traded as nyse x industry steel founded march 2 1901 ; 115 years ago 1901 03 02 by merger buyout of carnegie steel by elbert gary william moore j. p. morgan headquarters u.s. steel tower pittsburgh pennsylvania united states area served worldwide key people david s. sutherland chairman mario longhi president and ceo products flat rolled steel tubular steel services consulting revenue us 11.574 billion 2015 1 operating income us 1.055 billion 2015 1 net income us 1.508 billion 2015 1 total assets us 9.326 billion 2015 1 total equity us 2.546 billion 2015 1 number of employees 37 000 1 website ussteel.com the united states steel corporation nyse x more commonly known as u.s. steel is an american integrated steel producer with major production operations in the united states canada and central europe . the company was the world s 15th largest steel producer in 2014 . the company was renamed usx corporation in 1986 and back to united states steel corporation in 2001 when the company spun off the oil & gas business of marathon oil and the steel business of u.s. steel to shareholders . in 2001 it was still the largest domestically owned integrated steel producer in the united states although it produced only slightly more steel than it did in 1902 after significant downsizing in the 1980s . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 formation 1.2 mid century 1.3 the usx period 1.4 recent history 1.5 northampton & bath railroad 1.6 inclusion in the dow jones industrial average 1901 1991 1.7 dividend history 2 legal issues 2.1 labor 2.2 environmental record 3 legacy 3.1 u.s. steel tower 3.2 pittsburgh steelers logo 3.3 fabrication of chicago picasso sculpture 3.4 united states steel hour television program 3.5 real estate development 4 facilities 5 presidents and ceos 6 see also 7 references 8 bibliography 9 external links history edit formation edit j. p. morgan and attorney elbert h. gary founded u.s. steel on march 2 1901 incorporated on february 25 3 by combining andrew carnegie s carnegie steel company with gary s federal steel company and william henry judge moore s national steel company 4 5 for 492 million 13.99 billion today . at one time u.s. steel was the largest steel producer and largest corporation in the world . it was capitalized at 1.4 billion 39.82 billion today 2 making it the world s first billion dollar corporation . 6 the company headquarters was established in 1901 in the empire building purchased from the estate of orlando b. potter for 5 million . 7 in 1907 it bought its largest competitor the tennessee coal iron and railroad company which was headquartered in birmingham alabama . this led to tennessee coal s being replaced in the dow jones industrial average by the general electric company . the federal government attempted to use federal antitrust laws to break up u.s. steel in 1911 but that effort ultimately failed . in its first full year of operation u.s. steel made 67 percent of all the steel produced in the united states . one hundred years later its shipments accounted for only about 8 percent of domestic consumption . 2 the corporation as it was known on wall street 2 always distinguished itself to investors by virtue of its size rather than for its efficiency or creativeness during its heyday . in 1901 it controlled two thirds of steel production . 2 because of heavy debts taken on at the company s formation carnegie insisted on being paid in gold bonds for his stake and fears of antitrust litigation u.s. steel moved cautiously . competitors often innovated faster especially bethlehem steel run by u.s. steel s former first president charles m. schwab . u.s. steel s share of the expanding market slipped to 50 percent by 1911 . 2 james a. farrell was named president in 1911 and served until 1932 . mid century edit u.s. steel ranked 16th among united states corporations in the value of world war ii production contracts . 8 production peaked at more than 35 million tons in 1953 . its employment was greatest in 1943 when it had more than 340 000 employees ; by 2000 however it employed 52 500 people . 2 the federal government has also intervened on other occasions to try to control u.s. steel . president harry s. truman attempted to take over its steel mills in 1952 to resolve a crisis with its union the united steelworkers of america . the supreme court blocked the takeover by ruling that the president did not have the constitutional authority to seize the mills see youngstown sheet & tube co. v. sawyer . 9 president john f. kennedy was more successful in 1962 when he pressured the steel industry into reversing price increases that kennedy considered dangerously inflationary . 10 the u.s. steel tower in downtown pittsburgh . the usx period edit in the early days of the reagan administration steel firms won substantial tax breaks in order to deal with imported goods . instead of modernizing their mills steel companies shifted capital out of steel and into more profitable areas . in march 1982 u.s. steel took its concessions and paid 1.4 billion in cash and 4.7 billion in loans for marathon oil saving approximately 500 million in taxes through the merger . the architect of tax concessions to steel firms senator arlen specter r pa complained that we go out on a limb in congress and we feel they should be putting it in steel . 11 the incident is the subject of a song by folk singer anne feeney . the federal government prevented u.s. steel from acquiring national steel in 1984 and political pressure from the united states congress as well as the united steelworkers usw forced the company to abandon plans to import british steel corporation slabs . 