W. C. Bradley Co.
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| Private | |
| Industry | Leisure, Real estate |
| Founded | Columbus, Georgia, USA (1885) |
| Headquarters | Columbus, Georgia, USA |
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Key people
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Stephen T. Butler, Chairman Marc Olivié, President and CEO |
| Website | wcbradley.com |
The W.C. Bradley Co. (www.wcbradley.com), founded in 1885, is a privately owned company headquartered in Columbus, Georgia. Founded as a “cotton factoring” business, the W.C. Bradley Co. today is a global, multi-brand supplier of high-quality consumer goods and services focused primarily on the home and leisure lifestyle markets, with locations in the United States, Canada, Europe, and China. It consists of Char-Broil, LLC (Columbus, Georgia); Zebco Brands (Tulsa, Oklahoma); Lamplight Farms Incorporated, home of TIKI® Brand (Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin); and W.C. Bradley Co. Real Estate, LLC (Columbus, Georgia).
In 1885, W.C. Bradley began working as a clerk for Bussey-Goldsmith, a cotton factoring firm. Within a few years, he and his brother-in-law Samuel A. Carter purchased the cotton factoring business, changing the name to Carter and Bradley. The company soon expanded by adding a wholesale grocery department and began to manufacture a high-grade fertilizer for the farmers who grew cotton.
In 1895, Bradley bought his brother-in-law's share of the business, and changed the name of the company to the W.C. Bradley Co. Over the next five years Bradley bought Eagle & Phenix Mills and founded the Columbus Manufacturing Company, two of the largest textile mills in the South. He also built a large cotton warehouse which is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and that today houses the W.C. Bradley Co. global headquarters, the W.C. Bradley Co. Museum, and the D.A. Turner Memorial Chapel.
Bradley became a leader within a syndicate formed by Ernest Woodruff to purchase Coca-Cola for $25 million from the Candlers in 1919. This group organized a new Coca-Cola Corporation and issued the first public Coke stock. Bradley bought a large number of shares but more important, he actively sold shares to local and out-of-state friends and fellow bankers. Bradley became Chairman of the Coca-Cola Board in 1919 and served for 27 years.
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Wikipedia