Thyssen was a major

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...

producer founded by

August Thyssen August Thyssen (; Eschweiler, 17 May 1842 – Landsberg Castle, Ratingen, near Kettwig, 4 April 1926) was a German industrialist. Career and marriage After he had completed his studies at the RWTH Aachen University, University of Karlsruhe and ...

. The company merged with Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp to form

ThyssenKrupp ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational conglomerate. It is the result of the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and has its operational headquarters in Duisburg a ...

in 1999.

History

On 29 September 1891,

and his brother

Joseph Thyssen Joseph Thyssen, also Josef Thyssen (14 February 1844 – 15 July 1915), was a German industrialist. He was the son of Friedrich Thyssen and the younger brother of August Thyssen, who was also his closest colleague and confidant. Biography ...

came to be in possession of all shares of ''Gewerkschaft Deutscher Kaiser'', a coal mining company. On 17 December 1891, the

steelworks A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finis ...

of the same company opened in Hamborn (today part of

Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in ...

). Subsequently, the plant was modernized and expanded by August Thyssen, becoming a vertically integrated company producing iron and steel and manufacturing ships, machines etc. After the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

came the

occupation of the Ruhr The Occupation of the Ruhr (german: link=no, Ruhrbesetzung) was a period of military occupation of the Ruhr region of Germany by France and Belgium between 11 January 1923 and 25 August 1925. France and Belgium occupied the heavily industr ...

and the loss of many foreign interests; however the company remained viable. On 4 April 1926,

died; his son, Fritz Thyssen became chairman of a new group ''

Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG The Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG (VSt or Vestag, ''United Steelworks'') was a German industrial conglomerate producing coal, iron, and steel in the interbellum and during World War II. Founded in 1926, economic pressures (decreasing prices and excess ...

'' (United Steelworks) which was formed by a consortium of companies, with Thyssen representing 26% of the company's value. In 1934, ''August Thyssen-Hütte AG'' was founded as part of the new group. The Nazi rearmament policy and subsequent war made the plants essential to the war economy. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

ordered the company to be

liquidated Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and property of the company are re ...

and in 1953 a new company, also named ''August Thyssen-Hütte AG'', was formed in Duisburg. The other mills of the company in Duisburg became legally independent entities; in the 1950s and 1960s they were reintegrated into the Thyssen group. However, the mining division was not reconglomerated; thus Thyssen became largely a steel company. In 1954/55, the group focused on acquisitions to restore the

vertical integration In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration is a term that describes the arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each member of the suppl ...

by acquiring

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the econom ...

concerns. Further companies were acquired: ''Niederrheinischen Hütte AG'' in 1956, ''Deutschen Edelstahlwerke AG'' in 1957, ''Phoenix-Rheinrohr AG'' (

metallurgical Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

works and mills), and ''Hüttenwerk Oberhausen AG'' in 1968. The product range included steel sections and flat steel in all grades, including high-alloy steel. By the mid 1960s, August Thyssen-Hütte AG was Europe's largest crude steel producer, and the fifth largest in the world. In the 1960s, the company also formed cooperative alliances with companies such as Mannesmann AG. By 1972, it employed 92,200 people and generated annual sales of 9.8 billion DM. In 1973, the company acquired Rheinstahl AG, which was mainly a manufacturing company. This

takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to ...

reduced the company's dominance in the steel industry and converted it to a

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** ...

. In 1977, the company became Thyssen AG, with Rheinstahl AG already having been renamed ''Thyssen Industrie AG in 1976. In 1983, Thyssen Stahl AG was spun off. During the 1980s, talks on a

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspec ...

between Thyssen Stahl AG and Krupp Stahl AG took place. An alliance did not take place at that time, but there began cooperation on certain business areas (

tinplate Tinplate consists of sheets of steel coated with a thin layer of tin to impede rusting. Before the advent of cheap milled steel, the backing metal was wrought iron. While once more widely used, the primary use of tinplate now is the manufacture ...

electrical steel Electrical steel (E-steel, lamination steel, silicon electrical steel, silicon steel, relay steel, transformer steel) is an iron alloy tailored to produce specific magnetic properties: small hysteresis area resulting in low power loss per cycle ...

, and

stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's r ...

). In 1997, the flat steel production divisions of both groups were merged to form ''Thyssen Krupp Stahl AG''. On 17 March 1999, a new group formed by the merger of Thyssen and

Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krupp ...

was registered, and on 23 October the merger took place, forming Thyssen-Krupp AG (TK). That same year, they acquired the elevator division of American-based conglomerate Dover Corporation. It was revealed in February 2021 when Liberty Steel Group proposed to take over from TK the Thyssen plant in Duisburg, that it can produce 13 million metric tons per year of crude steel, from four blast furnaces and two redox furnaces. "The plant casts slab for rolling into hot and cold rolled coil, as well as plate." TK lost €960 million in 2020 and had sought to offload this asset, which it values at €1.5 billion. The discussions failed because Liberty wanted TK to pay money for the privilege of losing the Duisburg plant from its balance sheet.

Gallery

File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F079042-0013, Duisburg, Thyssen-Stahlwerk.jpg, Thyssen steelworks in Duisburg (1988) File:Thyssen & Co AG 1922.jpg, Bond of the Thyssen & Co. AG, issued February 1922

References

Sources

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External links

{{Thyssen Conglomerate companies of Germany German companies established in 1891