Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Bioplastics Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • PFAS Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
    • Europe - Virgin
    • Europe - Recycled
    • Europe - Feedstock
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
January 25, 2018 01:00 AM

Newell 'exploring options,' looking to sell Rubbermaid

Bill Bregar
Senior Staff Reporter
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Rubbermaid
    Rubbermaid products include food storage containers.

    Updated — Nineteen years after Newell Co. bought housewares giant Rubbermaid Inc., Newell Brands Inc. is looking to sell it, and a bunch of other companies, including another plastics business, comb and brush maker Goody.

    Newell announced Jan. 25 that it was “exploring strategic options” for Rubbermaid Commercial Products and Rubbermaid outdoor, closet, refuse and garage offerings, as part of a sweeping move to cut its global factory and warehouse space by 50 percent, and its customer base by that same amount.

    In issuing its preliminary 2017 financial results, Newell said the moves would result in “a significant reduction in operational complexity” and give Newell “an approximately $11 billion focused portfolio of leading consumer-facing brands with attractive margins and growth potential in global categories.”

    Newell's stock fell 20 percent after the announcement, to close Jan. 25 at $24.78 on the New York Stock Exchange.

    The other businesses Newell is looking to exit are Waddington, Process Solutions, Mapa, Rawlings and U.S. playing cards.

    Potential buyers of Rubbermaid include competing plastics housewares makers, a company outside the housewares industry or private equity.

    United Solutions Corp. bought the Rubbermaid storage tote business in January of 2017. Officials of the Leominster, Mass.-based company could not be reached for comment for this story. A spokesman for Sterilite Corp. of Townsend, Mass., declined to comment.

    Iris USA, based in Surprise, Ariz., could not be reached for comment.

    Another housewares company, Keter Group, was purchased two year ago by London private equity firm BC Partners, which could not be reached for comment, and Canadian pension fund the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, where a spokeswoman said the fund declined to comment.

    Also on Jan. 25, the company announced that three of its 12 board members had resigned, including Martin Franklin, the former CEO of Jarden Corp., who built Jarden into a major consumer products company through acquisitions before selling to Newell in late 2015.

    The moves mark a major unwinding of businesses that Newell acquired over a long period of building a conglomerate-type company in a wide range of products. Newell bought Wooster, Ohio-based Rubbermaid in 1999.

    “Newell Brands intends to begin the evaluation process immediately and expects any resulting transactions to be completed by the end of 2019,” the company said. Newell's initial guidance for 2018 assumes it will continue to own all the assets for the entire calendar year.

    Newell Brands CEO Michael Polk said the strategy will make “a stronger, simpler, faster Newell.”

    Hoboken, N.J.-based Newell will give more details on its strategic and operational initiatives when it releases fourth quarter earnings Feb. 16.

    Major changes

    Rubbermaid, an iconic housewares brand, has gone through major changes under Newell ownership.

    After buying Rubbermaid in 1999, the company took on the name Newell Rubbermaid Inc. Five years later, the well-known housewares brand closed Rubbermaid's former headquarters plant in Wooster, Ohio, selling 30 remaining injection molding presses from what had been one of the largest plastics factories in the United States.

    In 2005, Newell Rubbermaid announced a plan to shutter one-third of its 80 manufacturing sites and cut 5,000 jobs. But the company kept making acquisitions, bringing in Elmer's adhesive and cutting products, Baby Jogger strollers, and other companies.

    The company also centralized its food container molding in a plant in Mogadore, Ohio, near Akron, investing in automation.

    Then came the giant Jarden acquisition. The company changed its name to Newell Brands and overnight became a $16 billion consumer products behemoth.

    Jarden brought Newell 120 more brands, including Mr. Coffee and Yankee Candle.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Auto suppliers plan for uncertainty amid UAW strike, shift to EVs
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    An 8,000-ton dream for Milacron, 20/20 Custom Molded Plastics
    2
    Connecticut AG probes recycling claims on HDPE toothpaste tubes
    3
    ACC campaign targets Biden administration's 'troubling' policies
    4
    PureCycle declares force majeure following production problems
    5
    M. Holland selling 3D business after Ravago deal
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Find more newsletters at plasticsnews.com/newsletters.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
      • Podcasts
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Bioplastics Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • PFAS Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
      • Europe - Virgin
      • Europe - Recycled
      • Europe - Feedstock
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified