the home depot corporate headquarters in unincorporated cobb county georgia type public traded as nyse hd dow jones industrial average component s & p 500 component industry retailing founded 1978 ; 38 years ago 1978 marietta georgia united states founder bernard marcus arthur blank pat farrah headquarters unincorporated cobb county georgia 30339 united states number of locations 2 274 february 2016 1 area served united states canada mexico key people craig menear chairman and ceo products home appliances tools hardware lumber building materials paint plumbing flooring garden supplies & plants revenue us 83.176 billion 2015 2 operating income us 10.469 billion 2015 2 net income us 6.345 billion 2015 2 total assets us 39.946 billion 2015 2 total equity us 9.322 billion 2015 2 number of employees 371 000 2015 3 subsidiaries interline brands website www.homedepot.com the home depot is a home improvement supplies superstore that sells tools construction products and services . it operates many big box format stores across the united states including all 50 u.s. states the district of columbia puerto rico the united states virgin islands and guam all ten provinces of canada as well as mexico . the company is headquartered at the atlanta store support center in cobb county georgia in greater atlanta . 4 in terms of overall revenue reported to the u.s. securities and exchange commission the company is the largest home improvement retailer in the united states ahead of rival lowe s. the store operates out of large warehouse style buildings averaging 105 000 ft2 9 755 m2 with megastores operating in larger facilities the company s largest store located in vauxhall new jersey is 225 000 ft2 . 5 contents 1 history 2 operation 2.1 board of directors 2.2 marketing 2.3 us stores division 2.4 interline brands 2.5 online 2.6 exclusive brands 2.7 fuel centers 3 philanthropy 4 environmental record 5 major sponsorships 6 internationally 6.1 canada 6.2 mexico 6.3 china 6.4 united kingdom 6.5 south america 7 labor union policies 8 controversy 8.1 whistleblower case 8.2 patent law controversy 8.3 tilt up construction design of stores 8.4 home depot payment system breach 8.5 eeoc disability discrimination suit 9 see also 10 references 11 external links history edit the home depot in knightdale north carolina in april 2009 the home depot was founded in 1978 by bernard marcus arthur blank and pat farrah . 6 the home depot s proposition was to build home improvement superstores larger than any of their competitors facilities . investment banker ken langone helped marcus and blank to secure the necessary capital . bernie and i founded the home depot with a special vision to create a company that would keep alive the values that were important to us . values like respect among all people excellent customer service and giving back to communities and society 7 arthur blank in 1979 the first two stores built in spaces leased from j. c. penney that were originally treasure island hypermarket discount department and grocery stores opened in metro atlanta in doraville and on memorial drive in decatur both near i 285 8 on june 21 . two more opened not long after and all four shared the space under the squiggly zig zag roof with zayre on its right side . the initial public offering occurred in approximately september 1981 and the company became a new york stock exchange traded company on april 19 1984 . 9 the first headquarters was on terrell mill road on the southeast side of marietta georgia just down from one of the stores at the corner of cobb parkway . that store 33 54 23 n 84 29 14 w 33.9065 n 84.4872 w 33.9065 ; 84.4872 former location of the home depot s first flagship store marietta plaza 1979 in the marietta plaza strip mall became value city changing to burlington coat factory in 2008 ; part was also a short lived little bucks in which brill had a stake . since the 1990s its headquarters 33 51 54 n 84 28 55 w 33.865 n 84.482 w 33.865 ; 84.482 the home depot headquarters have been a complex of high rise buildings on paces ferry road on the western edge of the cumberland galleria edge city in unincorporated cobb county georgia across interstate 285 from the town of vinings and served by mail from atlanta . the tallest building is approximately 85 metres 279 ft high the fourth tallest in the vinings area . 10 the three buildings are marked b c and d the missing building a is actually store 121 on cumberland parkway which the complex overlooks immediately across i 285 . in 2000 after the retirement of marcus and blank robert nardelli was appointed chairman president and ceo . nardelli had pushed hard to make the company more efficient instituting many metrics and centralizing operations while cutting jobs benefits and associate pay to meet quarterly earnings targets . while this initially doubled earnings and reduced expenses it alienated many of the store managers and rank and file store associates and by extension the customers . 11 nardelli who regarded home improvement store by store sales as less important due to market saturation from competition such as lowe s aimed to dominate the wholesale housing supply business through building up hd supply a unit that his successor frank blake sold for 8.5 billion in august 2007 since it was not part of home depot s integrated business . in comparison to nardelli whose numbers driven approach never appreciated the role of the store and its associates blake s strategy has revolved around reinvigorating the stores and its service culture engaging employees making products readily available and exciting to customers improving the store environment and dominating the professional contracting business an area in which home depot s closest rivals trail far behind as he recognized that employee morale is a more sensitive issue in retail compared to other industry sectors like manufacturing . 