History
Founded in 1906 by Polish immigrant Jacob Sapirstein (1885–1987), who sold cards from a horse-drawn cart, American Greetings has been run by members of the family since its inception. Irving I. Stone (Sapirstein's oldest son, who changed his surname to Stone) was stuffing envelopes at age five, handling the business during his father's illness when he was nine, and worked for the company full-time upon leaving high school. He was succeeded as CEO by his son-in-law Morry Weiss in 1987, and took the title "Founder-Chairman" previously held by his father, when Weiss became chairman in 1992, before dying in 2000. In 1993, American Greetings began sponsoring the Entertainment Tonight "ET Birthdays", and remained sponsor until 2000, when competitor Hallmark Cards took over sponsorship.
In 2003 Morry Weiss's sons Zev and Jeffrey became CEO and President respectively; Morry Weiss remains Chairman. In early 2007, American Greetings replaced Kellogg's as the sponsor for Dragon Tales. American Greetings has also branched out onto the Internet, and owns a network of websites. On October 25, 2007, it announced the purchase of Webshots from CNET for $45 million in cash.
In 2010, American Greetings announced that they will be moving their headquarters out of Brooklyn, OH, and relocating to a new facility at Crocker Park within the city of Westlake, Ohio.
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