing capacity globally by the end of the third quarter of that year.{{cite web|url=http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2009-07/14450128-goodyear-to-close-philippines-tire-plant-008.htm|title=Goodyear to Close Philippines Tire Plant|website=finanznachrichten.de|access-date=January 19, 2018}}

Goodyear announced plans to sell the assets of its Latin American off-road tire business to Titan Tire for $98.6 million, including the plant in São Paulo, Brazil and a licensing agreement that allows Titan to continue manufacturing under the Goodyear brand. This deal is similar to Titan's 2005 purchase of Goodyear's US farm tire assets.[http://www.agritica.com/show_news.asp?v=1&jaar=11&id=2453&lang= agritica.com, alles over landbouwmechanisatie, tractors, gebruikte machines, tweedehands trekkers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118194818/http://www.agritica.com/show_news.asp?v=1&jaar=11&id=2453&lang= |date=November 18, 2012 }}[http://www.titan-intl.com/content/121310 Titan International | America's Best Since 1898] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101231171500/http://www.titan-intl.com/content/121310 |date=December 31, 2010}}

In 2011, more than 70 years after the dissolution of the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, it is announced that Goodyear would partner with Zeppelin again (the legacy company Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik) to build more zeppelins together.{{cite web|url=http://www.airships.net/blog/goodyear-zeppelin-70-years|title=The Goodyear Blimp will become Goodyear Zeppelin|last=Grossman|first=Dan|date=May 3, 2011|website=Airships.net|access-date=May 31, 2013}}

In 2018, Goodyear and Bridgestone announced the creation of TireHub, a joint wholesale distribution network across the United States.{{cite web|url=https://corporate.goodyear.com/en-US/media/news/goodyear-bridgestone-join-forces-to-form-us-national-tire-distributor.html|title=Goodyear, Bridgestone Join Forces to Form U.S. National Tire Distributor |website=corporate.goodyear.com|access-date=July 18, 2018}} At the same time, Goodyear also announced that it was ending its distribution relationship with American Tire Distributors, which is the largest tire wholesaler in the US.{{cite web|url=https://www.moderntiredealer.com/news/729495/goodyear-says-it-will-be-better-off-following-its-divorce-from-atd|title=Goodyear Says It Will Be Better Off Following Its Divorce From ATD|website=moderntiredealer.com|access-date=July 18, 2018}}

In 2018, Goodyear was ordered to pay $40.1 million to J. Walter Twidwell, who claimed he developed mesothelioma because of exposure to asbestos. After the trial, Goodyear asked the New York Supreme Court for a new trial. Goodyear attorney James Lynch said Goodyear did not receive proper consideration from the jury. Lynch said that the other side's attorneys engaged in character assassinations against expert witnesses. During closing remarks, the attorneys for Twidwell put up a slide with the heads of Goodyear's expert witnesses pasted onto "insulting caricatures."{{Cite news|url=https://legalnewsline.com/stories/511535659-citing-character-assassinations-of-witnesses-goodyear-asks-for-new-trial-in-40-million-asbestos-case|title=Citing 'character assassinations' of witnesses, Goodyear asks for new trial in $40 million asbestos case|last=Breslin|first=John|access-date=2018-08-26}}

In December 2018, Goodyear ceased operations in Venezuela due a lack of materials and rising costs resulting from hyperinflation.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-10/goodyear-offers-10-tires-a-worker-as-it-shuts-down-in-venezuela|title=Goodyear Shuts Down in Venezuela and Gives Tires as Severance|last1=Vasquez|first1=Alex|date=2018-12-10|work=Bloomberg|access-date=2018-12-11|last2=Rosati|first2=Andrew}}

In February 2021, Goodyear announced that it would acquire the Cooper Tire & Rubber Company for $2.5 billion. The transaction closed in the second half of 2021.{{Cite web|title=Goodyear to Acquire Cooper, Creating Stronger U.S.-Based Leader in Global Tire Industry|url=https://corporate.goodyear.com/en-US/media/news/goodyear-to-acquire-cooper-creating-stronger-us-based%20leader-in-global-tire-industry.html|access-date=2021-02-22|website=Goodyear Corporate|archive-date=February 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210222122232/https://corporate.goodyear.com/en-US/media/news/goodyear-to-acquire-cooper-creating-stronger-us-based%20leader-in-global-tire-industry.html|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|title=CTB/GT: Goodyear, Cooper to Merge in $2.8B Cash, Stock Deal|url=https://reorg.com/goodyear-cooper-merge/|access-date=2021-02-25|website=Reorg}}

