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Weyerhaeuser Company

Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: WY S&P 500 Component
Industry	Forest Products
Founded	1900, Longview, Washington, USA
Headquarters	Federal Way, Washington, USA
Key people	Daniel S. Fulton (CEO)
Revenue	US$7.1 billion (2012)[1]
Net income	US$385 million (2012)[1]
Employees	13,200[1]
Website	www.weyerhaeuser.com

Weyerhaeuser is one of the world's largest private owners of timberlands. It owns or controls more than 6 million acres of timberlands, primarily in the U.S., and manages another 14 million acres under long-term licenses in Canada. It is also one of the largest manufacturers of wood and cellulose fibers products, and it develops real estate, primarily as a builder of single-family homes. Weyerhaeuser Company is a real estate investment trust.^[1]

History [edit]

In January 1900, Frederick Weyerhaeuser founded^[2] Weyerhaeuser Timber Company with 15 partners and 900,000 acres (3,600 km²) of Washington timberland ^[3] purchased from James J. Hill of the Great Northern Railway.^[4] In 1929, the company built what was then the world's largest sawmill in Longview, Washington. Weyerhaeuser's pulp mill in Longview, which began production in 1931, sustained the company financially during the Great Depression. In 1959, the company eliminated the word "Timber" from its name to better reflect its operations. In 1965, Weyerhaeuser built its first bleached kraft pulp mill in Canada. Weyerhaeuser implemented its High Yield Forestry Plan in 1967 which drew upon 30 years of forestry research and field experience. It called for the planting of seedlings within one year of a harvest, soil fertilization, thinning, rehabilitation of brushlands, and, eventually, genetic improvement of trees.

Weyerhaeuser consolidated its core businesses in the late 1990s and ended its services in mortgage banking, personal care products, financial services, and information systems consulting. Weyerhaeuser also expanded into South America, Australia, and Asia. In 1999, Weyerhaeuser purchased MacMillan Bloedel Limited, a large Canadian forestry company. Then in 2002 after a protracted hostile buyout, the company acquired Willamette Industries, Inc. of Portland, Oregon.^[5] On August 23, 2006, Weyerhaeuser announced a deal which spun off its fine paper business to be combined with Domtar, a $3.3 billion cash and stock deal leaving Weyerhaeuser stock holders with 55 percent ownership of the new Domtar company.

In March 2008, Weyerhaeuser Company announced the sale of its Containerboard Packaging and Recycling business to International Paper for $6 billion in cash, subject to post closing adjustments. The transaction included nine containerboard mills, 72 packaging locations, 10 specialty-packaging plants, four kraft bag and sack locations and 19 recycling facilities. The transaction affected approximately 14,300 employees.^[6]

In late 2008 Weyerhaeuser created a wholly owned subsidiary, Weyerhaeuser NR, to contain its non-timber business activities including, among others, the Cellulose Fibers and iLevel businesses, and hold ownership of the company's vast timber lands. Weyerhaeuser NR's corporate articles on file with the Washington State Secretary of state authorize the issue of 200 shares of general stock by Weyerhaeuser NR, but it is unknown at this time whether such shares have issued or who holds them. Weyerhaeuser NR's board of directors and officers are all also officers or directors of the parent company. Separating these businesses was necessary to facilitate the company's transition into a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), which it announced on December 15, 2009.^[7]

Weyerhaeuser underperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 in total shareholder return both in 2008 and over the previous five years.^[8] According to Peter Robison and Christopher Donville of Bloomberg News, as reported in the Seattle Times (April 17, 2009), "Weyerhaeuser is in a financial crisis so deep the largest U.S. lumber producer turns down the heat in its offices to save money..."^[9] On September 28, 2009, Moody's reported Weyerhauser's proposed new notes rated at Ba1,^[10] a rating that puts them with junk bonds.^[11] S&P rated Weyerhaeuser's credit at BBB- and downgraded Weyerhaeuser stock from stable to negative on December 16, 2009.^[12]

Operations [edit]

The company's operations are divided into four major business segments:

• Timberlands — Growing and harvesting trees in renewable cycles.
• Wood Products — Manufacturing and distribution of building materials for homes and other structures.
• Pulp and Paper — Produces newsprint, liquid packaging board and pulp used in absorbent products.
• Real Estate — Builds homes and develops land. Weyerhaeuser has six subsidiaries collectively called Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Company or WRECO, the largest of which is Pardee Homes.

North Carolina TOSA Program [edit]

Weyerhaeuser also offers teachers the opportunity to experience life outside their classrooms during their summer breaks. The North Carolina TOSA Program, Teachers on Summer Assignment, offers a variety of internships to teachers, featuring such activities as forestry research, assisting in the pine nurseries, and reptile/amphibian tracking (to name a few). This six-week paid program provides teachers with insight on the business and its principles of sustainable pine farming and encourages the teachers to develop curricula for use in their classrooms that are not only aligned with the standard courses of study, but also include favorable views on Weyerhaeuser's tree farm management practices.

Corporate governance [edit]

The Weyerhaeuser board of directors consists of: Debra A. Cafaro, Mark Emmert, Daniel S. Fulton, John W. Kieckhefer, Wayne W. Murdy, Nicole Piasecki, Doyle R. Simons, Richard Sinkfield, D. Michael Steuert, Kim Williams, and Charles Williamson.

Environmental record [edit]

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have identified Weyerhaeuser as the 63rd-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with roughly 17.5 million pounds of toxic air released annually into the air.^[13] Major pollutants indicated by the study include formaldehyde, sulfuric acid, acetaldehyde, manganese compounds, and chlorine dioxide. ^[14] The Environmental Protection Agency has named it a potentially responsible party for at least 18 Superfund toxic waste sites.^[15] Weyerhaeuser is also the defendant in a number of lawsuits from former employees related to its ownership of the Roddis Plywood Company plant in Marshfield, WI, a facility that used raw asbestos fiber during the 1960s and 70s in the production of fireproof doors^[16][17]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Weyerhaeuser (official website)
• Weyerhaeuser 2008 SEC Form 10K (annual report)
• Historical Annual Reports for Weyerhaeuser