cooper tire & rubber company type public traded as nyse ctb industry manufacturing founded 1914 headquarters findlay ohio u.s. products tires subsidiaries avon tyres website coopertire.com cooper tire & rubber company is an american company that specializes in the design manufacture marketing and sales of replacement 1 automobile and truck tires and subsidiaries that specialize in medium truck motorcycle and racing tires . with headquarters in findlay ohio cooper tire has 60 manufacturing sales distribution technical and design facilities within its worldwide family of subsidiary companies . in july 1960 the company became a publicly held corporation and was listed on the new york stock exchange . cooper tires are most often sold by independent dealers and can be purchased online . cooper owns the uk based avon tyres brand which produces tires for motorcycles road cars and for motor racing . the company slogan is the tire with two names ... the company and the man who built it . contents 1 history 2 tire brands 2.1 cooper tires 2.2 avon rubber plc 2.3 other brands 3 motorsports and sponsorships 3.1 drifting involvement 4 management and company personnel 5 references 6 external links history edit the earliest corporate lineage for cooper tire was the m and m manufacturing company founded in 1914 in akron ohio by john f. schaefer and claude e. hart who were related by marriage . their new company produced tire patches tire cement and tire repair kits . they purchased the giant tire & rubber company of akron a tire rebuilding business in 1920 and in 1922 moved the business to findlay ohio 2 at a site at the intersection of lima and western avenues that is still occupied by cooper tire adjacent to the cooper corporation facility . the cooper name originates from 1919 when cincinnati auto parts dealer i. j. cooper formed the cooper corporation in findlay to manufacture new tires . the cooper corporation the m and m company and the falls rubber company merged in 1930 to form the master tire and rubber company . the company name was changed to cooper tire & rubber company in 1946 . 3 the cooper oval trademark with the cooper knight headgear was first registered and used in 1941 . in those early years of the brand s identification the logo also included a banner proclaiming the tires armored cord construction . the company s red white and blue logo would become one of the most easily recognized emblems in the tire industry . during world war ii the company known as master tire and rubber manufactured pontoons landing boats waterproof bags and camouflage items inflatable barges life jackets and tank decoys as well as tires to supply the allied forces . the u.s. government recognized the company s contribution to the war effort in a 1945 ceremony bestowing the army navy e award for excellence . soon after the war 1946 the company name was changed to cooper tire & rubber company . from 1946 to 1982 cooper tire was headed by a member of the brewer family first w.b. brewer then his sons wayne and edward . another son robert was a vice president . w.b. brewer took cooper tire public and on july 11 1960 the company was listed on the new york stock exchange under the callsign ctb the callsign s b standing for brewer . throughout their tenure the brewers set a tone for hands on leadership management mingling with workers and taking care of them . they built the trust and loyalty of the workers . 4 under the brewers leadership cooper tire grew significantly . by 1983 the company joined the ranks of fortune 500 companies as one of the largest industrial companies in the united states . 5 in 1997 cooper purchased avon tyres ltd based in melksham england . the company s largest growth acquisition occurred in 1999 when it bought the standard products company which increased cooper s total workforce by 10 000 employees . dearborn mich. based standard products produced sealing plastic trim and vibration control systems for the automotive original equipment industry worldwide . the purchase included standard products subsidiaries oliver rubber company and holm industries inc. oliver rubber manufactured tread rubber and equipment for the truck retread industry . holm produced seals for home and commercial refrigerators . 6 in 2003 cooper purchased mickey thompson performance tires & wheels . in december 2003 cooper agreed to a joint venture with kenda rubber industrial company to construct a tire manufacturing plant near shanghai . in january 2005 cooper agreed to purchase 11 % of south korea based kumho tires company and also announced the formation of a new commercial division encompassing both oliver rubber company and commercial tires . in october 2005 cooper announced an agreement to obtain 51 % ownership in china s third largest tire manufacturer cooper chengshan shandong passenger tire company ltd. and cooper chengshan shandong truck tire company ltd. to produce truck and passenger car tires for mainland chinese and export markets . 7 two of the businesses of the joint venture are cooper chengshan passenger tire and cooper chengshan tire . 8 in 2007 cooper set up a manufacturing venture in eastern china with kenda rubber industrial company a company based in taiwan . cooper generates 25 % of its global sales in china . 7 in 2007 cooper sold its oliver rubber company subsidiary which produced tread rubber and retreading equipment to michelin for 69 million . 9 10 at the end of 2011 cooper bought serbian tire company trayal from kru evac . cooper took over a unit of trayal korporacija ad from bulgarian company brikel ead for 13 million and invest as much as 50 million . on june 12 2013 a deal was finalized in which apollo tyres of india would buy cooper for 2.5 billion . this move would have made goodyear tire & rubber co. the only major u.s. tire manufacturer . cooper is the second largest u.s. based tire company after goodyear . 