Editing Ling-Temco-Vought (section)

==History==

===Ling Electric Company===
In 1947, entrepreneur [[James Ling]] founded an electrical-contracting business, Ling Electric Company, in [[Dallas]], Texas. He lived in the rear of the shop. After incorporating and taking the company public in 1955, Ling found innovative ways to market the stock, including selling door-to-door and from a booth at the [[State Fair of Texas]].<ref name="Sobel Kings">{{cite book | author=Sobel, Robert | title=The Rise and Fall of the Conglomerate Kings | publisher=Beard Books | year=1999 | isbn=1-893122-47-6 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=gw-nLbBRh8oC&pg=PA77}}</ref>

===Ling-Temco-Vought===
In 1956, Ling bought L.M. Electronics, and in 1959, added [[Altec Lansing|Altec Electronics]], a maker of stereo systems and speakers. In 1960, Ling merged the company with [[Temco Aircraft]], best known for its [[missile]] work. In 1961, using additional funding from insurance businessman [[Troy Victor Post|Troy Post]] and Texas oil baron [[David Harold Byrd]], they acquired [[Vought|Chance Vought]] [[aerospace]] in a [[hostile takeover]].<ref name="Sobel Kings"/> The new company became '''Ling-Temco-Vought'''.

With low interest rates allowing the company to borrow huge sums, Ling built one of the major 1960s conglomerates. As long as the target company's earnings exceeded the interest on the loan (or [[corporate bond]]), or the company's price/earnings ratio was less than that of Ling-Temco-Vought's stock, the conglomerate became more profitable overall. Given the fairly unsophisticated stock research of the era, the company appeared to be growing without bound, and its share price rose. 

In 1964, Ling turned Ling-Temco-Vought into a [[holding company]] and established three public companies as [[subsidiary|subsidiaries]], LTV Aerospace, LTV Ling Altec, and LTV Electrosystems. LTV Aerospace received assets for Vought and a large part of Temco Aircraft. LTV Ling Altec contained Altec Electronics and other properties, and the rest went to LTV Electrosystems. The intention was to make the sum of the parts appear to be worth more than the whole. Ling used this technique to raise capital and buy more companies.<ref name="Sobel Kings"/> Portions of LTV Electrosystems were later spun off to [[E-Systems]], then part of [[Raytheon]] IIS, and since 2002, part of [[L-3 Communications]]-Integrated Systems (L-3/IS).

====Acquisitions====
In 1965, Ling added the wire and cable company [[Okonite]]. In 1967, they took over [[Wilson Sporting Goods|Wilson and Company]], which was twice the size of Ling-Temco-Vought. Wilson was a diverse company involved in meat packing, sporting goods, and pharmaceuticals.<ref name="Gaughan">{{cite book | title= Mergers, Acquisitions, and Corporate Restructurings |edition= 5 |first= Patrick A. |last= Gaughan |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cPZDpDMF-dAC&pg=PA56 |publisher= John Wiley & Sons |year= 2010 |isbn= 978-0470881217 |pages= 56–57 }}</ref> Wilson's president Roscoe Haynie was not aware of the takeover scheme until two weeks before the takeover was complete.<ref name="FundingUniverse">{{cite web |url= http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/the-ltv-corporation-history/ |title= The LTV Corporation History |publisher= Funding Universe |year= 1999 |access-date= October 4, 2014 }}</ref> Ling later split Wilson into three parts (meat packing, sporting goods ([[Wilson Sporting Goods]]), and pharmaceuticals ([[Inolex|Wilson Pharmaceutical and Chemical]]), and spun them off into separate companies traded on the [[American Stock Exchange]].

In 1968, Ling-Temco-Vought added Greatamerica Corporation, [[Troy Victor Post|Troy Post]]'s holding company for [[Braniff International Airways]] and [[National Car Rental]],<ref name="Gaughan" /> and [[Jones and Laughlin Steel Company|J &amp; L Steel]]. In addition, it acquired resorts in [[Acapulco, Mexico|Acapulco]] and [[Guerrero, Mexico]], and [[Steamboat Ski Resort|Steamboat Springs, Colorado]]. By 1969, LTV had purchased 33 companies, employed 29,000 workers, and offered 15,000 separate products and services, and was one of the 40 biggest industrial corporations.

