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Website: http://www.thecloroxcompany.com Career Site The company manufactures products in 25 countries and markets them in more than 100 countries. In fiscal 2005, sales were $4.4 billion, up 5 percent from the previous year. Net earnings for the year were $1.1 billion. History On May 3, 1913, five California entrepreneurs invested $100 apiece to set up America's first commercial-scale liquid bleach factory, which they located in Oakland, on the east side of San Francisco Bay. They were an unlikely group to embark on such an enterprise: a banker; a purveyor of wood and coal; a bookkeeper; a lawyer; and a miner, the only one of the five with any practical knowledge of chemistry. Their ambitious plan was to convert the brine available in abundance from the nearby salt ponds of San Francisco Bay into sodium hypochlorite bleach, using a sophisticated and technologically demanding process of electrolysis. They called their new undertaking the Electro-Alkaline Company. In August 1913, the company acquired a plant site in Oakland for which the directors agreed to pay $3,000. During its outfitting, an engineer for an equipment supplier, Abel M. Hamblet, suggested a name for the new product. From the words "chlorine" and "sodium hydroxide," which in combination form the bleach's active ingredient, he proposed the amalgam "Clorox." In 1914, they named their product Clorox bleach. Clorox immediately gained popularity as an effective and reliable domestic laundry aid, stain remover, deodorant and disinfectant. The company was bought by giant Procter & Gamble in 1957 but the deal was challenged by the Federal Trade Commission as a monopoly on household cleaners. The Supreme Court ruled in 1969 that Procter & Gamble must sell Clorox so it became an independent company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Benefits Medical coverage at Clorox is effective on the first day of employment. - Medical, vision and dental plans Updated August 24, 2005 |