11 on december 30 2013 apollo pulled out of the deal since cooper has not disclosed vital information about its lack of control over its chinese business . the chinese plant went on an indefinite strike against the proposed acquisition forcing apollo to try to lower the 35 per share bid in the original deal . 12 tire brands edit cooper tires edit cooper tires produces cooper branded tires for passenger cars light trucks sport utility vehicles and commercial trucks . 13 avon tyres logo avon rubber plc edit in 1997 the tire business of avon rubber plc of melksham wiltshire in the united kingdom was sold to cooper . this left avon able to concentrate on its core businesses of automotive components technical products and protective equipment . cooper tire remains a major employer in central melksham . other brands edit in addition to avon cooper tire manufactures tires under the associated brand names dean mastercraft and starfire . 14 cooper tire formerly manufactured all tires sold under the sears guardsman brand at sears roebuck & co. stores . cooper manufactures tires for discount tire company under the arizonian brand name and futura tires for pep boys . cooper tire also manufactures hercules branded tires in findlay ohio . motorsports and sponsorships edit cooper racing tires a1gp avon then part of avon rubber plc was involved in formula one in the 1950s 1954 and from 1956 to 1959 then in 1981 and 1982 . cooper became the official tire of the a1 grand prix dubbed the world cup of motorsports for the series initial 2005 2006 season and was under contract to produce slick tires and treaded rain tires for the series championship until 2008 . cooper became the official tire of the champ car atlantic championship in 2007 . cooper became the official tire of usf2000 national championship and the imsa prototype lites series formerly imsa lites in 2010 . 15 since 1982 avon tyres had been the sole supplier for the british formula three championship . from the 2009 season onwards these were re branded cooper as cooper became the championship s official title sponsor and will be until the end of the 2014 season at least . 16 avon tyres was also the exclusive supplier for the fia formula two championship when revived in 2009 to 2012 . 17 in april 2010 cooper avon tyres presented a written proposal to formula one team association fota to be the official tire supplier for the 2011 formula one season . 18 this was ultimately rejected and pirelli became the official tire supplier for 2011 onwards . cooper tires is the official supplier of the mazda road to indy formula ladder usf2000 pro mazda and indy lights . as of 2014 cooper is the official supplier of the fia world rallycross championship . 19 drifting involvement edit cooper is heavily involved in the sport of drifting supplying tires to several drifters in both the formula d drift series and canadian drift series . management and company personnel edit cooper has 8 881 employees . roy v. armes is chairman president and ceo . 1 references edit a b profile for cooper tire rubber . yahoo . retrieved 6 october 2009 . holzinger albert g. april 1993 . a successful competitor cooper tire and rubber company profile . nation s business . retrieved 18 december 2009 . history of cooper tyres . cooper tires australia . retrieved 29 september 2009 . http thecourier.com local news 2014 10 13 c101214newcoop 4 25 52 xml http coopertire.com about us history.aspx http www.thefreelibrary.com cooper tire % 26 rubber company to acquire the standard products company . a055265949 a b cooper tire seeks 30 % global sales . reuters . december 17 2009 . retrieved 19 december 2009 . cooper tire & rubber findlay oh received government approval to acquire 51 % of shandong chengshan tire . rubber world . january 2006 . retrieved 19 december 2009 . michelin north america to acquire oliver rubber company press release . michelin . july 31 2007 . retrieved 30 january 2010 . michelin north america completes acquisition of oliver rubber company press release . michelin . october 8 2007 . retrieved 30 january 2010 . bijoy anandoth koyitty and aradhana aravindan june 12 2013 . india s apollo tyres to buy cooper tire for 2.5 billion . reuters . retrieved june 13 2013 . cs1 maint uses authors parameter link cooper tire ends merger pact with apollo tyres . the wall street journal . december 30 2013 . retrieved 31 december 2013 . tires . cooper tires . retrieved 19 december 2009 . cooper tires our brands . retrieved 10 december 2015 . imsa cooper tire align for partnership in cooper tires prototype lites championship pdf press release . international motor sports association . november 16 2009 . cooper tire agrees british formula 3 extension cooper tire official website formula two relaunches on avon tyres avon tyres press release cooper avon enters race for 2011 tyres autosport 17 april 2010 cooper becomes exclusive tyre supplier to all new fia world rallycross championship . cooper tires . 14 march 2014 . retrieved 28 august 2015 . external links edit cooper tire & rubber company official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title cooper tire % 26 rubber company & oldid 733679102 categories companies listed on the new york stock exchangecompanies based in ohiocompanies established in 1926tire manufacturersautomotive companies of the united statesamerican brandshidden categories cs1 maint uses authors parameter 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 deutschfran ais portugu s simple english edit links