Sunbeam Products - Purchases and Acquisitions

Purchases and Acquisitions

Sunbeam bought out the Rain King Sprinkler Company and produced one of the most popular lawn sprinkler lines of the 1950s and 1960s. Meanwhile, Sunbeam continued to expand outside of Chicago. By the end of the 1970s, as the leading American manufacturer of small appliances, Sunbeam enjoyed about $1.3 billion in annual sales and employed nearly 30,000 people worldwide. The John Oster Manufacturing Company was acquired in 1960 by Sunbeam Corporation. In 1981, after Sunbeam was bought by Allegheny International Inc. of Pittsburgh, most of the Chicago-area factories were closed and the headquarters moved from the Chicago region. During this time the companies Allegheny controlled included John Zink Company (manufactured air pollution control devices) and Hanson Scale (manufactured bathroom scales and other balance machines).

Allegheny's 4 principal divisions, including Sunbeam, went into decline through the mid-1980s. Since Sunbeam-Oster was one of the most important divisions, responsible for nearly half of all sales, the stockholders were very concerned about the leadership. In 1986, the stockholders accused the Chairman and CEO, Robert Buckley of mis-appropriating funds. Buckley's successor, Oliver Travers, downsized considerably and by 1988, the company was essentially just Sunbeam and Oster. The decline continued aided by the stock market crash of October 1987 and Allegheny filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In the fall of 1989 an investment group called Japonica Partners purchased the remains of Allegheny for $250 million ($463 million today) in hostile takeover. The company was renamed Sunbeam-Oster Company, Inc. At this point the business was then divided into 4 divisions: Outdoor Products, Household Products, Specialty Products, and International Sales. The company headquarters were moved again from Pittsburgh to Providence, Rhode Island and then finally to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. By late 1991, Sunbeam-Oster's sales had increased 7% enabling it to make the Fortune 500 list.