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| File:Smith & Wesson Logo New.png | |
| Company type | Part of public company American Outdoor Brands Corporation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1852; 173 years ago (1852) |
| Founders | Horace Smith, Daniel B. Wesson |
| Headquarters | Springfield, Massachusetts, United States |
| Key people | P. James Debney (CEO), Jeffrey D. Buchanan (CFO), Leland A. Nichols (COO), |
| Products | Firearms and ammunition |
| Revenue |  US$903 million (2016) |
| Operating income | US$199.94 million (2016) |
| Net income | US$191.31 million (2016) |
| Total assets |
|
| Number of employees | 2,204 (2017) |
| Subsidiaries | Thompson/Center |
| Website | Smith-Wesson.com |
US$261.674 million (2012) 
Smith & Wesson (S&W) is an American manufacturer of firearms, ammunition and restraints. The corporate headquarters are in Springfield, Massachusetts. Smith & Wesson was founded in 1852 and after various corporate changes is now a unit of American Outdoor Brands Corporation.
History
Early history
Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson founded the Smith & Wesson Company in Norwich, Connecticut in 1852 to develop the Volcanic rifle. Smith developed a new Volcanic Cartridge, which he patented in 1854. The Smith & Wesson Company was renamed Volcanic Repeating Arms in 1855, and was purchased by Oliver Winchester. Smith left the company and returned to his native Springfield, Massachusetts, while Wesson stayed on as plant manager with Volcanic Repeating Arms.
As Samuel Colt's patent on the revolver was set to expire in 1856, Wesson began developing a prototype for a cartridge revolver. His research pointed out that a former Colt employee named Rollin White held the patent for a "Bored-through" cylinder, a component he would need for his invention. Wesson reconnected with Smith and the two partners approached White to manufacture a newly designed revolver-and-cartridge combination.
Rather than make White a partner in their company, Smith and Wesson paid him a royalty of $0.25 on every revolver that they made. It would become White's responsibility to defend his patent in any court cases which eventually led to his financial ruin, but was very advantageous for the new Smith & Wesson Company.
19th century
Smith & Wesson's revolvers came into popular demand with the outbreak of the American Civil War as soldiers from all ranks on both sides of the conflict made private purchases of the revolvers for self-defense.
The orders for the Smith & Wesson Model 1 revolver outpaced the factory's production capabilities. In 1860 demand was so great that Smith & Wesson expanded into a new facility and began experimenting with a new cartridge design more suitable than the .22 Short that it had been using.
At the same time, the company's design was being infringed upon by other manufacturers which led to numerous lawsuits filed by Rollin White. In many of these instances part of the restitution came in the form of the offender being forced to stamp "Manufactured for Smith & Wesson" on the revolvers in question.
White's vigorous defense of his patent caused a problem for armsmakers in the United States at the time as they could not manufacture cartridge revolvers. At the end of the war the U.S. Government charged White with causing the retardation of arms development in America.
Demand for revolvers declined at the close of the Civil War so Smith & Wesson focused on the development of arms suitable for use on the American frontier. In 1870 the company switched focus from pocket sized revolvers to a large frame revolver in heavier calibers (.44 S&W American). This new design, known as the Smith & Wesson Model 3, was adopted by the US Army as the first cartridge-firing revolver in US service.
In 1899 Smith & Wesson introduced its most widely used revolver, the .38 Military & Police (also known as the Smith & Wesson Model 10). With over 6 million produced, it became the standard sidearm of American police officers for much of the 20th century. An additional 1 million of these guns were made for the US Military during World War II.
20th century
The post-war periods in the 20th century were times of great innovation for the company. In 1935 Smith and Wesson released the Smith & Wesson Model 27 which was the first revolver chambered for .357 Magnum. It was designed as a more powerful handgun for law enforcement officers. The Model 27 started the "Magnum Era" of handguns. The high point was in 1955 when the company created the Smith & Wesson Model 29 in .44 Magnum. Two decades later the Dirty Harry movies made this gun a cultural icon.
In 1965 the Wesson family sold its controlling interest in Smith and Wesson to Bangor Punta, a large American conglomerate. Over the next decade Bangor Punta diversified the company's civilian sales to include related gun products (such as holsters) as well as offering additional police equipment (such as handcuffs and breathalyzers). By the late 1970s these profitable moves made Smith and Wesson "the envy of the industry" according to Business Week.
