This Month in History: Johnson Controls acquires Hoover Universal
May 12, 1985: Key product lines included auto seats and blow molded plastic containers
On May 12, 1985, Hoover Universal, Inc. officially became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Johnson Controls. The proposed merger had been jointly announced a couple of months earlier, on March 4, by Fred Brengel, CEO of Johnson Controls, and John Daly, CEO of Hoover. Hoover's shareholders approved the transaction at a meeting on May 10 and agreed to exchange each share of Hoover stock for a .8381 share of Johnson stock.
At the time of the merger, Hoover employed more than 8,000 employees in 57 plants worldwide and had annual sales of $845 million. Key Hoover product lines included complete automotive seats (which would become Johnson's Automotive Seating Division, the forerunner to the Automotive Experience Group) and blow molded plastic containers, which would become Johnson Controls' Plastic Container Division.
As a result of the merger, Johnson Controls emerged as the leading independent manufacturer of seating for cars and light trucks and the leading market supplier of plastic bottles.