KB Home (NYSE: KBH) is a homebuilding company based in the United States, founded in 1957 as Kaufman & Broad in Detroit, Michigan. 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.
KB Home was founded in Detroit in 1957 by Donald Kaufman and Eli Broad.
The company has periodically acquired other homebuilders as the company expanded into new markets. This includes San Antonio-based Rayco Homes in 1996 and Upland, California-based Lewis Homes in 1999. It also maintained a division in France, which was sold in 2007.
As part of a promotion, in 1997 the company built a life-sized replica of The Simpsons cartoon home in Henderson, Nevada.
In 2001 KB Home was sued when homeowners in a subdivision in Arlington, Texas discovered that their homes were built on top of a practice bombing range from the 1940s and 50s which the military had cleared for development. That suit has since been settled. The Army Corps of Engineers was engaged in remediation.[1]
In November 2006, KB Home President, CEO and Chairman Bruce Karatz resigned after an internal accounting probe into his alleged backdating of stock options grants. KB Home also announced the resignation 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. 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]
Karatz was succeeded by Jeffrey T. Mezger, who is the current CEO.[3]
The company was named "Most Admired Homebuilder" by Fortune Magazine in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2011.
In fiscal 2008, the company delivered 12,438 homes in the United States and had revenue of over $3 billion. This is down from close to 40,000 homes and more than $9 billion in revenue at the height of the real estate boom in 2005.