DuPont
From SourceWatch
 | This article is part of the Global corporations portal on SourceWatch. |
 | |
| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1802 |
| Founder(s) | Eleuthère Irénée du Pont |
| Headquarters | Delaware, USA |
| Industry | Industrial production and manipulation of chemicals, plastics, and rubber |
| Products | Neoprene, Nylon resins, Teflon, Delrin, Mylar, Kevlar, Nomex, Zemdrain, Corian, Tyvek, Nafion, and other industrio-chemical products |
| Revenue | ▲$29.4 Billion USD (2007) |
| Net income | ▲$2.988 Billion USD (2007) |
| Employees | 60,000 |
| Website | www.dupont.com |
DuPont is an american chemical corporation founded in 1802 by french chemist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours, who immigrated to the United States circa 1799. It is one of the world's largest chemical companies thanks to its presence in over 70 countries, its employment of over 59,000 people, and its revenue of almost 29.5 billion USD in the year 2007 alone[1]. DuPont offers a wide range of products and services for ecclectic markets including agriculture, nutrition, electronics, communications, safety and protection, home and construction, as well as transportation and apparel. The corporation has been critiqued at length in Gerard Colby's classic Du Pont Dynasty: Behind the Nylon Curtain (Lyle Stuart, 1984).
- Richard Goodmanson - chief operating officer
Contents |
Company History
Established in 1802 as an explosives company it evolved into one of the largest chemical companies in the world. With growing unpopularity of the chemical industry, DuPont seeks to portray itself as providing "science-based solutions" in materials used in everyday applications.
On its website DuPont states that it has "become one of the world's most innovative companies" and that its "core values have remained constant: commitment to safety, health and the environment; high ethical standards; and treating people with respect." [2]
For a complete overview and and interactive timeline highlighting DuPont's most relevant historical facts:[2]
Historical Financial Information
Presented in USD, unless indicated otherwise.
| 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue (millions of USD) | 30,653.0 | 28,982.0 | 28,491.0 |
| Gross Profit ($ mil.) | 9,088.0 | 8,542.0 | 8,790.0 |
| Operating Income ($ mil.) | 4,173.0 | 3,789.0 | 4,076.0 |
| Total Net Income ($ mil.) | 2,988.0 | 3,148.0 | 2,053.0 |
For more historical financial data: [3]
Business Strategy
According to its website DuPont's "vision is to be the world's most dynamic science company, creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer and healthier life for people everywhere."
DuPont's business strategy can be outlined through its five major production and marketing platforms:
- Electronic and Communication Technologies
- Performance Materials
- Coatings and Color Technologies
- Safety and Protection
- Agriculture and Nutrition
For a more elaborate outlook on these platforms, please view the "Business Scope" section and visit the following page: [4]
WORLDWIDE PRESENCE
Here's a list of DuPont operating locations throughout the world.
- North America
Canada, Mexico, United States
- Latin America
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Venezuela
- Europe and the Middle East
Abu Dhabi, Albania, Austria, Belgium (België/Belgique), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia , Czech Republic, Denmark, Dubai, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany (Deutschland), Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, MacedoniaMontenegro The Netherlands (Nederland), Norway,Poland,Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovenia,Spain,Sweden,Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom.
- Africa
South Africa, Zimbabwe
- Asia-Pacific
Australia,China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam.
Political and Public Influence
Paragraph information
Political Contributions
Lobbying
Corporate Accountability
Labor
Human Rights
Environment
In March 2002 the then West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection spokesman, Andy Gallagher, drafted a media release to inform residents in Wood County, West Virginia, that the toxic chemical C8 (also known as PFOA) was in air emissions from DuPont's Parkersburg plant. In a deposition as part of a class action suit by residents Gallagher stated that Dee Ann Staats, a toxicologist working as the departments' science adviser, insisted that all statements relating to C8 emissions were to be vetted by DuPont.
