The Williams Companies History

In 1923, they began building pipelines internationally.

Eventually, they established steel pipeline construction as their specialty, and in 1924 they moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the heart of oil and gas country.

Great Lakes Pipe Line had been founded in 1930 by a consortium of eight United States oil companies--Continental Oil Company, Sunray DX Oil Company, Skelly Oil Company, Texaco, Union Oil Company of California, Sinclair Oil, Cities Service, and Phillips Petroleum&mdashø service the Midwest.

In 1942, during World War II, he left Williams Brothers to join the navy.

In 1949 the company's first-generation founders, Dave and Miller, retired and sold part of the concern to Dave's son David Williams, Jr., and their nephews, Charles P. Williams, Jr., and John H. Williams.

In 1957, with a net worth of $8 million, it went public.

Williams merged with MAPCO, whose assets happened to include a pipeline that Williams built in 1960, during the heyday of its construction business.

In 1963 the company lost $4 million on its domestic operations, and only strong overseas business limited its overall net loss to $500,000.

Williams Brothers' net worth in 1965 was $27 million.

In 1966 these "youngsters," as they were known, bought their first pipeline, the 6,228-mile-long Great Lakes Pipe Line System.

In 1969, in a stock swap, the company acquired Edgcomb Steel Company, which processed and distributed metal products in the East and Midwest.

The Great Lakes Pipe Line deal left Williams Brothers with a high debt-equity ratio, 89 percent (it would shoot up to 160 percent by 1970), but this did not deter John Williams from seeking new avenues for growth and diversification.

The company changed its name to "The Williams Companies" in 1971 to reflect this new diversity.

Also that year, the company sold its Williams International Group subsidiary, which had been formed in 1972 to take charge of its original pipeline construction operations.

Williams Brothers had become a diversified enterprise, and in May 1971 it recognized that fact by changing its name to Williams Companies. It was sold off in 1974.

In 1976 Williams joined with Newmont Mining Corporation, Bechtel Group, Boeing Company, Fluor Corporation, and Equitable Life Assurance Society to buy Peabody Coal from Kennecott Corporation, coming away with a 27.5 percent share.

Nonetheless, the company acquired Rainbow Resources in 1977, a Wyoming oil and gas exploration concern, for $40 million, and spent another $40 million expanding its pipeline network.

In 1979 it sold its Williams Energy subsidiary, which consisted of what used to be The Suburban Companies, to Penn Central Corporation for $57 million.

In 1983 Agrico sold its entire retail operation to a management group for $51.7 million and a 40 percent stake in the new company, Crop Production Services, Inc.

In 1984 Williams divested Edgcomb Metals, selling it to a management group.

The restructuring continued in 1986 when Williams sold all of Williams Exploration's assets to the United States subsidiaries of two Belgian oil companies, Petrofina and Cometra Oil.

The reorganization ended in 1987, when the company sold its stake in Peabody Coal to consortium partner Newmont Mining for $320 million and divested Agrico by selling it to Freeport-McMoRan Resource Partners for $350 million.

In 1989 WilTel became the fourth largest fiber-optic telecommunications company in the United States when it acquired another fiber-optics concern, LIGHTNET, and added 4,500 miles to its system.

In 1991 Williams completed the project.

Also in 1995, Williams acquired ICG Wireless Services, which gave a boost to WilTech by allowing it to connect satellite transmission of video with its fiber-optic network.

In October 1999, Williams sent its Communications Group public, offering 29.6 million shares over the New York Stock Exchange.

With more than 5 000 employees, The Williams Companies, Inc. is considered one of the top 2000 largest public companies in the world, according to Forbes.

In 2001, Williams acquired Barrett Resources, which provided them with additional national gas reserves.

In 2002, the company found itself in financial distress due to changed market conditions and the large debt of its subsidiary Williams Communications Group.

The company narrowed its focus back to energy, exited the telecommunications business, and acquired Barrett Resources, adding significant natural gas reserves, primarily in the western United States.2003.

One of the moves it made around that time (2004) was the sale of two of Canada's largest natural gas straddle plants, and its interest in another to Inter Pipeline Fund for US$540 million.

In 2010, the company underwent a major restructuring that included a reorganization of its extensive pipeline holdings in Williams Partners LP. In October 2010, Williams and Williams Partners LP announced that chairman and chief executive officer Steve Malcolm would retire at the end of the year.

The board of directors at Williams said it had elected Alan Armstrong to succeed Malcolm as CEO effective January 3, 2011.

Williams began investing to grow its business in the Marcellus producing area of the United States Northeast. It also continued to invest in expanding its Transco interstate natural gas pipeline system – the nation’s largest, and fastest-growing – to create access to the “best markets” to the north and south of the Marcellus and Utica supply areas.2014.