2 u.s. steel finally acquired national steel s assets in 2003 after national steel went bankrupt . as part of its diversification plan u.s. steel acquired marathon oil on january 7 1982 as well as texas oil and gas several years later . recognizing its new scope it reorganized its holdings as usx corporation in 1986 with u.s. steel renamed uss inc. as a major subsidiary . 12 about 22 000 usx employees stopped work on august 1 1986 after the united steelworkers of america and the company could not agree on new employee contract terms . this was characterized by the company as a strike and by the union as a lockout . this resulted in most usx facilities becoming idle until february 1 1987 seriously degrading the steel division s market share . a compromise was brokered and accepted by the union membership on january 31 1987 . 13 on february 4 1987 three days after the agreement had been reached to end the work stoppage usx announced that four usx plants would remain closed permanently eliminating about 3 500 union jobs . 13 the closure of many plants created the term rust belt for a region of idle and derilect factories . corporate raider carl icahn launched a hostile takeover of the steel giant in late 1986 in the midst of the work stoppage . he conducted separate negotiations with the union and with management and proceeded to have proxy battles with shareholders and management until abandoning all efforts to buy the company out on january 8 1987 a few weeks before union employees returned to work . 13 recent history edit the u.s. steel tower in new york city now liberty plaza . at the end of the twentieth century the corporation found itself deriving much of its revenue and net income from its energy operations . led by ceo thomas usher u.s. steel spun off marathon and other non steel assets except railroad company transtar in october 2001 and expanded internationally for the first time by purchasing operations in slovakia and serbia . 14 in the early 2010s u.s. steel began investing to upgrade software programs throughout their manufacturing facilities . 15 in january 2012 u.s. steel sold its loss making serbian mills outside belgrade to the serbian government . 16 on may 2 2014 u.s. steel announced an undisclosed number of layoffs affecting employees worldwide . 17 on july 2 2014 u.s. steel was removed from s & p 500 index and placed in the s & p midcap 400 index in light of its declining market capitalization . 18 northampton & bath railroad edit u.s. steel once owned the northampton & bath railroad . 19 the n & b was an 11 kilometer 6.8 mi short line railroad built in 1904 that served atlas cement in northampton pennsylvania and keystone cement in bath pennsylvania . 20 by 1979 cement shipments had dropped off such that the railroad was no longer economically viable and the line was abandoned . a 1.5 kilometer 0.93 mi section of track was retained to serve atlas cement . the remainder of the right of way was transformed into the nor bath trail . 21 inclusion in the dow jones industrial average 1901 1991 edit u.s. steel is a former dow jones industrial average component listed from april 1 1901 to may 3 1991 . it was removed under its usx corporation name with navistar international and primerica . 22 an original member of the s & p 500 since 1957 u.s. steel was removed from that index on july 2 2014 due to declining market capitalization . 18 23 dividend history edit the board of directors considers the declaration of dividends four times each year with checks for dividends declared on common stock mailed for receipt on 10 march june september and december . in 2008 the dividend was 0.30 per share the highest in company history but on april 27 2009 it was reduced to 0.05 per share . 24 dividends may be paid by mailed check direct electronic deposit into a bank account or be reinvested in additional shares of u.s. steel common stock . 25 legal issues edit labor edit u.s. steel maintained the labor policies of andrew carnegie which called for low wages and opposition to unionization . the amalgamated association of iron and steel workers union that represented workers at the homestead pennsylvania plant was for many years broken after a violent strike in 1892 . u.s. steel defeated another strike in 1901 the year it was founded . u.s. steel built the city of gary indiana in 1906 and 100 years later it remained the location of the largest integrated steel mill in the northern hemisphere . u.s. steel reached a d tente with unions during world war i when under pressure from the wilson administration it relaxed its opposition to unions enough to allow some to operate in certain factories . it returned to its previous policies as soon as the war ended however and in a 1919 strike defeated union organizing efforts by william z. foster of the afl . 26 heavy pressure from public opinion forced the company to give up its 12 hour day and adopt the standard eight hour day . 27 during the 1920s u.s. steel like many other large employers coupled paternalistic employment practices with employee representation plans erps which were company unions sponsored by management . these erps eventually became an important factor leading to the organization of the united steelworkers of america . the company dropped its hard line anti union stance in 1937 when myron taylor then president of u.s. steel agreed to recognize the steel workers organizing committee an arm of the congress of industrial organizations cio led by john l. lewis . taylor was an outsider brought in during the great depression to rescue u.s. steel and had no emotional investment in the company s long history of opposition to unions . watching the upheaval caused by the united auto workers successful sit down strike in flint michigan and convinced