MeadWestvaco

MeadWestvaco Corporation was an American packaging company based in Richmond, Virginia. It had approximately 23,000 employees. In February 2006, it moved its corporate headquarters to Richmond. In March 2008, the company announced a change to start using "MWV" as its brand, but the legal name of the company remained MeadWestvaco.

MeadWestvaco announced in January 2015 that it would form a combined $16 billion company with RockTenn to take on market leaders in the packaging industry in the U.S. The combined company was named WestRock.

MeadWestvaco was a producer of packaging, specialty papers, consumer and office products and specialty chemicals. The company had 153 operating and office locations in 30 countries, and served customers in over 100 countries. The company’s paperboard, package and paper brands included Carrier Kote, Custom Kote, Printkote, Tango, Digipak, Amaray, Dosepak and Vision. MeadWestvaco held leading positions in the markets it served. MeadWestvaco managed over 3 million acres (12,000 km²) of forestlands that met environmental standards and was certified to Sustainable Forestry Initiative standards.

MeadWestvaco was formed in January 2002 as the result of a merger between The Mead Corporation of Dayton, Ohio, and Westvaco.

The Mead Corporation was founded as Ells, Claflin & Co in 1846. In 1856, the name was changed to Weston & Mead. In 1861, it became Mead & Weston. In 1881, the company's name changed again, this time to The Mead Paper Company. In 1890, the Ingham Mill in Chillicothe was purchased by the Mead Paper Company, making it a two mill operation. In June 1906, the mill in Dayton closed and milling operations shifted to the Ingham Mill.

In 1888, Westvaco's predecessor company was founded as Piedmont Pulp & Paper Co.

In March 1920, the Mead Fibre Company was created to take over operations of the Kingsport Pulp Corporation in Kingsport, Tennessee. In 1921, the Mead Sales Company was formed to sell the Mead Paper Company's projects. In 1928, the Mead Paperboard Corporation was formed to operate mills in Virginia, South Carolina and Tennessee. In 1930, the Mead Corporation was formed to unite the several Mead companies under one umbrella.

During the 1930s and '40s, the company acquired several mills and companies, including the Dill and Collins mill in Philadelphia, the Brunswick Pulp and Paper Company in Brunswick, Georgia and the Escanaba Paper Company. It was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1935.