their name see williams disambiguation organizations and companies . the williams companies inc. type public company traded as nyse wmb s & p 500 component industry oil and gas founded 1908 founder david williams miller williams headquarters tulsa oklahoma us area served north america key people alan s. armstrong president & ceo products oil & natural gas revenue us 7.360 billion 2015 operating income 226 million 2015 net income 571 million 2015 total assets 49.020 billion 2015 total equity 6.148 billion 2015 number of employees 6 578 website www.williams.com the williams companies inc. is an energy company based in tulsa oklahoma . its core business is natural gas processing and transportation with additional petroleum and electricity generation assets . a fortune 500 company its common stock is a component of the s & p 500 and the dow jones utility average . contents 1 history 2 telecommunications 3 lawsuits and fines 4 restatement 5 references 6 external links history edit it was founded as williams brothers in 1908 by miller and david williams in fort smith arkansas and soon expanded to building nationwide pipelines for natural gas and petroleum . the company relocated to tulsa in 1919 . in 1949 john h. williams a nephew of the founders together with his brother charles williams and david s son david williams jr. bought the business from the founders ; john h. williams remained as president of the company until 1971 and ceo until 1979 . 1 the company went public in 1957 under the williams brothers name . as it diversified in the 1970s it was renamed the williams companies inc. since 1997 their brand identity has been simplified to williams . in 1966 williams bought the then largest petroleum products pipeline in america known as the great lakes pipe line company for about 287 million . in 1982 it expanded into natural gas transportation with the purchase of northwest energy company and extended their reach to the east coast with the 1995 purchase of transco energy company . in 2001 williams acquired barrett resources which provided them with additional national gas reserves . in 2002 the company found itself in financial distress due to changed market conditions and the large debt of its subsidiary williams communications group . the company obtained and paid off an emergency high interest loan from warren buffett to stay out of bankruptcy and redirected its focus toward natural gas production processing and transportation as well as increasing its resource holdings . one of the moves it made around that time 2004 was the sale of 3 of canada s largest natural gas treatment plants extracts natural gas liquids from it to inter pipeline fund for us 540 million . 2 in 2010 the company underwent a major restructuring that included a reorganization of its extensive pipeline holdings in williams partners lp . 3 on october 2010 williams and williams partners l.p. announced that chairman and chief executive officer steve malcolm would retire at the end of the year . the board of directors at williams said it had elected alan armstrong to succeed malcolm as ceo effective january 3 2011 . armstrong had served as senior vice president of williams since 2002 . 4 on february 16 2011 williams board of directors had approved pursuing a plan to separate the company s businesses into two stand alone publicly traded corporations . the plan calls for williams to separate its exploration and production business via an initial public offering ipo in third quarter 2011 of up to 20 percent of its interest and in 2012 a tax free spinoff to williams shareholders of its remaining interest . 5 needs update telecommunications edit the company helped to get the modern telecommunications industry off the ground by running fiber optic cable through its decommissioned pipelines . it built two nationwide networks which have since become their own companies ; the first was sold in 1995 to ldds which would become worldcom & then mci and the second was spun off in 2001 as williams communications which would become wiltel communications and later consolidate into level 3 communications . lawsuits and fines edit in 2002 williams communications group was sued for that company officials did not properly disclose the failing company s true financial condition and that officials public statements belied the firm s plummeting fiscal picture . 6 in 2007 the williams companies agreed to pay 290 million . boardwalk pipeline partners and the williams companies were fined 2.4 million for 18 incidents that took place between 2006 and 2013 that include failing to monitor corrosion and waiting to repair a natural gas line showing metal loss in kentucky . 7 restatement edit on march 1 1999 jack d. mccarthy chief financial officer said the company s additional review and its annual audit process resulted in the previously announced 1998 pre tax income being adjusted downward by 21.2 million . 8 on september 16 2004 williams cos. said it amended its fiscal 2003 and first quarter 2004 filings with the securities and exchange commission to show a reclassification to its discontinued operations and a segment reporting change . 9 references edit former williams executive dies at 94 the oklahoman may 2 2013 . alaska gas liquids at forefront of alberta straddle plant deal . 2004 07 08 . walton rod 13 october 2010 . ceo of williams cos. to retire malcolm gets praise for company turnaround . tulsa world . retrieved 7 january 2014 . dead link williams wmb ceo malcolm to retire ; armstrong named successor 1 october 12 2010 williams to pursue separating into two stand alone publicly traded companies ; boosts dividend 60 % 2 feb. 16 2011 class action lawsuit against williams communications group . safety history of bluegrass pipeline companies at issue in kentucky debate . wdrb . retrieved 23 january 2013 . williams announces audited 1998 income adjusted from january s unaudited report . williams to amend financial statements . external links edit official site hoovers summary voices of oklahoma interview with john williams . first person interview conducted with john williams on december 15 2009 . original audio and transcript archived with voices of oklahoma oral history project . williams companies at encyclopedia of oklahoma history and culture v t e tulsa based corporations within the tulsa metropolitan area fortune 500 oneok 219 williams companies 342 forbes largest private companies quiktrip 26 list of companies based in tulsa oklahoma retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title williams companies & oldid 738074491 categories companies listed on the new york stock exchangecompanies based in arkansascompanies based in tulsa oklahomaenergy companies of the united statesoil companies of the united statesnatural gas companies of the united statesnatural gas pipeline companiespower companies of the united statescompanies established in 19081908 establishments in oklahomahidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from september 2016pages using infobox company with unsupported parameterswikipedia articles in need of updating from may 2015all wikipedia articles in need of updating navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutschespa ol fran ais edit links this page was last modified on 6 september 2016 at 19 23 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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