File:Goodyear 1916-0226.jpg

Source:

• 1898: Goodyear founded
• 1899: Automobile tires added to the original product line of bicycle tires, carriage tires and horseshoe pads
• 1901: Seiberling makes racing tires for Henry Ford
• 1903: Paul Litchfield granted patent on first tubeless automobile tire (Litchfield would go on to become president of Goodyear-Zeppelin, then board chairman)
• 1908: Ford's Model T is outfitted with Goodyear tires
• 1909: First pneumatic aircraft tire
• 1911: First airship envelope
• 1912: Goodyear blimp first debuts
• 1917: Made airships and balloons for the U.S. military during World War I
• 1919: Tires on the winning car at the Indianapolis 500
• 1924: Zeppelin patents acquired, joint venture Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation formed with the German company
• 1925: Pilgrim is launched, the first commercial non-rigid airship to use helium
• 1926: World's largest rubber company, based on sales of $230,161,356
• 1927: Initial public offering
• 1929: Construction of world's largest airship dock started in Akron
• 1929: Introduction of first-known example of low-pressure tundra tires for aviation, invented by Alvin J. Musselman as Goodyear "Airwheels"{{cite news |author= |title=New Air Wheel Now on Market – Goodyear Device Does Away with Wheels |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19290804&id=0m8bAAAAIBAJ&pg=4179,1461823 |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press |location=Pittsburgh, PA |publisher=The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=August 4, 1929 |access-date=March 26, 2014 }}
• 1935: Acquired Kelly-Springfield Tire
• 1937: First American-made synthetic rubber tire
• 1940: In December, Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation dissolved with WWII straining partnership
• 1942: Awarded contract to build FG-series Corsair naval fighter planes
• 1944: Tire testing begins near San Angelo, Texas
• 1947: First nylon tires developed
• 1949: First television advertising with sponsorship of "The Goodyear Review," hosted by Paul Whiteman
• 1954: First nationwide strike in company's history lasted 52 days
• 1956: Goodyear-operated U235 atomic processing plant opens in Ohio
• 1957: Goodyear Proving Grounds for tire testing, near San Angelo, Texas, is rebuilt{{cite web|url=http://www.goodyear.com/corporate/history/history_byyear.html|title=Goodyear History – Goodyear Corporate|website=www.goodyear.com|access-date=January 19, 2018}}
• 1958: Production of foam-padded instrument panels begun for 1959 model cars
• 1962: Goodyear racing tires used on more winning stock and sports cars than any other brand
• 1963: Goodyear produces its one billionth tire
• 1965: Radial-ply tires made available in a full range of sizes to auto manufacturers
• 1967: Goodyear introduces the Polyglas tire, one of the first wide-tread bias-belted fiberglass tires, which along with similar tires from competitors such as the Firestone Wide-Oval would become regular equipment on 1970 to 1974 models, which would be superseded by radial tires beginning in 1975.
• 1969: Sales reach $3 billion
• 1970: First tires on the moon (Apollo 14)
• 1974: Sales reach $5 billion
• 1975: All tires used in Indianapolis 500 supplied by Goodyear
• 1976: Chemical Division shipped first shatterproof polyester resin bottles
• 1977: Industry's first all-season tire (Tiempo) introduced
• 1978: Akron plant converted into Technical Center for R&D
• 1983: Three billionth tire produced
• 1984: Worldwide sales exceed $10 billion
• 1986: James Goldsmith takeover attempt and resulting restructuring
• 1987: Completion of the California–Texas "All American" oil pipeline
• 1991: Aquatred tire introduced
• 1992: Began selling tires at Sears stores{{Cite news|date=1992-03-04|title=Company News; Sears Will Sell Goodyear Tires|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/04/business/company-news-sears-will-sell-goodyear-tires.html|access-date=2020-05-26|issn=0362-4331}}
• 1993: Opened first tire store in Beijing, China
• 1993: Inauguration of Dalian plant, China
• 1994: "electronic store" opened on CompuServe
• 1995: Worldwide sales exceed $13 billion
• 1995: Bought Polish Tire Company Dębica
• 1998: Sold the All American Pipeline and Celeron businesses
• 1999: Announced $1 billion global alliance with Japan's Sumitomo Rubber Industries, which had rights to the Dunlop Tyres brand in much of the world, to establish six joint ventures in North America, Europe and Japan
• 2000: Formed an Internet-based purchasing alliance with five other rubber companies called RubberNetwork.com
• 2003: Quarterly dividend to shareholders eliminated
• 2004: Assurance TripleTred and ComforTred tires introduced
• 2005: North American farm tire operations sold to Titan Tire Corporation{{Cite web|title=Titan Tire Corporation Enters Agreement to Purchase Goodyear Farm Tire Business|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20050228005605/en/Titan-Tire-Corporation-Enters-Agreement-Purchase-Goodyear|date=2005-02-28|website=www.businesswire.com|language=en|access-date=2020-05-26}}
• 2006: Goodyear blimp made maiden voyage in China
• 2007: Engineered Products Division sold to Carlyle Group; EPD is renamed [http://www.veyance.com Veyance Technologies]
• 2008: Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Association trust (VEBA) approved by U.S. District Court, funded with $1 billion
• 2009: Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max tire introduced in North America
• 2010: Plans announced to sell European and Latin American farm tire businesses
• 2011: After being dissolved during WWII, Goodyear and Zeppelin's legacy company partner again to build more airships together
• 2013: New headquarters complex opens in Akron{{Cite news|last=Schneider|first=Keith|date=2013-06-25|title=Akron Shakes Off Some Rust With Goodyear Tire's Help|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/26/realestate/commercial/akron-shakes-off-some-rust-with-goodyear-tires-help.html|access-date=2020-05-26|issn=0362-4331}}
• 2015: Goodyear and Sumitomo announced that they would dissolve their worldwide partnership.{{Cite news|last=Bennett|first=Jeff|date=2015-10-01|title=Goodyear, Sumitomo Dissolve Global Alliance|language=en-US|work=The Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/goodyear-sumitomo-dissolve-global-alliance-1443732501|access-date=2020-05-26|issn=0099-9660}}
• 2018: The company ranked 187th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States companies by revenue marking its 24th year on the list

