History
In the wake of the landmark 1948 U.S. Supreme Court antitrust ruling, United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., all the major Hollywood movie studios, including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), were ordered to sell off the movie theater chains they owned and operated.
New York City hotel developers Robert and Laurence Tisch purchased a large stake in the Loews chain from MGM in 1959. By the summer of 1960 they had gained control of the company, and the brothers became co-chairmen. The Loew's theaters were aging and not suited to then-current trends which anticipated the multiplex. The theaters were on valuable city property, and almost immediately the Tisch brothers began demolishing them (hastening the end of the classic movie theater palaces from the Golden Age of Hollywood) and selling the vacant lots to developers. They continued running the Loews theater chain until 1985.
The Tisch brothers soon diversified the Loews business, successfully venturing into a variety of areas as the 1960s and 1970s progressed. Loews acquired Lorillard, a tobacco company, in 1968; CNA Financial in 1974, and the Bulova watch company in 1979. Through acquisitions, Loews' revenues grew from $100 million in 1970 to more than $3 billion by a decade later.
Laurence Tisch briefly owned, through Loews, a significant portion of US television and radio broadcaster CBS in the 1980s. Tisch was a controversial owner of CBS and made many unpopular cost-cutting moves. Loews involvement in CBS ended in 1995, with the sale of CBS to Westinghouse Electric Corporation for $5.4 billion.
By 2002, the corporation had revenues of more than $17 billion and assets of more than $70 billion.
On May 10, 2006 Loews Corporation announced that it would offer 15 million shares of Carolina Group via a public offering, with the proceeds to be used for general corporate purposes. The sale's value was $740 million.
On June 4, 2007 Loews Corporation announced it would acquire a portion of the operations of Dominion Resources for 4.03 billion dollars.
Loews Corporation was the parent company of Bulova Watches until 2007.
On December 17, 2007, Loews Corporation announced a plan to spin off its entire ownership interest in its subsidiary, Lorillard, Inc., to holders of Carolina Group stock and Loews common stock.
Read more about this topic: Loews Corporation
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