written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . august 2014 learn how and when to remove this template message lear corporation lear headquarters building formerly called american metal products type public fortune 500 traded as nyse lea industry manufacturing founded detroit michigan 1917 1917 headquarters southfield michigan united states of america number of locations 221 locations in 36 countries area served international key people matthew j. simoncini president chief executive officer and director ; terry larkin executive vice president business development and general counsel services supplier of automotive seating and electrical revenue 18.2 billion in 2015 number of employees 122 000 divisions seating and electrical website www.lear.com en lear corporation headquartered in southfield michigan united states of america is a fortune 500 company engaged in the business of manufacturing and distribution of automotive seating and electrical distribution systems . as of 2014 the company had 221 manufacturing facilities in 36 countries around the globe staffed by 113 400 employees . they recorded an aggregate global sales of us 16.2 billion in 2013 . 1 lear has two major divisions the seating business segment and the electrical business segment . history edit lear corporation was launched as american metal products in 1917 in detroit michigan . at the time of its founding it was engaged in the manufacture of tubular welded and stamped assemblies for the aircraft and automobile industries . 2 lear grew during the 1980s and 1990s through a series of acquisitions . the company sought to become a supplier of complete interior automotive systems that is a supplier of seating electrical flooring interior trim instrument panels etc. to original equipment manufacturing oem auto companies . on march 16 1999 lear announced it would acquire united technologies automotive a subsidiary of united technologies corporation that produced dashboards electrical distribution systems motors and air flow parts interior door panels and switches for 2.3 billion . 3 lear announced on may 4 1999 that it had completed the acquisition . 4 on april 5 2004 lear announced it would pay 220 million for wuppertal germany based grote & hartmann a maker of electrical components . 5 on july 6 2004 lear announced it had completed the transaction . 6 as of late 2005 most oem auto companies had indicated that they no longer wanted to purchase total interiors from any one company . as this was lear s primary purpose in assembling those three divisions and the interior systems division was not profitable the company began seeking to get rid of this division . citation needed needs update in early 2007 lear corporation completed the transfer of substantially all of its former north american interior systems division to international automotive components group iac a joint venture of lear wl ross & co. and franklin mutual advisers . the deal involved 26 manufacturing plants and two chinese joint ventures . lear also contributed 27 million in cash for a 25 percent interest in iac and warrants for an additional 7 percent . 7 also in 2007 lear s board of directors agreed to a 2.3 billion takeover offer from american real estate partners an affiliate of financier carl icahn subject to shareholder approval . lear has said it will continue to talk to other interested parties however icahn would receive a 100 million fee should another offer be accepted . the deal was later voted down by shareholders . citation needed on july 2 2009 bloomberg news reported that lear corp. planned to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy after reaching an agreement with representatives of secured lenders and bondholders . 8 on november 9 2009 lear announced it had emerged from bankruptcy . 9 on august 10 2011 lear announced that senior vice president and chief financial officer matt simoncini had been elected chief executive officer and president effective september 1 2011 . 10 in 2012 automotive news awarded lear a premier automotive suppliers contribution to excellence pace award for innovation technological advancement and business performance for its solid state smart junction box s3jb noting lear s s3jb junction box has 1 integrated solid state fuse technology to eliminate relays 2 created a new package that no longer has to be accessible from the driver compartment which decreases nuisance calls and lowers electrical device warranty returns 3 created and installed a smart software logic with detailed diagnostics to permit a fail safe operation and 4 designed a single state board design with patented thermal aspects that permits multiple system and device connections and various configurations to ease manufacturing processes . 11 lear acquired automotive and specialty fabrics company guilford mills for 257 million in may 2012 . in addition to automotive fabric applications guilford produces fabrics for markets including water filtration window covering performance apparel medical and other industrial applications . 12 in august 2014 it was announced that lear corp would acquire automotive leather supplier eagle ottawa llc for a fee of 850 million . 13 in may 2015 the company announced that it will open a new automotive plant in gostivar macedonia in the summer of 2015 . this is lear s first facility in macedonia . 14 external links edit corporate website references edit lear corp form 8 k current report . united states securities and exchange commission . january 31 2014 . the history of lear corporation . retrieved may 8 2014 . lear to buy parts unit of united technologies . new york times . march 17 1999 . retrieved march 20 2014 . lear corporation acquires united technologies automotive press release . lear corporation . may 4 1999 . retrieved march 20 2014 . gelsi steve april 5 2004 . lear buying buying grote & hartmann for 220 mln . marketwatch . retrieved march 20 2014 . lear corp. completes acquisition of grote & hartmann press release . lear corporation . july 6 2004 . retrieved march 20 2014 . lear completes north american interior business joint venture with wl ross and franklin mutual press release . lear corporation . april 7 2007 . lear corporation chapter 11 petition pdf . pacermonitor . pacermonitor . retrieved 6 june 2016 . car parts maker lear emerges from bankruptcy . reuters . november 9 2009 . retrieved march 20 2014 . lear ceo rossiter steps down ; finance chief simoncini tapped as successor . autonews.com . august 10 2011 . retrieved march 20 2014 . automotive news pace awards . autonews.com . 2012 . retrieved march 20 2014 . yahoo finance dead link lear corp to buy leather supplier eagle ottawa for 850 million press release . reuters . august 28 2014 . lear corp. lea to open automotive plant in macedonia press release . nasdaq . may 19 2015 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title lear corporation & oldid 726820328 categories auto parts suppliers of the united statesmanufacturing companies based in michigancompanies based in southfield michigancompanies that have filed for chapter 11 bankruptcycompanies listed on the new york stock exchangehidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from march 2014use mdy dates from november 2014articles with a promotional tone from august 2014all articles with a promotional tonepages using infobox company with unsupported parametersall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from march 2014wikipedia articles in need of updating from march 2014all 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 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