{{when|date=November 2019}}

• James A. Firestone.{{cite web|url=http://www.goodyear.com/corporate/bios/directors.html|title=Goodyear Board of Directors - Goodyear Corporate|website=www.goodyear.com|access-date=January 19, 2018}}
• Werner Geissler.
• Peter S. Hellman.
• Richard J. Kramer.
• W. Alan McCollough.
• John E. McGlade.
• Roderick A. Palmore.
• Stephanie Streeter.
• Thomas H. Weidemeyer.
• Michael R. Wessel.
• Laurette T. Koellner{{Cite web|url=https://corporate.goodyear.com/en-US/investors/governance/board.html|title=Board of Directors|website=Goodyear Corporate|language=en|access-date=2019-10-04}}
• [https://www.parker.com/portal/site/PARKER/menuitem.4a7ba99b3c73ae7cc39acea5427ad1ca/?vgnextoid=7a94fbdc71fd7310VgnVCM100000200c1dacRCRD&vgnextchannel=8694fbdc71fd7310VgnVCM100000200c1dacRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&vgnextcat=Thomas+L.+Williams&relatorId=90185a6796ce7310VgnVCM100000200c1dac____ Thomas L. Williams]

Former Board members include Shirley D. Peterson, William J. Contay, James C. Boland and Rodney O'Neal. Mark Stewart is the chief executive officer and president of the company (since 2024), succeeding Richard Kramer.

• Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.
• Dunlop Tyres (North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand)
• The Kelly Springfield Tire Company (United States)
• Douglas Tires
• Fierce
• Lee
• Sava (Slovenia)
• Fulda (Germany)
• Dębica (Poland)
• Wingfoot Commercial Tire Systems, LLC
• Bluestreak (Indonesia)
• Regetta (Australia) Distributed by KMART
• LS2000 (Japan) Distributed by Goodyear Autocare
• Goodyear Auto Service Centers
• Goodyear Chemical
• Just Tires
• Raben Tire{{cite web |title=Goodyear Buys Raben Tire |url=https://www.tirebusiness.com/acquisition/goodyear-buys-raben-tire |website=Tire Business |access-date=March 5, 2024}}

Following the military coup in Indonesia in 1965, the Indonesian president Suharto encouraged Goodyear to return and offered rubber resources and political prisoners as labor. In an NBC special aired in 1967, reporter Ted Yates aired footage showing former Communist rubber union workers escorted at gunpoint to the rubber plantation.

Bad as things are in Indonesia, one positive fact is known. Indonesia has a fabulous potential wealth in natural resources and the New Order [the fascist regime headed by pro-U.S. General Suharto] wants it exploited. So they are returning the private properties expropriated by Sukarno's regime. Goodyear's Sumatran rubber empire is an example. It was seized [by the rubber workers] in retaliation for U.S. aggression in Vietnam in 1965. The rubber workers union was Communist-run, so after the coup many of them were killed or imprisoned. Some of the survivors, you see them here, still work the rubber – but this time as prisoners, and at gunpoint.{{cite web|url=http://www.nbcuniversalarchives.com/nbcuni/clip/51A08495_s01.do|title=Home – News, Entertainment, World Events Video|website=NBCUniversal Archives|access-date=January 19, 2018|archive-date=January 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116215812/http://www.nbcuniversalarchives.com/nbcuni/clip/51A08495_s01.do|url-status=dead}}{{irrelevant citation|reason=Link does not redirect to quote.|date=February 2021}}

{{Main|Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.}}

United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated,

Lilly Ledbetter was a supervisor at Goodyear Tire and Rubber's plant in Gadsden, Alabama, from 1979 until her retirement in 1998. For most of those years, she worked as an area manager, a position largely occupied by men. Initially, Ledbetter's salary was in line with the salaries of men performing substantially similar work. Over time, however, her pay slipped in comparison to the pay of male area managers with equal or less seniority. By the end of 1997, Ledbetter was the only woman working as an area manager and the pay discrepancy between Ledbetter and her 15 male counterparts was stark: Ledbetter was paid $3,727 per month; the lowest paid male area manager received $4,286 per month, the highest paid, $5,236.[http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/05-1074.ZD.html Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.] (No. 05-1074) 421 F. 3d 1169, affirmed.

Lilly Ledbetter sued Goodyear claiming she was paid less than men doing the same work. She won the suit and was awarded $360,000, the jury deciding that Goodyear had clearly engaged in discrimination. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court. In Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S. 618 (2007), Justice Alito held for the five-justice majority that employers are protected from lawsuits over race or gender pay discrimination if the claims are based on decisions made by the employer 180 days ago or more. The United States Congress overturned this decision by passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 which was the first bill signed into law by President Obama.[http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/29/obama.fair.pay/index.html Day of vindication for grandma as pay law signed] January 30, 2009 Washington (CNN).

This was a case of statutory rather than constitutional interpretation. The plaintiff in this case, Lilly Ledbetter, characterized her situation as one where "disparate pay is received during the statutory limitations period, but is the result of intentionally discriminatory pay decisions that occurred outside the limitations period." In rejecting Ledbetter's appeal, the Supreme Court said that "she could have, and should have, sued" when the pay decisions were made, instead of waiting beyond the 180-day statutory charging period.

