6 ms·

The two companies cultures are incompatible. Dupont has an "employee-first" attitude that permeates the corporation and dates from its early years when the man

The two companies cultures are incompatible. Dupont has an "employee-first" attitude that permeates the corporation and dates from its early years when the manufacture of gunpowder proved to be so risky. The Dupont family owners recompensed families of injured/dead employees by providing housing and supporting them for the remainder of their life. Safety became paramount in all operations. The attitude remains today. Despite the recent indiscretions in the LaPorte, Texas plant, Dupont is probably the safest chemical company on the planet. If Dupont culture dominates, then this will likely prove a Renaissance for Dow. OTOH should Dupont culture be subjugated, it will ruin the value of the merger and we will all lose a company (Dupont) that has been possibly the best-run, most forward-looking corporation that has existed.

knz 11y ago
DuPont is "employee first"? https://theintercept.com/2015/08/11/dupont-chemistry-deception/ https://theintercept.com/2015/08/11/dupont-chemistry-decepti... may be of interest...
- filoeleven 11y ago
  For those who aren't clicking without some context: DuPont has known since the 60s that C8, or PFOA[0], a chemical used in the production of Teflon, is harmful to humans even in tiny amounts. It has knowingly concealed and lied about the harm both to its employees and everybody else, and it has continuously released it into the environment while doing all that it can to avoid taking responsibility for the harms it has caused. The linked article is the first in a series of three that take an in-depth look at the situation, the harms, and the lack of consequences for the company until now. I expect there to be more follow-up articles as there are some lawsuits now in progress with lawyers who are armed with internal documents showing that DuPont knew about the problems for decades. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfluorooctanoic_acid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfluorooctanoic_acid
leroy_masochist 11y ago
According to Dealbook [0], "The new company would have dual headquarters in Wilmington, Del., and Midland, Mich." Dual headquarters usually works out about as well as co-CEOs. To the point of DuPont having a great company culture, I agree. I used to cover them as an investment banker....they are definitely safety-obsessed. [0]: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/12/business/dealbook/dow-chemical-and-dupont-merger.html?ref=dealbook&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/12/business/dealbook/dow-chem...
- Nicholas_C 11y ago
  What do you do now that you are no longer in banking?
  - leroy_masochist 11y ago
    entrepreneur
- hitekker 11y ago
  I recommend also keeping track of who's in charge to determine what the new company will end up being. Detailed example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Warner#AOL_Time_Warner_merger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Warner#AOL_Time_Warner_me...
- steve-howard 11y ago
  Is it unusual to stage a merger like this with the explicit goal of splitting into three smaller companies in the near-ish future? If the company is planning on splitting, I would imagine the consequence of having two headquarters would be different.
  - leroy_masochist 11y ago
    The merger and the split are individually quite common, but relatively unusual as a combined transaction. I haven't seen any announced plans to have one HQ focus on one of the three businesses and the other on another, but that would make at least a bit more sense. But then, what about the third business? If I had to guess I'd say the decision to keep both the headquarters is psychology-driven. You don't want either the Dow folks or the DuPont folks thinking that they're the target, because usually in M&A situations the acquiror keeps A LOT more of its corporate overhead. So logically, this perhaps makes the most sense as an attempt to avert the desertion of a lot of talented lawyers, accountants, HR people, and other headquarters types. If that is in fact the case, expect an announcement about six months after the deal closes that they're consolidating their headquarters. My guess is they'd keep it in Delaware.
RobertoG 11y ago
From the point of view of the owners, some of those old style, "employee-first", companies can't change their ways fast enough in order to improve profits. I have seen first hand how one company used a merge as a excuse to change their culture. Some people, even speculated that this was the real reason for the merge. If you are a majority stock holder, maybe a heir, you don't see the need in this times of weak unions, pro-business laws and cheap educated available labour of keeping your employees so happy. I don't know anything about Dupont and Dow cultures, but if it is as you explain, you can bet what culture is going to dominate.
akg_67 11y ago
DuPont "employee-first" culture hasn't been true since 90s. The business challenges at DuPont and the executive succession in 90s killed that image. DuPont used to be dream company to work for most new ChE graduates. I worked at Dow in mid-90s. I still have friends at both Dow and DuPont in addition to being stockholders of both companies. I doubt the merger will be approved by US, EU and possibly Chinese regulators without major concessions. The subsequent 3-way split in 18-24 months is just trying to appease the regulators to approve merger. If merger goes through, there will be no major player at least in specialty chemicals in US and most probably 3-4 major players in this segment worldwide. Other proposed segments have similar issues.
cynoclast 11y ago
No, DuPont does not have an employee first attitude: https://theintercept.com/2015/08/11/dupont-chemistry-deception/ https://theintercept.com/2015/08/11/dupont-chemistry-decepti... https://theintercept.com/2015/10/08/dupont-found-liable-in-c8-trial/ https://theintercept.com/2015/10/08/dupont-found-liable-in-c... https://theintercept.com/2015/08/20/teflon-toxin-dupont-slipped-past-epa/ https://theintercept.com/2015/08/20/teflon-toxin-dupont-slip... https://theintercept.com/2015/09/19/teflon-toxin-goes-to-court/ https://theintercept.com/2015/09/19/teflon-toxin-goes-to-cou... https://theintercept.com/2015/08/17/teflon-toxin-case-against-dupont/ https://theintercept.com/2015/08/17/teflon-toxin-case-agains... http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/15/opinions/lerner-chemical-c8-dupont-plant/ http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/15/opinions/lerner-chemical-c8-du... As someone who lived in the area during the height of their contempt for people and the environment: FUCK DUPONT
- elbigbad 11y ago
  As a former regulator of that sector, they were nearly as bad as BP, which was well known for a laundry list of violations long before Deepwater Horizon.
JumpCrisscross 11y ago
They're breaking into 3 companies after merging, so the cultures shouldn't need to be too mixed, in too many places, for too long. (Or so one hopes.) http://www.wsj.com/articles/dupont-dow-chemical-agree-to-merge-1449834739 http://www.wsj.com/articles/dupont-dow-chemical-agree-to-mer...
wyclif 11y ago
In Wilmington, Delaware here. I agree with this assessment. My Dad is a retired R&D scientist in materials for DuPont. Safety has always been treated with the utmost seriousness by the company. It was common for them to fire employees as early as the 1960s for failing to follow lab safety procedures. They are also famous for taking care of their employees.

