Success from the fortieth time
Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2025 3:55 am
Ten years later, the company received a government order from the US government for 233,000 cans of WD-40. At the same time, rumors appeared about a possible sale of Rocket Chemical Company, but Irving denied them.
Irving retired in 1969 and was succeeded by his son-in-law, John Barry. Almost immediately after taking over, Barry changed the company's name from Rocket Chemical Company to WD-40 Company, in honor of its sole product, citing the fact that the company did not manufacture rockets.
Early WD-40 packaging. The one on the left features a rocket, a reminder of why the lubricant was invented in the first place.
Under Barry, the WD-40 Company gave out product samples. For example, during the Vietnam War, the company sent 10,000 packages of WD-40 to American soldiers every month so they could protect their weapons and equipment from moisture.
A major challenge for Barry was protecting WD-40's secret formula, trademark, and recognizable packaging design. The company did not patent WD-40 to avoid disclosing the ingredients. Barry acknowledged that other large companies, such as 3M and DuPont, were making products very similar to WD-40.
Some have even tried to copy WD-40's packaging: a blue-and-yellow can with a red lid. That's why the company has patented the color combination on the packaging.
Under Barry, the lubricant appeared not only on the shelves of specialized hardware stores, but also in supermarkets. When one of the largest American retail chains, Sears, offered to sell WD-40 under its own brand, Barry refused.
Under him, the advertising budget increased sharply, and the WD-40 Company began to actively promote its products abroad, notes The New York Times. In an interview, the CEO said that his company is actually not a manufacturing company, but a marketing company.
In 1971, the WD-40 Company opened its first international portugal number data office in Toronto, Canada. Over the next 20 years, the company opened overseas offices in the United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Malaysia, and France. In 2008, it generated more than half of its revenue outside the United States for the first time.
The company's annual sales also grew :
In 1970 — $2 million.
In 1983, it exceeded $50 million.
In 1990 — $91 million.
In 1992 — $100 million.
The company went public in 1973, listing its shares on the Nasdaq under the ticker WDFC. The IPO gave the company a market valuation of $4.95 million.
In 1993, the company claimed that WD-40 products were in four out of five U.S. homes and that 81% of working Americans used it at work. That same year, sales were up to 1 million cans per week, and the company was among the top ten most profitable companies on the Nasdaq.
Explaining the secret to WD-40's half-century success, Harry Ridge, the company's CEO since 1997, said : "People love it because it's an honest product. It does what it says it will do."
One formula, many packages
To date, the company's only product remains WD-40 in various packaging - from a pen-tube that can be put in your pocket to a 200-liter drum.
Irving retired in 1969 and was succeeded by his son-in-law, John Barry. Almost immediately after taking over, Barry changed the company's name from Rocket Chemical Company to WD-40 Company, in honor of its sole product, citing the fact that the company did not manufacture rockets.
Early WD-40 packaging. The one on the left features a rocket, a reminder of why the lubricant was invented in the first place.
Under Barry, the WD-40 Company gave out product samples. For example, during the Vietnam War, the company sent 10,000 packages of WD-40 to American soldiers every month so they could protect their weapons and equipment from moisture.
A major challenge for Barry was protecting WD-40's secret formula, trademark, and recognizable packaging design. The company did not patent WD-40 to avoid disclosing the ingredients. Barry acknowledged that other large companies, such as 3M and DuPont, were making products very similar to WD-40.
Some have even tried to copy WD-40's packaging: a blue-and-yellow can with a red lid. That's why the company has patented the color combination on the packaging.
Under Barry, the lubricant appeared not only on the shelves of specialized hardware stores, but also in supermarkets. When one of the largest American retail chains, Sears, offered to sell WD-40 under its own brand, Barry refused.
Under him, the advertising budget increased sharply, and the WD-40 Company began to actively promote its products abroad, notes The New York Times. In an interview, the CEO said that his company is actually not a manufacturing company, but a marketing company.
In 1971, the WD-40 Company opened its first international portugal number data office in Toronto, Canada. Over the next 20 years, the company opened overseas offices in the United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Malaysia, and France. In 2008, it generated more than half of its revenue outside the United States for the first time.
The company's annual sales also grew :
In 1970 — $2 million.
In 1983, it exceeded $50 million.
In 1990 — $91 million.
In 1992 — $100 million.
The company went public in 1973, listing its shares on the Nasdaq under the ticker WDFC. The IPO gave the company a market valuation of $4.95 million.
In 1993, the company claimed that WD-40 products were in four out of five U.S. homes and that 81% of working Americans used it at work. That same year, sales were up to 1 million cans per week, and the company was among the top ten most profitable companies on the Nasdaq.
Explaining the secret to WD-40's half-century success, Harry Ridge, the company's CEO since 1997, said : "People love it because it's an honest product. It does what it says it will do."
One formula, many packages
To date, the company's only product remains WD-40 in various packaging - from a pen-tube that can be put in your pocket to a 200-liter drum.