Justice Ginsburg dissented from the opinion of the court, joined by Justices Stevens, Souter, and Breyer. She argued against applying the 180-day limit to pay discrimination, because discrimination often occurs in small increments over large periods of time. Furthermore, the pay information of fellow workers is typically confidential and unavailable for comparison. Ginsburg argued that pay discrimination is inherently different from adverse actions, such as termination. Adverse actions are obvious, but small pay discrepancy is often difficult to recognize until more than 180 days of the pay change. Ginsburg argued that the broad remedial purpose of the statute was incompatible with the court's "cramped" interpretation. Her dissent asserted that the employer had been, "Knowingly carrying past pay discrimination forward" during the 180-day charging period, and therefore could be held liable.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst identified Goodyear as the 19th-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with roughly 4.16 million lbs of toxins released into the air annually. Major pollutants included sulfuric acid, cobalt compounds, and chlorine.[http://www.peri.umass.edu/Toxic-100-Table.265.0.html Political Economy Research Institute Toxic 100] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001071549/http://www.peri.umass.edu/Toxic-100-Table.265.0.html |date=2011-10-01 }} Retrieved August 14, 2007. The Center for Public Integrity reports that Goodyear has been named as a potentially responsible party in at least 54 of the nation's Superfund toxic waste sites.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}}

On February 8, 2008, Goodyear announced the launch of an environmentally friendly tire produced using a cornstarch-based material. The Goodyear Eagle LS2000 partially replaces the traditional carbon black and silica with filler materials derived from corn starch thanks to "BioTRED compounding technology". The new technology increases the tires "flexibility and resistance to energy loss", which extend the tires life-span and lessen the impact on the environment.{{cite web |url=http://www.goodyear.com.au/public/download.jsp?id=1017 |title=Goodyear Launch Environmentally Friendly Tire With Corn Starch |date=2008-02-08 |access-date=2008-05-06 |publisher=Goodyear |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070903223638/http://www.goodyear.com.au/public/download.jsp?id=1017 |archive-date=September 3, 2007 |df=mdy-all }} Similarly, Goodyear announced on April 22, 2008, that it had joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's SmartWay Transport Partnership. The transport partnership is an attempt between the truck transportation industry and the EPA to reduce air pollution and greenhouse emissions as well as increase energy efficiency. The SmartWay partnership's tractors and trailers will use Goodyear's Fuel Max linehaul tires that increase fuel efficiency while reducing emissions. According to Goodyear and EPA officials "the fuel-efficient line-haul tires deliver up to 4% improved truck fuel economy, and when used with other SmartWay-qualified components, each 18- wheel tractor and trailer used in long-haul can produce savings of up to 4,000 gallons per year, or more than $11,000 annually."[http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/04-22-2008/0004797936&EDATE= "Goodyear Joins U.S. EPA SmartWay Transport Partnership"] April 22, 2008. Accessed May 6, 2008.

On February 24, 2015, Goodyear agreed to pay more than $16 million to settle Foreign Corrupt Practices Act "FCPA" charges that two of its African subsidiaries allegedly paid $3.2 million in bribes that generated $14,122,535 in illicit profits.{{cite news|last1=Pelletier|first1=Paul|last2=Tidman|first2=Aaron|last3=Haviland|first3=Jane|title=Goodyear's Settlement with the SEC Emphasizes the Importance of FCPA Due Diligence in M&A Transactions and of Having a Robust Anti-Corruption Policy|url=http://www.natlawreview.com/article/goodyear-s-settlement-sec-emphasizes-importance-fcpa-due-diligence-ma-transactions-a|access-date=March 2, 2015|publisher=Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.|date=February 25, 2015}} The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission "SEC" FCPA charges involved Goodyear subsidiaries in Kenya and Angola for allegedly paying bribes to government and private-sector workers in exchange for sales in each country.{{cite journal|last=Horn|first=George|date=March 1, 2015|title=M and A Due Diligence Failures: FCPA and Goodyear|url=http://www.natlawreview.com/article/m-and-due-diligence-failures-fcpa-and-goodyear|journal=The National Law Review|publisher=Barnes & Thornburg LLP|access-date=March 2, 2015}} According to the SEC because "Goodyear did not prevent or detect these improper payments because it failed to implement adequate FCPA compliance controls at its subsidiaries" and, for the Kenyan subsidiary, "because it failed to conduct adequate due diligence" prior to its acquisition. It was not alleged that Goodyear had any involvement with or knowledge of its subsidiaries' improper conduct.{{cite news|url=http://www.natlawreview.com/article/goodyear-pays-sins-subsidiaries-16-million-settlement|title=Goodyear Pays for Sins of Subsidiaries in $16 Million Settlement|last1=Mandelker|first1=Sigal P.|date=February 27, 2015|work=National Law Review|access-date=March 2, 2015|publisher=Proskauer Rose LLP|last2=Emert|first2=Rochelle H.|last3=Caraballo-Garrison|first3=Phillip J.|author-link=Sigal Mandelker}}