Despite all of these advantages, however, Smith & Wesson's market share began to decline in the 1980s. As the war on drugs intensified in the United States, police departments all across the country replaced their Smith and Wesson revolvers with European semiautomatics (such as Glock, Sig Sauer and Beretta). From 1982 to 1986 profits at the company declined by 41 percent Company ownership changed twice during the decade.
In June 1987 Tomkins plc paid $112.5 million to purchase Smith & Wesson. Tomkins modernized the production equipment and instituted additional testing which significantly increased product quality. However new gun sales in the United States lagged in the 1990s, some of which was attributed to the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. Also there were numerous city and state lawsuits against Smith and Wesson. After the success of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, municipalities thought they might be able to succeed through tort law against the gun industry as well. These political and legal challenges provided a lot of risk and uncertainty for Smith and Wesson's future.
Clinton agreement
On March 17, 2000, Smith & Wesson made an agreement with U.S. President Bill Clinton under which it would implement changes in the design and distribution of its firearms in return for "preferred buying program" to offset the loss of revenue as a result of anticipated boycott. The agreement stated all authorized dealers and distributors of Smith & Wesson's products had to abide by a "code of conduct" to eliminate the sale of firearms to prohibited persons, and dealers had to agree to not allow children under 18 (without an adult present) access to gun shops or sections of stores that contained firearms.
After an organized campaign by the NRA and NSSF over the issue of smart guns, thousands of retailers and tens of thousands of firearms consumers boycotted Smith & Wesson. CEO Ed Shultz, who negotiated the deal, was forced out in September of that year. By December 2000, the company's stock price was 19 cents per share. Smith & Wesson dropped its smart gun plans after nearly being driven out of business.
Acquisition
On May 11, 2001, Saf-T-Hammer Corporation acquired Smith & Wesson Corp. from Tomkins plc for US$15 million, a fraction of the US$112 million originally paid by Tomkins. Saf-T-Hammer assumed US$30 million in debt, bringing the total purchase price to US$45 million. Saf-T-Hammer, a manufacturer of firearms locks and other safety products, purchased the company with the intention of incorporating its line of security products into all Smith & Wesson firearms in compliance with the 2000 agreement.
The acquisition of Smith & Wesson was chiefly brokered by Saf-T-Hammer President Bob Scott, who had left Smith & Wesson in 1999 because of a disagreement with Tomkins’ policies. After the purchase, Scott became the president of Smith & Wesson to guide the 157-year-old company back to its former standing in the market.
On February 15, 2002, the name of the newly formed entity was changed to Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation.
Recent history
In 2006 Smith & Wesson refocused its marketing on big box retailers, according to Smith & Wesson CEO Mike Golden in a 2008 conference call with investors.
Smith & Wesson Holding announced in December 2014 that it was paying $130.5 million for Battenfeld Technologies, a Columbia, Missouri-based designer and distributor of hunting and shooting accessories. The company made the acquisition with the eventual intent to merge all its existing Smith & Wesson, M&P and Thompson Center Arms accessories into a single division.
In August 2016 the company bought Crimson Trace, a laser-sight manufacturer, for $95 million and Taylor Brands, a tool and knife maker, for $85 million. In November of that same year the company bought UST Brands, a survival equipment maker, for $32.3 million. On November 7, 2016, Smith & Wesson announced that it would be changing the name of its holding company to American Outdoor Brands Corporation.
In 2017 Smith & Wesson saw a severe contraction in its sales as units shipped to distributors and retailers declined 38.3%. The company was forced to lay off one-fourth of its manufacturing workforace.
The company has come under increased scrutiny due to the frequent use of its firearms in mass shootings such as the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, in which 19-year-old Nikolas Jacob Cruz used a Smith & Wesson AR-15 style rifle, the semi-automatic M&P15. The same weapon was used in the 2015 San Bernardino attack and the 2012 Aurora shooting.
See also
References
Footnotes
- ^ http://ir.smith-wesson.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=90977&p=irol-fundincomea
- "Smith & Wesson Holding Corp 2013 Q3 Quarterly Report Form (10-Q)" (XBRL). United States Securities and Exchange Commission. March 4, 2014.
- "Smith & Wesson Holding Corp 2012 Annual Report Form (10-K)" (XBRL). United States Securities and Exchange Commission. June 25, 2013.
- "Company Profile for Smith & Wesson Holding Corp (SWHC)". Retrieved October 3, 2008.
