anniversary flagship store charlotte nc type subsidiary industry retail founded 1959 1959 in charlotte north carolina founder leon levine area served united states and canada key people gary philbin president & ceo howard r. levine chairman products clothing cleaning supplies home decor and grocery . parent dollar tree website www.familydollar.com family dollar is an american variety store chain in the united states . with over 8 000 locations in all states except alaska hawaii oregon and washington it is the second largest retailer of its type in the united states . family dollar is headquartered in matthews a suburb of charlotte north carolina where it employs 1 400 people . 1 in june 2014 activist investor and major shareholder 2 carl icahn demanded that family dollar be immediately put up for sale . 3 on july 28 2014 dollar tree announced that it would purchase family dollar for 8.5 billion . 4 5 the sale delivered a windfall to the company s biggest shareholder carl icahn who acquired his 9.4 percent stake in june 2014 . 6 on january 22 2015 family dollar shareholders approved the dollar tree bid . 7 contents 1 history 2 selling pressure 2.1 acquisition 3 references 4 external links history edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message family dollar was founded in 1959 by leon levine a 21 year old entrepreneur . in november of that year the company s first store was opened in charlotte north carolina . in 1961 their first store in south carolina opened followed by stores in georgia and virginia which were opened in 1962 and 1965 respectively . during the 1960s the store company was largely a southern united states operation . by 1969 there were fifty stores in charlotte alone . the 1970s were growing years for the store chain . in 1970 family dollar s stock went public for the first time at 14.50 per share . in 1971 the chain s 100th store opened followed by their 200th in 1974 and their 300th in 1978 . also in 1974 a distribution center was opened in matthews north carolina . in 1979 family dollar stock began trading at the new york stock exchange . in 1981 the chain s 400th store was opened followed by a 500th store in 1982 and a 700th in 1983 . the 1980s saw expansion at a wider scale for the company and by 1989 1 500 stores were operating . the 1990s saw the pace of expansion slow down compared to the 1980s with 1 000 stores opened . the company opened distribution centers in west memphis arkansas ; front royal virginia and duncan oklahoma . since 2000 the pace of growth increased significantly with the addition of about 3 500 new stores and new distribution centers opening in morehead kentucky ; maquoketa iowa ; odessa texas ; marianna florida ; and rome new york . in 2001 family dollar joined the s & p 500 stock market index . in 2002 the company joined the fortune 500 list of largest publicly held companies . when leon levine retired in 2003 his son howard r. levine succeeded him as chairman and ceo keeping this multibillion dollar company in the family . in march 2005 family dollar restated the company s fiscal 2000 to fiscal 2004 earnings per share downward by 2 cents to 3 cents a year to correct lease accounting issues . 8 as of august 2011 there were 7 000 stores in 44 states . according to their website in 2005 family dollar opened 500 new stores 350 more in 2006 and an additional 300 in 2007 . according to the company s 2013 corporate profile in 2010 family dollar opened 200 new stores 300 more in 2011 475 in 2012 and an additional 500 in 2013 . on october 3 2012 family dollar said they will open 500 stores in 2013 . 9 the next day family dollar partnered with healthways . 10 family dollar operates 11 distribution centers the latest of which opened in st. george utah on october 16 2013 . selling pressure edit in march 2011 family dollar rejected a takeover offer by nelson peltz s trian fund management reportedly between 55 and 60 a share . 11 on june 6 2014 activist investor carl icahn disclosed that his firm icahn enterprises held a 9.4 % stake in family dollar . 2 12 on june 19 icahn demanded in an open letter that family dollar be put up for sale immediately . 1 3 goldman sachs and other analysts had identified a number of potential buyers . 13 14 as of june 19 2014 22 % of family dollar s shares were controlled by activist investors . 1 acquisition edit on july 28 2014 dollar tree announced that it would acquire family dollar for 74.50 per share a deal valuing family dollar at 8.5 billion and that dollar tree would also assume 1 billion in debt currently owed by family dollar for a total of 9.5 billion . 4 15 dollar tree ceo bob sasser said that family dollar ceo howard r. levine will remain with the company following the merger and will be appointed to dollar tree s board of directors . 