On August 18, 2020, WIBW, a local CBS-affiliate television station, reported that an internal PowerPoint slide on political attire from a Topeka, Kansas, training seminar was circulating on social media.{{cite news |last1= Shepardson |first1=David |last2=Wolfe |first2=Jan |title=Trump urges Goodyear tire boycott after company bars political attire |url=https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-goodyear-trump/trump-urges-goodyear-tire-boycott-after-company-bars-political-attire-idUKKCN25F1XN |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819171620/https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-goodyear-trump/trump-urges-goodyear-tire-boycott-after-company-bars-political-attire-idUKKCN25F1XN |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 19, 2020 |access-date=19 August 2020 |work=Reuters |date=19 August 2020}} The leaked slide depicted a "zero tolerance" policy towards some political movements.{{cite news |last1=Wheat |first1=Shawn |title=Goodyear responds to zero-tolerance policy slide labeled by employee as discriminatory |url=https://www.wibw.com/2020/08/18/goodyear-employees-say-new-no-tolerance-policy-is-discriminatory/ |access-date=19 August 2020 |work=WIBW |date=18 August 2020}} President Donald Trump called for a boycott of Goodyear tires the following day, as Trump campaign attire such as MAGA hats were among the banned products.{{Cite news|url=https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/trump-calls-for-boycott-of-goodyear-accuses-company-of-banning-his-campaign-hats/wcm/a767b1ad-bb7f-41e4-9423-fea4bef9a073/|title=Trump calls for boycott of Goodyear, accuses company of banning his campaign hats|newspaper=National Post|date=August 19, 2020|access-date=August 19, 2020}} Goodyear responded via Twitter, stating "the visual in question was not created or distributed by Goodyear corporate, nor was it part of a diversity training class".{{cite tweet |user=goodyear |number=1296111292827283462 |date=Aug 19, 2020 |title=Response from Goodyear }} Following release of the audio that went with the slide,{{cite news |last1=Isaac French |last2=Shawn Wheat |title=New audio from the Goodyear training on their zero-tolerance policy |url=https://www.wibw.com/2020/08/19/new-audio-from-the-goodyear-training-on-their-zero-tolerance-policy/ |access-date=22 August 2020 |work=WIBW-TV CBS |date=19 August 2020 |quote=black lives matter or LGBTQ pride on their face coverings, shirts or wristbands. That will be deemed approved because it applies with a zero-tolerance stance,” the speaker said during the meeting. “However if any associate wears all, blue, white lives matter shirts or face coverings, that will be not appropriate.”}} Goodyear admitted the slide was used at its Topeka factory.{{cite tweet|number=1296522073637101569|user=goodyear|title=A message from Rich Kramer: By now,...|date=August 20, 2020}}

Defective tires are suspected to be the cause of multiple truck accidents and fatal injuries that occurred in France, Spain and other European countries in the 2010s, according to an investigation published in the French daily Le Monde in March 2024.{{Cite journal|language=fr|author1=Gérard Davet|author2=Fabrice Lhomme|title=Goodyear facing a global scandal tire bursts|periodical=Le Monde|date=2024-03-26|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2024/03/26/goodyear-le-manufacturier-americain-face-to-the-global-tire-burst-scandal_6224310_3224.html|access-date=2024-03-31|url-access=subscription}} According to the journalists, although Goodyear was aware of the problems, it did not recognize them. While the company quietly withdrew defective tires from the market and offered indemnities to the family of victims, it did not initially recognize the tires were defective and did not implement the European Union rapid alert system for unsafe consumer products, called Rapex.[https://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2024/03/29/les-rappels-produits-deguises-une-faille-dans-la-protection-des-consommateurs_6224938_4355770.html Le Monde]

{{Main|Goodyear Blimp}}

File:Goodyear Blimp N3A Wingfoot Three (51356389970).jpg

The Goodyear Blimps are a fleet of airships used mainly for advertising purposes and capturing aerial views of live sporting events for television.{{cite web|title=Blimp Schedule|url=https://www.goodyearblimp.com/news-and-events/schedule.html|access-date=July 4, 2017|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704004455/https://www.goodyearblimp.com/news-and-events/schedule.html|archive-date= July 4, 2017}} The Pilgrim in 1925 was Goodyear's first blimp used for advertising.

