| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Traded as | NYSE: ZZ |
| Industry | Furnishings |
| Founded | Sealy, Texas (1881) |
| Founder(s) | Daniel Haynes |
| Headquarters | Trinity, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Key people | Larry Rogers, President and Chief Executive Officer |
| Products | Bedding |
| Revenue | US$1,498.0 million (2008) |
| Operating income | US$584.0 million (2008) |
| Net income | US$ -2.9 million (2008) |
| Total assets | US$ 295.6 million (2008) |
| Employees | 4817 full-time |
| Website | www.sealy.com |
Sealy Corporation (NYSE: ZZ) is an American owned[1] major manufacturer of mattresses, based in Trinity, North Carolina, in the United States. The company draws its name from the city where it started, Sealy, Texas.
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In 1881, cotton gin builder Daniel Haynes began making cotton-filled mattresses for his friends and neighbors. In 1889, he patented an invention that compressed cotton for use in his mattresses. Eventually the mattresses became so popular he was able to sell the patents to manufacturers in other markets. The term "Mattress from Sealy" was coined to describe what was produced.
During 1906, after much success as an advertising executive, Earl Edwards purchased the patents and gained manufacturing knowledge from Haynes. Edwards took the name "Sealy" for his new company and expanded it to a national market.
Due to lack of funding for manufacturing, Sealy expanded using a licensing-expansion similar to Coca-Cola. By 1920, Sealy had 28 licensed plants and became the first mattress company to expand using a licensing program.
During the Great Depression the mattress industry was hit hard. Sealy lost most of its licensees and narrowly escaped bankruptcy itself. During this time Sealy consolidated with the surviving licensees and created what is now known as Sealy, Incorporated.
Sealy became privately held in an April 1989 leveraged buyout. First Boston made a bridge loan to the buy-out firm just as Drexel Burnham Lambert was running into trouble and the junk bond market was drying up, and was stuck with the loan. This led to a dramatic slow-down in leveraged buy-outs.[2]
Bain Capital and a team of Sealy's senior executives acquired the company in 1997. In 2004, the company was acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and a team of Sealy management. The deal was valued at $1.5 billion.[3] The company operated as a privately held corporation until 2005. On June 30 of that year, it announced an initial public offering of common stock. The company said proceeds from the IPO would go to paying down debt, funding global operations and paying private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts to “terminate our future obligations under our management services agreement.”[4]
Sealy's corporate headquarters are located in Trinity, NC. According the Sealy's website, they are the largest manufacturer of mattresses in the world. Sealy sells the majority of its mattresses under its three main brands, Sealy Posturepedic, Stearns & Foster and Bassett.
There are licensees operating in Australia, Bahamas, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
In 1995, direct export business began to South Korea.
In 1996, Sealy began manufacturing and selling in Mexico.
In 2011, Sealy opened its first manufacturing plant in China. The 100,000-square-foot factory outside Shanghai is a joint venture of Sealy China, which is owned and operated by Sealy Inc., and licensee Sealy Australia.[5]
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