Gallagher's testimony, obtained from the federal Environment Protection Agency under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal when Gallagher issued the statement without the approval of Staats or the company, DuPont went all out to kill the release. A DuPont PR official, Dawn Jackson, contacted Ann Bradley, a lawyer with Spilman Thomas & Battle who represent DuPont. After lobbying from the company, Gallagher withdrew the media release. [3]
Consumer Protection and Product Safety
"On Jan. 11, 2005, DuPont publicists invited reporters to the company's Washington Works plant south of Parkersburg (West Virginia) for a major announcement," reported the Charleston Gazette. DuPont claimed that a new study proved "there are no known human health effects associated with exposure to PFOA," also known as C8, a chemical used in Teflon and other nonstick products. DuPont promoted the study "as having the seal of approval from ... independent experts from various universities, including John Hopkins and Yale." But those experts disagreed with DuPont's characterization of the study. Professor David Wegman emailed, "We were unanimous in believing that the results do show a health effect," pointing to "significantly elevated values" for cholesterol among workers with PFOA exposure. Wegman's email and other correspondence were made public in late 2007 as part of a lawsuit over PFOA pollution in Salem County, N.J. The independent scientists supposedly advising DuPont warned the company that "we question the basis of DuPont's public expression asserting that PFOA does not pose a risk to health." [4]
In June 2005, the state of Rhode Island agreed to drop DuPont from its lawsuit against former makers of lead paint. As part of the deal, which likely saved the chemical company billions, DuPont agreed to donate $9 million to the Children's Health Forum, for efforts geared to avoid childhood exposure to lead. [5]
In August 2006, the Associated Press reported that the Children's Health Forum was founded by Dr. Benjamin Hooks, a consultant hired by DuPont, "to help the company address childhood lead poisoning." The group was initially incorporated as a lobbying group, but later became a nonprofit charity. Most of the money raised by the group has come from DuPont. Several board members have ties to DuPont; executive director Olivia Morgan works for the PR firm Dewey Square Group, which counts DuPont among its clients. Yet, the Children's Health Forum group claimed to act independently of DuPont. [6]
Clean government activists said that DuPont's settlement should have gone to the state. "The fact that DuPont now is going to have such control over this process does not sound right," said Robert Arruda of the Rhode Island group Operation Clean Government. [7]
In August 2008 Governor Joe Manchin III of West Virginia filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that the State Supreme Court should review a $382 million judgment against the DuPont Company, as part of the largest civil penalty ever levied against the company. A jury in Harrison County, West Virginia, ordered DuPont to pay nearly $382 million to monitor nearly 8,000 residents in the area for signs of cancer, to clean up the site and pay punitive damages for dumping toxic arsenic, cadmium and lead in the vicinities of its local plant. Various documents prove that the governor met with the vice president of DuPont and one of the company’s lawyers to discuss the appeal, as well as with the company's chairman and chief executive, Charles O. Holliday Jr., on Nov. 20, 2007, less than a month after the original verdict.
Shortly before the governor filed his brief, DuPont lawyers provided his office with two draft briefs that made many of the same arguments he later used in his brief, documents show.
"It was the first time a West Virginia governor had taken such action in a case in which the state was not a party, one expert said, and Mr. Manchin’s actions angered plaintiffs, who argued that the executive branch was inappropriately pressuring the judicial branch."[5]
Anti-Trust and Tax Practices
Social Responsibility Initiatives
Business Scope
Financial Information (as of DATE)
All of the information presented below is in USD, unless indicated otherwise[6]
| Quarter Ending Jun 08 | Quarter Ending Mar 08 | Quarter Ending Dec 07 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue ($ mil.) | 9,376.0 | 8,770.0 | 7,213.0 |
| Gross Profit ($ mil.) | 2,950.0 | 2,814.0 | 1,864.0 |
| Operating Income ($ mil.) | 1,603.0 | 1,550.0 | 603.0 |
| Total Net Income ($ mil.) | 1,078.0 | 1,191.0 | 545.0 |
Detailed income statement[7]
Governance
- Chares Holliday, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
- Alain Belda, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alcoa
- Richard H. Brown, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of EDS
- Curtis J. Crawford President and Chief Executive Officer of XCEO, Inc.
- John T. Dillon Retired Chairman and CEO of International Paper
- Louisa C. Duemling
- Lois D. Juliber, Retired Vice Chairman of Colgate-Palmolive Co.
- Masahisa Naitoh, Chairman and CEO of The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan
- Sean O'Keefe, Chancellor of Louisiana State University
- William K. Reilly, President and CEO, Aqua International Partners LP
- H. Rodney Sharp, III
- Charles M. Vest, President Emeritus and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Contact Information
DuPont Building
1007 Market Street
Wilmington, DE 19898
Web:www.dupont.com/
Articles and Resources
Books on the Company
Related SourceWatch Articles
- Children's Health Forum
- Climate Action Partnership
- Donald K. Ross
- DuPont and Nanotechnology
- DuPont Covers Up Grease Proof Paper Coatings Toxicity
- Environmental Defense Dances With DuPont On Nanotechnology
- Front groups
- M+R Strategic Services
- Precautionary principle
- Responsible Care
- Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
- The Weinberg Group
- Dewey Square Group
Sources
- ↑ "DuPont facts"
- ↑ "DuPont history: interactive timeline"
- ↑ [1] "DuPont financial data years 2005-2007"]
- ↑ "Outline of DuPont's five business platforms"
- ↑ "Files Show Governor Intervened With Court in favor of DuPont"
- ↑ "DuPont Financial Info 2008"
- ↑ "Detailed income statement for 2008"
External Resources
External links
- DuPontSafetyRevealed website launched in February 2006 by The United Steelworkers union features an interactive "Toxic Map" that pinpoints where the chemical giant may be putting communities at risk of chemical exposure.
- Ken Ward Jr., "DuPont lawyer edited DEP's C8 media releases", WVGazettemail.com, July 03, 2005. (Registration requiured). (This is the online version of the Charleston Gazette from West Virginia).
- Michelle R. Smith, "Group to get $9 million in DuPont deal has close ties to company," Associated Press, August 3, 2006.
- Nicholas Varchaver, "Chemical reaction: From gunpowder to polymers, DuPont has survived by adapting. Now the company is in the midst of its most audacious transformation. The goal: to improve the environment and make a fortune doing it," Fortune, March 22, 2007.
- Ken Ward Jr., "DuPont distorted C8 study, scientists say," The Charleston Gazette (West Virginia), October 14, 2007.