Beginning in 2014, Goodyear began retiring their GZ-20 airships and replacing them with the Zeppelin NT.{{cite press release|title=Iconic Goodyear Blimp Retires after Daytona 500 |url=http://www.goodyear.com/cfmx/web/corporate/media/news/story.cfm?a_id=1000 |publisher=Goodyear |date=February 24, 2014 |access-date=February 26, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140315160114/http://www.goodyear.com/cfmx/web/corporate/media/news/story.cfm?a_id=1000 |archive-date= March 15, 2014 }}{{cite press release |author= |title=Goodyear Blimp "Spirit of America" Retires; Transition To High Tech Fleet Continues |url=http://www.goodyearblimp.com/news-and-events/soa-retires-7-26-15.html |publisher=Goodyear |date=July 26, 2015 |access-date=July 31, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150807005019/http://www.goodyearblimp.com/news-and-events/soa-retires-7-26-15.html |archive-date=August 7, 2015 }} Wingfoot One, the first semi-rigid Zeppelin in Goodyear's U.S. fleet, was christened on August 23, 2014, at the Wingfoot Lake Airship Hangar near Akron.{{cite news|author=Cohen, Aubrey|date=August 25, 2014|title=Goodyear's New 'Wingfoot One Cody B' Isn't a Blimp|url=http://www.seattlepi.com/national/article/Goodyear-s-new-Wingfoot-One-isn-t-a-blimp-5711498.php|work=Seattle Post-Intelligencer|publisher=Hearst Seattle Media, LLC|access-date=September 4, 2014}} The fleet consists of Wingfoot One, based in Pompano Beach, Florida;{{cite web|author=FAA|date=2014|title=N-Number Inquiry Results: N1A|url=http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=N1A|work=FAA Registry – registry.faa.gov|publisher=Federal Aviation Administration|access-date=September 9, 2014|quote=N-Number: N1A... Status: Valid... Certificate Issue Date: 08/27/2014...|archive-date=June 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180624093136/http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNum_Results.aspx?NNumbertxt=N1A|url-status=dead}} Wingfoot Two, based in Carson, California; and Wingfoot Three, based in Suffield, Ohio.{{cite news | url=https://www.ohio.com/akron/business/goodyears-wingfoot-three-airship-debuts-on-first-day-of-summer | title=Goodyear's Wingfoot Three airship debuts on first day of summer | newspaper=Akron Beacon Journal }}

1. D. E. Holl, 1898–1899
2. R. C. Penfield, 1899–1903
3. L. C. Miles, 1903–1906
4. Frank A. Seiberling, 1906–1921
5. E. G. Wilmer, 1921–1923
6. G. M. Stadelman, 1923–1926
7. Paul W. Litchfield, 1926–1940
8. Edwin J. Thomas, 1940–1958
9. Russell DeYoung, 1958–1971
10. Victor Holt Jr., 1971–1972
11. Charles J. Pilliod Jr., 1972–1974
12. John H. Gerstenmaier, 1974–1978
13. Robert E. Mercer, 1978–1982
14. Tom H. Barrett, 1982–

1. Paul W. Litchfield, 1930–1958
2. E. J. Thomas, 1958–1964
3. Russell DeYoung, 1964–1974
4. Charles J. Pilliod Jr., 1974–1983
5. Robert E. Mercer, 1983–

{{Portal|Companies}}

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{{Reflist|30em}}

• Richard Korman. The Goodyear Story: An Inventor's Obsession and the Struggle for a Rubber Monopoly (2002)
• Ronald P. Conlin; "Goodyear Advertising Research: Past, Present and Future" Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 34, 1994. The real story of Goodyear.

{{Commons category|Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company}}

• {{official|https://www.goodyear.com}}

{{Finance links

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| bloomberg = GT:US

| sec_cik = 42582

| yahoo = GT

| google = GT:NASDAQ

}}

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