Hercules Inc. - History

History

Hercules Inc. was started by T.W. Bacchus in 1912. They made a lot of different products, and when WWI came along they made a lot of material for the war effort. T.W. has a school named after him in Bacchus,Utah,now called Magna.

By the 1960s, the community was experiencing the first signs of a suburban transition. The Hercules Powder Co., once a small dynamite manufacturing firm, had begun producing rocket motors at its Bacchus Works south of the Magna community, named after 1912 founder T.W. Bacchus. The increased jobs were one factor encouraging subdivision development in the Magna, Kearns and West Valley areas.

Hercules, Inc. was the defendant in a 1989 lawsuit stemming from a 1976 contract with Brown Machine after James Miller, a Hercules employee, injured himself using a trim press used to make Cool Whip bowls. Miller originally sued Brown directly, as it was the manufacturer of the equipment. Brown settled the suit for nearly $160,000 before it went to trial. It subsequently sued Hercules to recover the cost of the settlement with Miller, alleging that the original contract contained an indemnification clause. Brown prevailed against Hercules at trial, but Hercules successfully appealed.

By the end of the 1990s, Hercules, Inc., had sold off a signicant number of its divisions that had not been profitable for the company. This has caused the price of shares of common stock in Hercules to rise above 70 dollars. Also, several successful cost-savings programs were implemented in addition of corporate buying its own shares. Also at that time, Hercules had a significant amount of assets available for possible purchases of other corporations. Hercules, Inc., had a Paper Technology Division (PTD) whose products were slowly becoming commodities. In order to survive, this division needed to obtain new products.

First, Hercules, Inc., tried to purchase the Allied Colloids Company, but this was not successful. Next, Hercules bought the Betz-Dearborn Corporation. Betz-Dearborn produced mostly chemicals for paper processing, and the Hercules PTD produced mainly functional chemicals for paper. According to some business analysts, Hercules, Inc., paid about three times as much for Betz-Dearborn as compared with its actual value.

Soon after the purchase of Betz-Dearborn, the price per share of stock in Hercules, Inc., had dropped from above $70 to below $10 (ten dollars). It has been also speculated that Hercules, Inc., was close going bankrupt after this failed purchase operation. Afterwards, several senior managers were forced out of the company because of this failure, however significant amount former PTD´s senior managers were able to keep their position within Hercules. The price of stock shares in Hercules, Inc., has never recovered from this debacle. Finally, Hercules, Inc., was sold off to the Ashland Corporation.

The history of Hercules Inc. was recently the subject of the song "Hercules", by San Francisco-based poet and rapper George Watsky who, in the song, claims he is an heir.