====Conglomerate and antitrust problems====
Ling-Temco-Vought had a combined sales of $3.6&nbsp;billion in 1969 (${{formatprice|{{inflation|USD|3600000000|1969}}}} today),<ref name="FundingUniverse" /> but investors found that the conglomerates were not growing any faster than the individual companies had before they were bought out. Share prices plummeted, sparking a [[bear market]], and a general feeling arose that conglomerates were to blame for the market woes. An antitrust lawsuit was filed that year. 

Eventually, the board of directors demoted James Ling in 1970, and he left the company, to be replaced by former Ling-Temco-Vought executive [[W. Paul Thayer|Paul Thayer]].

===LTV Corporation===
As part of a 1971 [[antitrust]] settlement, the company sold its Braniff and Okonite components,<ref name="Gaughan" /> and Thayer changed the company name from Ling-Temco-Vought to '''LTV Corporation'''. Thayer was succeeded by former [[Xerox]] executive Raymond Hay.

====First bankruptcy====
In July 1986, LTV Corporation filed for [[Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code|Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection]]. With $6.14&nbsp;billion (${{formatprice|{{inflation|USD|6140000000|1986}}}} today) in total assets and $4.59&nbsp;billion in debt, it was the largest bankruptcy in US history to that point.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/18/business/ltv-corp-files-for-bankruptcy-debt-is-4-billion.html |title= LTV Corp. Files for Bankruptcy; Debt is $4 Billion |first= Thomas C. |last= Hayes |newspaper= The New York Times |date= July 18, 1986 }}</ref>

The company went into a series of [[divestment|divestitures]], most notably the entire LTV Aerospace division; the aerospace component retained the legacy Vought name as the independent [[Vought]] Corporation, while the missile component later became part of [[Loral Corporation]]<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-09-01-fi-6774-story.html |title= Loral Acquires Missile Branch of LTV Corp. |first= Dean |last= Takahashi |newspaper= Los Angeles Times |date= September 1, 1992 }}</ref> and later became the [[Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control]] division. After the 1984 merger of the [[Jones and Laughlin Steel Company]] subsidiary with [[Republic Steel|Republic Steel Corporation]], the company continued to exist primarily as a steel producer, renaming itself '''LTV Steel''', and moved its headquarters to [[Cleveland, Ohio]], in 1993.

LTV did not leave Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection until June 28, 1993, in what was described in 1999 as one of the longest and most complicated bankruptcies in US history.<ref name="FundingUniverse" />

In 1999, LTV acquired [[Pittsburgh]]-based [[Fushi Copperweld|Copperweld Corporation]] from [[Imerys|Imétal S.A.]] of France.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ltv-to-purchase-copperweld-corporation-74307102.html |title= LTV to Purchase Copperweld Corporation |publisher=PR Newswire |author= LTV Corporation |date= September 9, 1999 |access-date= October 4, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160916185142/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ltv-to-purchase-copperweld-corporation-74307102.html |archive-date= September 16, 2016 |url-status= dead }}</ref>

====Second bankruptcy====
LTV Steel filed for [[Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code|Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection]], on December 29, 2000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ltvsteel.com/ |title=LTV Steel |publisher=LTV |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080509081229/http://www.ltvsteel.com/ |archive-date= May 9, 2008 |url-status=usurped |access-date= May 26, 2008}}</ref> The company subsequently dissolved on December 18, 2001. Its assets were acquired in February 2002 by [[Wilbur Ross]] and merged with [[Weirton Steel]] to form the [[International Steel Group]].<ref name="Gaughan" /><ref>{{cite web |date=February 27, 2002 |title=LTV Steel assets sold |url=https://money.cnn.com/2002/02/27/companies/ltv/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240820042329/https://money.cnn.com/2002/02/27/companies/ltv/ |archive-date=2024-08-20 |website=CNN Money |publisher=}}</ref>

Some of the railroad subsidiaries – [[South Chicago and Indiana Harbor Railway|Chicago Short Line Railway]], [[Cuyahoga Valley Railway]], and River Terminal Railway – went to [[ISG Weirton Steel|ISG Railways]], while the [[Ohio Central Railroad System]] acquired [[Aliquippa and Southern Railroad]] and [[Mahoning Valley Railway]]. The former [[Monongahela Connecting Railroad]] is now operated by the [[Allegheny Valley Railroad]].

In 2002, Lombard Metals Corp, located in [[Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania]], purchased all the outside inventory totaling 224,000,000&nbsp;lb of steel from 58 locations throughout the country.