- ^ Boorman 2002, pp. 18–20.
- ^ Kinard 2004, pp. 114–117.
- ^ "Smith & Wesson Corporation History". Funding Universe. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
- http://thestuffyougottawatch.com/dharry.html
- Bangor Punta Corporate Timeline
- "Why the Firearms Business Has Tired Blood," Business Week, November 27, 1978, pp. 107, 110, 112
- Duty Guns of America's Largest Police Departments
- Smith & Wesson is sold to Britons
- ^ "Clinton Administration reaches historic agreement with Smith & Wesson". The White House Office of the Press Secretary. March 17, 2000.
- Jannuzzo, Paul. "Smart Gun Technology". Philly.com.
- Carter 2002, p. 542.
- What Happened When a Major Gun Company Crossed the NRA
- A Major Gun Company Became An Industry Pariah After It Made Its Guns Safer
- Yahoo Finance
- Will Obama's Action Create A Market For 'Smart' Guns?
- Sweeney 2004, p. 22.
- MCM staff (May 16, 2001). "Smith & Wesson Sold". Multichannel merchant. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
- Wagner, Eileen Brill (May 14, 2001). "Saf-T-Hammer buys Smith & Wesson". Phoenix Business Journal. Retrieved November 11, 2015.
- Tynan, Trudy (February 14, 2003). "It's big, it's bold: Gunmaker Smith & Wesson unveils hefty .50-caliber revolver". Kingman Daily Miner. p. 2B.
- Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (July 29, 2002). "Form 10-KSB". sec.gov. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. p. 2. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
- "Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation F4Q08 (Qtr End 04/30/08) Earnings Call Transcript". SeekingAlpha. June 13, 2008. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
We really have refocused our efforts on the big boxes. We put this new sales force in place, which was about 2 years ago, I guess, now. We focused on the larger dealers...
- Stice, Alicia (December 6, 2014). "Smith & Wesson buys Battenfeld Technologies". Columbia Daily Tribune. Columbia, Missouri. Retrieved December 6, 2014.
- Handley, Lucy (December 13, 2016). "Gun maker Smith & Wesson to change name to American Outdoor Brands Corp". CNBC. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
- Bomey, Nathan. "Gunmaker Smith & Wesson cuts jobs as sales plunge". CNBC. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
- "Smith & Wesson Made the AR-15 Used in Florida School Massacre". Forbes. Bloomberg. Retrieved March 25, 2018.
- Frankel, Todd C. (March 22, 2018). "A city that makes guns confronts its role in the Parkland mass shooting". Retrieved April 1, 2018.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help) - https://www.bnn.ca/smith-wesson-gun-sales-in-free-fall-as-trump-effect-takes-hold-1.1015479
- http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/06/news/companies/american-outdoor-brands-blackrock/index.html
Sources
- Barnes, Frank C.; Skinner, Stan (2003). Cartridges of the World (10th, Revised and Expanded ed.). Iola, Wisconsin: Krause Publications. ISBN 978-0-87349-605-6.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Boorman, Dean K. (2002). The History of Smith & Wesson Firearms. Guilford, Connecticut: Globe Pequot Press, Lyons Press. ISBN 978-1-58574-721-4.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Carter, Gregg Lee (January 1, 2002). Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 542. ISBN 978-1-57607-268-4.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Carter, Gregg Lee (2006). Gun Control in the United States: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-85109-760-9.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Hartink, A.E. (2002). The Complete Encyclopedia of Pistols and Revolvers. Edison, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7858-1519-8.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Kinard, Jeff (2004). Pistols: An Illustrated History of Their Impact. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 114–117. ISBN 978-1-85109-470-7.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Supica, Jim; Nahas, Richard (2007). Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson. Iola, Wisconsin: F+W Media, Inc. ISBN 0-89689-293-X.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Sweeney, Patrick (December 13, 2004). The Gun Digest Book of Smith & Wesson. Iola, Wisconsin: Gun Digest Books. p. 22. ISBN 0-87349-792-9.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Thompson, Leroy; Smeets, René (1993). Great Combat Handguns. London: Arms & Armour. ISBN 1-85409-168-9.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Wagner, Scott W. (2009). Own the Night: Selection and Use of Tactical Lights and Laser Sights. Iola, Wisconsin: Gun Digest Books. p. 277. ISBN 978-1-4402-0371-8.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)
External links
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