5 dollar general entered the bidding shortly thereafter surpassing dollar tree s offer on august 18 2014 16 78.50 a share compared to dollar tree s offer of 74.50 a share . the enterprise value of the dollar general bid was 9.7 billion compared to that of dollar tree of 9.2 billion while the quantum return to shareholders was varying as the stock and cash deal valuation was subjected to fluctuations of price of the competing bidders stock . on august 20 2014 family dollar rejected the dollar general bid saying it was not a matter of price but concerns over antitrust issues that had convinced the company and its advisers that the deal could not be concluded on the terms proposed . 6 days after dollar general ceo rick dreiling sent a letter to the family dollar board of directors claiming that levine rejected merger requests to protect his job . 17 levine in a statement said the family dollar board had been analyzing potential antitrust issues that could arise from doing a deal with dollar general since the start of the year and that was the reason it was not accepting the dollar general bid . 6 on january 22 2015 family dollar shareholders approved the dollar tree bid . 7 references edit a b c icahn demands family dollar be put up for sale immediately . a b fdosch13d060614.htm . a b fdosch13damd10619ex1.htm . a b dollar tree to buy family dollar to stave off competition . reuters . a b charlotte region loses corporate headquarters in family dollar buyout . the charlotte observer . a b c family dollar rejects 9.7 bn acquisition bid by dollar general . charlotte news.net . 21 august 2014 . retrieved 22 august 2014 . a b ramakrishnan sruthi ; otterbourg ken january 22 2015 . family dollar shareholders approve dollar tree deal . reuters . retrieved january 22 2015 . family dollar s quarterly income falls . family dollar to accelerate store growth . drug store news . october 3 2012 . retrieved october 4 2012 . family dollar announces partnership with healthways to improve team members health and well being . dailyfinance . retrieved october 4 2012 . burritt chris march 3 2011 . family dollar rejects buyout offer from peltz s trian adopts poison pill . bloomberg . family dollar family dollar comments on icahn letter . family dollar fdo has large number of potential suitors says goldman sachs . streetinsider.com . icahn s sale urgency isn t family dollar s first rodeo . yahoo finance . 20 june 2014 . wsj . davidson paul ; shell adam . dollar general offers 9.7 b for family dollar . the usa today . retrieved 18 august 2014 . banjo shelly . family dollar ceo said to reject merger requests to protect job . the wall street journal . retrieved 22 august 2014 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to family dollar . official website v t e variety stores asia 100 yen shop japan daiso china hong kong japan macau malaysia philippines singapore taiwan thailand living plaza by aeon hong kong watashi to seikatsu hong kong europe 99p stores uk action netherlands b & m uk bargain buys uk coop city switzerland el corte ingl s spain dealz ireland eurogiant ireland euroland netherlands flying tiger copenhagen denmark hema netherlands home bargains uk karstadt germany manor switzerland migros switzerland monoprix france poundgiant uk poundland uk poundstretcher uk poundworld uk quality save uk upim italy zeeman netherlands north america 99 cents only stores us big lots us a buck or two canada casa ley mexico daiso canada us deals us dollar general us dollar tree us dollar tree canada canada dollarama canada family dollar us five below us fred s us great canadian dollar store canada hart stores canada k dollar us ollie s bargain outlet us ocean state job lot us rossy canada waldo s dollar mart mexico your dollar store with more canada oceania abc stores guam daiso australia crazy clark s australia defunct the reject shop australia retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title family dollar & oldid 743334730 categories companies formerly listed on the new york stock exchangediscount stores of the united statescompanies based in charlotte north carolinaretail companies established in 1959variety storescompanies based in north carolina1959 establishments in north carolinahidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parametersarticles needing additional references from december 2012all articles needing additional referencescommons category with page title same as on wikidata 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 in other projects wikimedia commons languages add links this page was last modified on 9 october 2016 at 04 45 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view