Ingram Industries history

After the arrival of a new company president in 1969, the distributor, which had been making about $3 million in trade sales, began a series of innovative programs.

Early in 1970, the company made tentative plans to sell stock to the public in order to finance further expansion, but those plans were dropped in June.

However, in 1973, Ingram did form a joint venture to build an oil refinery in Louisiana with Northeast Petroleum Industries, Inc.

In 1975, the company formed a joint venture to develop petroleum in Iran.

In October 1976, gross monthly orders reached $1 million for the first time.

In 1978, the Ingrams rearranged the corporate structure of their holdings, and changed the name of their company from Ingram Corporation to Ingram Industries, Inc.

Ingram Entertainment Inc. was formed in 1980 as one of Ingram Industries Inc.’s umbrella of companies to focus on video distribution.

In 1981, Ingram Book branched out from wholesaling to purchase the John Yokley Company, a commercial printer.

Micro D's revenues during that time had shot up to $553 million in 1988.

In March 1992, Ingram strengthened its distribution operations further when the company purchased the Commtron Corporation, a videocassette wholesaler, and merged it with its Ingram Entertainment, Inc. subsidiary, which also distributed videocassettes.

By the end of 1993, Ingram Entertainment's fellow distributor, Ingram Micro, was still contributing a substantial portion of the company's revenues.