KB Home
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
KB Home (NYSE: KBH) is a homebuilding company based in the United States, founded in 1957 as Kaufman & Broad. It was the first company to be traded on the NYSE as a home builder and is a Fortune 500 company. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California.
In fiscal 2005, the company delivered homes to 37,140 families in the United States and France and had revenue of over $9 billion.
KB Home is a lending partner with and offers complete mortgage services through Countrywide Home Loans.
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[edit] History
In the early 2000s, merged with Las Vegas based Lewis Homes. In the past 20 years it has had to fight numerous lawsuits with homeowners over a variety of legal issues concerning their homebuilding practices.
In November of 2006, it was reported that KB Home President, CEO and Chairman Bruce Karatz has resigned after an internal accounting probe into his alleged backdating of his stock options grants in order to increase his salary. He is expected to be succeeded by Jeffrey T. Mezger. [1]
KB Home also announced the firing of its Head of Human Resources, Gary A. Ray, and the resignation of its Chief Legal Officer, Richard B. Hirst. The company determined that Karatz and Ray had picked grant dates under the company's stock option plans. In backdating, a grant date is manipulated to look like it was made when the company share price was low. That increases a recipient's potential profit because options are typically structured to allow recipients to benefit from price increases.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Karatz was one of the most highly paid executives in 2005, earning almost $156 million, primarily from options. [2]
[edit] Divisions, partnerships and subsidaries
- Divisions
- West Coast—California;
- Southwest—Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico;
- Central—Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana and Texas;
- Southeast—Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia
- Countrywide KB Home Loans, provides mortgaging services
- Kaufman & Broad S.A a French subsidiary
[edit] Awards and Recognition
2006: Ranked the #1 homebuilder in Fortune Magazine’s list of America’s Most Admired Companies. Received National Housing Quality (NHQ) Silver Award for Las Vegas division.
2005: Ranked #1 in customer service by J.D. Power and Associates for Austin, Texas division and top three in Houston, Texas, Las Vegas, Nevada and Raleigh, North Carolina.
2004: Ranked top three in customer service in Austin, Texas and Las Vegas, Nevada divisions by J.D. Power and Associates.