12 its 2005 sales totaled us 91.8 billion us 77.0 billion in retail sales . despite the 10 % increase in revenue it dropped three spots to no. 17 on the 2007 fortune magazine s fortune 500 list it was no. 13 in 2005 and no. 14 in 2006 . the home depot owned expo design center a chain of home decorating and appliance stores but closed the chain in 2009 . 13 in 2001 it acquired distributor your other warehouse yow which still operates as its own division . in 2006 the home depot acquired hughes supply which was assimilated into hd supply serving contractors which it sold in june 2007 . in september 2005 home depot direct launched its online home furnishings store 10 crescent lane shortly followed by the launch of paces trading company its online lighting store . in mid 2006 the home depot acquired home decorators collection which was placed as an additional brand under its home depot direct division . home depot landscape supply with only a few stores each in metro atlanta and dallas fort worth was founded in 2002 and closed in late 2007 . on january 2 2007 the home depot and robert nardelli mutually agreed on nardelli s resignation as ceo after a six year tenure . nardelli resigned amid complaints over his heavy handed management and whether his pay package of 123.7 million excluding stock option grants over the previous five years was excessive considering the stock s poor performance versus its competitor lowe s. his severance package of 210 million was criticized because when the stock went down his pay went up . 14 15 his successor frank blake previously served as the company s vice chairman of the board and executive vice president . blake agreed to a much more conservative compensation package than nardelli that is very heavily dependent upon the success of the company . although a longtime deputy to nardelli at ge and home depot blake was said to lack nardelli s hard edge and instead preferred to make decisions by consensus . indeed blake repudiated many of his predecessor s strategies and it has been reported that the two men have not spoken since nardelli departed home depot . 14 16 in 2007 the home depot sold its 13 billion revenue wholesale trade division hd supply to a consortium of three private equity firms the carlyle group bain capital and clayton dubilier and rice with each agreeing to buy a one third stake in the division . 17 home depot sold their wholesale construction supply business to fund a stock repurchase estimated at 40 billion . 18 in 2008 and 2009 with the downturn in the housing market the home depot announced the layoff of several thousand associates as well as the closing of 54 stores nationwide including the entire expo design center chain . 19 associates at expo were allowed to re apply for home depot jobs after the layoffs and did not lose any tenure if hired back . in the year of february 2009 sales totaled 71.288 billion more than 20 billion down from the peak of two years earlier due to the sale of hd supply and falling revenue at the retained business . in 2012 they proceeded to close the big box style stores that they had in china however smaller stores that specialized in custom products and focused on more intimate interactions between customers and associates remain open there . citation needed interline brands headquarters in jacksonville florida in august 2014 it was announced that frank blake would step down as ceo and would be replaced by 57 year old craig menear . the change occurred on november 1 2014 . blake would continue with the company as chairman . menear joined the home depot in 1997 and served in various management and vice presidential positions until 2003 including merchandising vice president of hardware merchandising vice president of the southwest division and divisional merchandise manager of the southwest division . he subsequently served as senior vice president of merchandising from august 2003 to april 2007 . he then served as an executive vice president of merchandising from april 2007 to february 2014 . until becoming ceo menear served as president of u.s. retail from february 2014 to november 1 2014 . 20 the company had a data breach in september 2014 . 21 one major reason for the data breach was the practice of entering credit card numbers directly into computers at the service desk and pro desk and in specialty departments including flooring kitchen cabinets appliances and millwork rather than using pos credit card terminals directly . the practice was stopped and home depot offered a year of free credit monitoring through allclearid for any customers who requested it . there were also reports of credit card numbers being stolen when used to make purchases on homedepot.com . on july 22 2015 home depot acquired interline brands from p2 capital partners goldman sachs private equity arm and the management of interline brands for 1.6 billion . 22 operation edit map of home depot stores in the contiguous united states and southern canada as of august 2011 . the home depot in durham north carolina in october 2008 . employees at a home depot superstore in union new jersey in january 2013 . interline brands distribution center supplyworks delivery truck husky brand adjustable wrench home depot stores average 105 000 ft2 9 755 m2 in size and are organized warehouse style stocking a large range of supplies . home depot s two largest stores are located in union new jersey which encompasses 217 000 ft2 of space and in anaheim hills california where it encompasses 204 000 ft2 . 23 the company color is a bright orange pms 165 cmyk 60m100y hex ff6600 on signs equipment and employee aprons . it was announced in august 2014 that craig menear will take over for frank blake as ceo while blake will remain