Unilever is one of the world's largest conglomerates. It is controlled by two parent Unilever holding companies, one based in London, the other in Rotterdam.
In 1885 William Hesketh Lever (September 19, 1851 – May 7, 1925) with his brother James bought a small soap works in Warrington in North West England and founded Lever Brothers as a factory to make soap.
Lever Brothers began manufacturing Sunlight Soap, the world's first packaged, branded laundry soap. They were one of the first companies to use glycerin and vegetable oils such as palm oil, rather than tallow to manufacture soap.
Lever Brothers built a substantial business empire with many well-known brands such as Lux and Lifebuoy. They created Lifebuoy soap in 1895 and sold it as an antiseptic soap. Lever Brothers first coined the term "B.O." for bad odor as part of their marketing company for the soap.
In 1887, William Lever bought some land on the Wirral in Cheshire between the River Mersey and the railway line at Bebington. This site became Port Sunlight where he not only built his works but also a model village to house his employees adjoining the soap factory. Between 1899 and 1914, 800 houses were built to house a population of 3,500 with high architectural standards and many community facilities.
Lever Brothers began margarine production 1914. The spread had originally been created in 1869 by the French Province chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès. Two years later he sold the patent to Antoon Jurgens a company based in Oss, Netherlands. Through a series of mergers Jurgens' company became Margarine Unie in 1927. Unilever was founded on September 2, 1929, by the merger of Margarine Unie and Lever Brothers.
During the second half of the 20th century Unilever increasingly diversified from being a maker of products made of oils and fats, and expanded its operations worldwide.
Unilever's American business Lever Brothers of U.S. began manufacturing detergents after World War II. Surf detergent was introduced in 1952 by Crosfields of Warrington, a subsidiary company of Lever Brothers in the United Kingdom, and introduced to the US seven years later. It became so popular in some parts of the world that 'surf' is the word for detergent in Urdu.
In 1978, National Starch was acquired by Unilever for $487 million, marking the largest ever foreign-acquisition of a US company at that point.
Unilever acquired about 80 companies during 1980s including Brooke Bond (makers of PG Tips tea) in 1984 and Chesebrough-Ponds (maker of Ragú, Pond's, Aqua-Net, Cutex, and Vaseline) in 1987.
Unilever promotes realistic body images in its Dove "Campaign for Real Beauty" commercials but uses skinny female models to promote its Axe line of products to men.
Today, Unilever owns over 400 brands, with a turnover in 2017 of 53.7 billion euros.
Unilever is the world's biggest ice cream maker. It sells $4 billion under its Heartbrand name –known as Wall's in the UK. It also owns ice cream brands Ben & Jerry's, Klondike, Popsicle and Breyers.
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| Unilever R&D Centre in Port Sunlight, United Kingdom. By Rept0n1x |
In 1885 William Hesketh Lever (September 19, 1851 – May 7, 1925) with his brother James bought a small soap works in Warrington in North West England and founded Lever Brothers as a factory to make soap.
Lever Brothers began manufacturing Sunlight Soap, the world's first packaged, branded laundry soap. They were one of the first companies to use glycerin and vegetable oils such as palm oil, rather than tallow to manufacture soap.
Lever Brothers built a substantial business empire with many well-known brands such as Lux and Lifebuoy. They created Lifebuoy soap in 1895 and sold it as an antiseptic soap. Lever Brothers first coined the term "B.O." for bad odor as part of their marketing company for the soap.
In 1887, William Lever bought some land on the Wirral in Cheshire between the River Mersey and the railway line at Bebington. This site became Port Sunlight where he not only built his works but also a model village to house his employees adjoining the soap factory. Between 1899 and 1914, 800 houses were built to house a population of 3,500 with high architectural standards and many community facilities.
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| An example of Port Sunlight architecture.By Rich Daley, |
Lever Brothers began margarine production 1914. The spread had originally been created in 1869 by the French Province chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès. Two years later he sold the patent to Antoon Jurgens a company based in Oss, Netherlands. Through a series of mergers Jurgens' company became Margarine Unie in 1927. Unilever was founded on September 2, 1929, by the merger of Margarine Unie and Lever Brothers.
During the second half of the 20th century Unilever increasingly diversified from being a maker of products made of oils and fats, and expanded its operations worldwide.
Unilever's American business Lever Brothers of U.S. began manufacturing detergents after World War II. Surf detergent was introduced in 1952 by Crosfields of Warrington, a subsidiary company of Lever Brothers in the United Kingdom, and introduced to the US seven years later. It became so popular in some parts of the world that 'surf' is the word for detergent in Urdu.
In 1978, National Starch was acquired by Unilever for $487 million, marking the largest ever foreign-acquisition of a US company at that point.
Unilever acquired about 80 companies during 1980s including Brooke Bond (makers of PG Tips tea) in 1984 and Chesebrough-Ponds (maker of Ragú, Pond's, Aqua-Net, Cutex, and Vaseline) in 1987.
Unilever promotes realistic body images in its Dove "Campaign for Real Beauty" commercials but uses skinny female models to promote its Axe line of products to men.
Today, Unilever owns over 400 brands, with a turnover in 2017 of 53.7 billion euros.
Unilever is the world's biggest ice cream maker. It sells $4 billion under its Heartbrand name –known as Wall's in the UK. It also owns ice cream brands Ben & Jerry's, Klondike, Popsicle and Breyers.
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