knz 11y ago

DuPont is "employee first"? https://theintercept.com/2015/08/11/dupont-chemistry-deception/ https://theintercept.com/2015/08/11/dupont-chemistry-decepti... may be of interest...

filoeleven 11y ago
For those who aren't clicking without some context: DuPont has known since the 60s that C8, or PFOA[0], a chemical used in the production of Teflon, is harmful to humans even in tiny amounts. It has knowingly concealed and lied about the harm both to its employees and everybody else, and it has continuously released it into the environment while doing all that it can to avoid taking responsibility for the harms it has caused. The linked article is the first in a series of three that take an in-depth look at the situation, the harms, and the lack of consequences for the company until now. I expect there to be more follow-up articles as there are some lawsuits now in progress with lawyers who are armed with internal documents showing that DuPont knew about the problems for decades. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfluorooctanoic_acid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfluorooctanoic_acid

leroy_masochist 11y ago

According to Dealbook [0], "The new company would have dual headquarters in Wilmington, Del., and Midland, Mich." Dual headquarters usually works out about as well as co-CEOs. To the point of DuPont having a great company culture, I agree. I used to cover them as an investment banker....they are definitely safety-obsessed. [0]: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/12/business/dealbook/dow-chemical-and-dupont-merger.html?ref=dealbook&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/12/business/dealbook/dow-chem...

