Goodyear Tire & Rubber, the largest U.S. tire maker, will pay $2.8 billion in cash and stock to buy Cooper Tire & Rubber, the second largest.
The purchase would grow Goodyear to include 50 factories, a workforce of 72,000, and annual revenue of about $17.5 billion, according to the company’s presentation to investors.
The combined companies would be able to cut costs by about $165 million annually, the presentation noted.
The marriage would particularly strengthen the company’s competitive edge in China and the U.S., Goodyear CEO Richard Kramer said.
Goodyear was the world’s third-largest tire company by sales in 2019, behind France’s Michelin and Bridgestone in Japan, according to the trade publication Tire Business. Cooper ranked 13th.
Goodyear’s 2020 sales slipped 16 percent to $12.3 billion; Cooper’s were down 8 percent to $2.5 billion.
Goodyear’s stock rose 21 percent on news of the deal and Cooper’s 30 percent.
TRENDPOST: We note this merger to further illustrate how, with the massive amounts of cheap money available for the “Bigs” to borrow, they will continue to buy out the competition, and the smalls will be left with a minuscule market share of no economic significance.
As more wealth continues to be concentrated in the hands of the “Bigs,” more fuel will be added to the “Off With Their Heads 2.0” class warfare trend… which will also be a major platform of the “Youth Revolution.”
