Henkel

Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Henkel, is a German multinational chemical and consumer goods company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. Founded in 1876, the DAX company is organized into two globally operating business units (Consumer Brands, Adhesive Technologies) and is known for brands such as Loctite, Persil, Fa, Pritt, Dial and Purex, along with numerous other brands. In the fiscal year 2022, Henkel reported sales of around 22 billion euros and an operating profit of 1.810 billion euros. Henkel holds 51,950 employees with 85% working outside of Germany. The company was founded in 1876 in Aachen as Henkel & Cie by Friedrich Karl Henkel and two other partners who were owners of a factory producing sodium silicate. They marketed his first product, "Universalwaschmittel", a universal detergent based on sodium silicate. In 1878, Henkel bought out the two partners, and the first German brand-name detergent appeared: Henkel's Bleich-Soda. Made from sodium silicate and soda, it was the result of Fritz Henkel's own research. The soda was obtained from Matthes & Weber in Duisburg, a company that Henkel first bought in 1917 then sold in 1994. That year, to take advantage of the better transport links and sales opportunities, Henkel relocated his company to Düsseldorf on the Rhine. Düsseldorf was the gateway to the Ruhr region, which became the most important industrial area of the German Empire from the 19th century onward. In 1879, Fritz Henkel was entered as the sole owner in the register of companies. Within a year, sales of Henkel's Bleaching Soda outpaced production at the rented factory on the Schützenstraße in Düsseldorf. Fritz Henkel decided to build his own factory with a direct link to the railway network. In 1883, to improve liquidity and make better use of the company's travelling sales staff, Fritz Henkel decided to sell merchandise in addition to his detergents. The range included the colorant ultramarine, gloss starch, a liquid cleaning agent, a pomade for cleaning, beef extract, and a hair pomade.