Nicholas_C 11y ago
What do you do now that you are no longer in banking?
- leroy_masochist 11y ago
  entrepreneur
hitekker 11y ago
I recommend also keeping track of who's in charge to determine what the new company will end up being. Detailed example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Warner#AOL_Time_Warner_merger https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Warner#AOL_Time_Warner_me...
steve-howard 11y ago
Is it unusual to stage a merger like this with the explicit goal of splitting into three smaller companies in the near-ish future? If the company is planning on splitting, I would imagine the consequence of having two headquarters would be different.
- leroy_masochist 11y ago
  The merger and the split are individually quite common, but relatively unusual as a combined transaction. I haven't seen any announced plans to have one HQ focus on one of the three businesses and the other on another, but that would make at least a bit more sense. But then, what about the third business? If I had to guess I'd say the decision to keep both the headquarters is psychology-driven. You don't want either the Dow folks or the DuPont folks thinking that they're the target, because usually in M&A situations the acquiror keeps A LOT more of its corporate overhead. So logically, this perhaps makes the most sense as an attempt to avert the desertion of a lot of talented lawyers, accountants, HR people, and other headquarters types. If that is in fact the case, expect an announcement about six months after the deal closes that they're consolidating their headquarters. My guess is they'd keep it in Delaware.

RobertoG 11y ago

From the point of view of the owners, some of those old style, "employee-first", companies can't change their ways fast enough in order to improve profits. I have seen first hand how one company used a merge as a excuse to change their culture. Some people, even speculated that this was the real reason for the merge. If you are a majority stock holder, maybe a heir, you don't see the need in this times of weak unions, pro-business laws and cheap educated available labour of keeping your employees so happy. I don't know anything about Dupont and Dow cultures, but if it is as you explain, you can bet what culture is going to dominate.

akg_67 11y ago

DuPont "employee-first" culture hasn't been true since 90s. The business challenges at DuPont and the executive succession in 90s killed that image. DuPont used to be dream company to work for most new ChE graduates. I worked at Dow in mid-90s. I still have friends at both Dow and DuPont in addition to being stockholders of both companies. I doubt the merger will be approved by US, EU and possibly Chinese regulators without major concessions. The subsequent 3-way split in 18-24 months is just trying to appease the regulators to approve merger. If merger goes through, there will be no major player at least in specialty chemicals in US and most probably 3-4 major players in this segment worldwide. Other proposed segments have similar issues.

cynoclast 11y ago

No, DuPont does not have an employee first attitude: https://theintercept.com/2015/08/11/dupont-chemistry-deception/ https://theintercept.com/2015/08/11/dupont-chemistry-decepti... https://theintercept.com/2015/10/08/dupont-found-liable-in-c8-trial/ https://theintercept.com/2015/10/08/dupont-found-liable-in-c... https://theintercept.com/2015/08/20/teflon-toxin-dupont-slipped-past-epa/ https://theintercept.com/2015/08/20/teflon-toxin-dupont-slip... https://theintercept.com/2015/09/19/teflon-toxin-goes-to-court/ https://theintercept.com/2015/09/19/teflon-toxin-goes-to-cou... https://theintercept.com/2015/08/17/teflon-toxin-case-against-dupont/ https://theintercept.com/2015/08/17/teflon-toxin-case-agains... http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/15/opinions/lerner-chemical-c8-dupont-plant/ http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/15/opinions/lerner-chemical-c8-du... As someone who lived in the area during the height of their contempt for people and the environment: FUCK DUPONT

elbigbad 11y ago
As a former regulator of that sector, they were nearly as bad as BP, which was well known for a laundry list of violations long before Deepwater Horizon.

JumpCrisscross 11y ago

They're breaking into 3 companies after merging, so the cultures shouldn't need to be too mixed, in too many places, for too long. (Or so one hopes.) http://www.wsj.com/articles/dupont-dow-chemical-agree-to-merge-1449834739 http://www.wsj.com/articles/dupont-dow-chemical-agree-to-mer...

wyclif 11y ago

In Wilmington, Delaware here. I agree with this assessment. My Dad is a retired R&D scientist in materials for DuPont. Safety has always been treated with the utmost seriousness by the company. It was common for them to fire employees as early as the 1960s for failing to follow lab safety procedures. They are also famous for taking care of their employees.