Walker Information history

The company initiated work on emission-control devices in conjunction with the California Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Board and in 1962 came out with crankcase parts, the forefather of catalytic converters.

The following year Walker produced catalytic reactor systems for new vehicles and in 1964 perfected the devices while coming out with another industry first--the chambered pipe.

In 1965 Warren Buffett took majority control of the textile manufacturer Berkshire Hathaway Inc., turning it into his primary investment vehicle.

By 1966 United States passenger car registrations reached 78 million, along with 16 million trucks and buses.

A worldwide conglomerate primarily known for its gasoline stations throughout the United States, Tenneco acquired Walker in 1967.

In 1984 the company introduced the Walker Advantage muffler with Absorbite, and this product brought the Walker name firmly into the limelight.

After trademarking its latest technology, Walker's design teams produced another breakthrough in 1987 with the debut of the DynoMax Performance Exhaust line.

In 1988 Walker celebrated 100 years of business, marking its dominance of the design, engineering, production, and sales of automobile exhaust systems including catalytic converters, mufflers, tubular manifolds, pipes and entire stainless steel exhaust systems.

One example of the latter came in 1994 when the company's plant in Hebron, Ohio, the largest of its 11 North American plants, was forced to close after Ford took its tailpipe and muffler needs in-house.

With international operations already established in Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Mexico, and South Africa, at the end of the summer of 1996, Walker was poised to conquer the South American automotive industry.

Another new agreement named Walker as the exhaust systems supplier for a new Saturn sedan, scheduled for introduction in 1999.

In June 2006 Warren Buffett announced that he would donate more than 80 percent of his wealth to charitable foundations.

During the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007–08, Buffett made a number of deals that, though questioned at the time, proved highly profitable.

In September 2008 he invested $5 billion in the United States-based bank holding company Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., and the following month Berkshire Hathaway purchased $3 billion in General Electric Company (GE) preferred stock.

In November 2009 Buffett announced that Berkshire was buying the railroad company Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation for about $26 billion; the investment group already owned approximately 23 percent of the railroad.

In 2010 Buffett and the Gateses created the Giving Pledge, an invitation to other wealthy individuals to donate the majority of their fortune to charities.