The recent history of Studebaker

[Scott]

Every now and then it comes up. The question about the status of the Studebaker Corporation. While some of the details are unavailable to me, here are some facts:
In the 2000s Studebaker-Worthington was owned by State Bank of Long Island . About June 2, 2008 Studebaker-Worthington and basically all of its assets were sold to Main Street Bank, a Texas entity based in Kingwood, TX. The corporation was renamed SB Equipment Leasing Corp. either at that time or by 2010, with an office in Jericho, NY (as I recall). The CEO was, or is, Kenneth Paston. Currently SB is owned as a division of Valley National Bank, which operates a large office in Jericho. It is listed as active and apparently is healthy.

Interestingly, also listed as active is Studebaker-Worthington (U.K.) Ltd. based in Leatherhead, Surrey, UK and Lexis-Nexis (a database) shows two employees.

And that's the rest of the story.

[StudeRich]

Since all of the past History of McGraw Edison, Wagner, etc. ,etc. ownership are missing, I doubt that info is completely accurate.

Maybe Studebaker-Worthington was an off shoot of the REST of the Corp. and the Original Stude. Corp. went two or more directions!

I guess what matters is, it's GONE.

[56Golden]

Thank you, very good researching!

As a follow-on: http://www.smallbusinessdb.com/sb-eq...o-ny-11753.htm

[Scott]

Since all of the past History of McGraw Edison, Wagner, etc. ,etc. ownership are missing, I doubt that info is completely accurate.

Maybe Studebaker-Worthington was an off shoot of the REST of the Corp. and the Original Stude. Corp. went two or more directions!

I guess what matters is, it's GONE.

Rich, McGraw Edison and the rest are now ancient history. This is about what's been going on this century.

[Studebaker Wheel]

So if I had 100 shares of Studebaker stock issued in say 1963 what would it be worth today?

[Scott]

So if I had 100 shares of Studebaker stock issued in say 1963 what would it be worth today?

Wow. That's the $64,000 question. I wish I knew how all that stuff works.

[rstrasser]

A while back I went online to check the merger information of Studebaker, Worthington, Magraw Edison and Wager Electric.
In 1967; Studebaker, Worthington and Wagner Electric formed the Studebaker Worthington Corporation. I could not find any information as to what happened to Studebakers stock. Did the stock holders receive shares in the new corporation?
In 1979 Studebaker Worthington was purchased by Magraw Edison and the Studebaker Worthington stock holders were to be given 51.50 for each share of Studebaker Worthington.
Did all the above happen; I don't know. There was no internet in 1967. There are companies that will research stock in no longer active corporations.
What was the value of a share of Studebaker Stock in 1966 after Auto production was shut down or in 1963 before the Auto production was shut down?
Ron

[cliffh]

If Studebaker-Worthington was purchased by McGraw-Edison in 1979, they continued to function under the Studebaker-Worthington name for many years after that. In the 1980’s, I was working for a small company programming and selling micro-computer systems. Local offices for state and federal agencies were interested in leasing computers because they could pay for them out of their monthly budget and avoid the process of buying capital equipment. Most leasing companies would not lease computers because of the rapid obsolescence. Somehow I got in contact with Studebaker-Worthington which I think was in Texas at the time. We bid several deals together where we would sell the equipment to SW and they would lease it to our customer. Unfortunately, none of these deals came about because of the high cost of the leases. IIRC, the effective interest rate was north of 35% per year.
Cliff

[studegary]

A while back I went online to check the merger information of Studebaker, Worthington, Magraw Edison and Wager Electric.
In 1967; Studebaker, Worthington and Wagner Electric formed the Studebaker Worthington Corporation. I could not find any information as to what happened to Studebakers stock. Did the stock holders receive shares in the new corporation?
In 1979 Studebaker Worthington was purchased by Magraw Edison and the Studebaker Worthington stock holders were to be given 51.50 for each share of Studebaker Worthington.
Did all the above happen; I don't know. There was no internet in 1967. There are companies that will research stock in no longer active corporations.
What was the value of a share of Studebaker Stock in 1966 after Auto production was shut down or in 1963 before the Auto production was shut down?
Ron

I bought stock in Studebaker in 1963-1964. When the corporation was changed to form a new corporation in 1967, the stock in the old company became worthless. If anything was offered, it was so little that it made sense to just keep the certificates for collector value. We were not offered shares in the new company (unless we wanted to buy them). A similar thing happened to my Rolls Royce stock when they formed a new corporation that broke out the aviation division.

Many SDCers have Studebaker stock, but not originally issued in their name. Since then, I have purchased other Studebaker stock certificates signed by different Presidents of Studebaker.

To answer Richard's post no. 5; only collector value.

[Skip Lackie]

The problem with this discussion is that it assumes that there remains a kernel of business somewhere that still has the Studebaker DNA in it. Because of all the subsequent mergers, that is no longer true, except in the sense that if you owned a substantial number of Studebaker shares in 1966, and had never sold them, you would still own some shares in one or more companies whose origins could be traced in part back to Studebaker. Studebaker-Worthington was purchased by McGraw-Edison, which was later purchased by Cooper Industries. A couple of years ago, Cooper was purchased by Eaton Corporation. At various times, parts of those companies were spun off into separate, stand-alone companies (eg, Studebaker-Worthington Leasing, STP), sold to others (Onan), or closed entirely (Montreal Locomotive Works [edit: American Locomotive Company was the subsidiary that was closed. MLW, formerly owned by Alco, continued in business and was later purchased by Bombardier]). Other companies were purchased and added to the mix. There's no way to ID the remaining Stude piece of all these companies. Studebaker quit making cars in 1966. Except from a stock perspective, that's when the Studebaker DNA disappeared.

[2R2]

The problem with this discussion is that it assumes that there remains a kernel of business somewhere that still has the Studebaker DNA in it. Because of all the subsequent mergers, that is no longer true, except in the sense that if you owned a substantial number of Studebaker shares in 1966, and had never sold them, you would still own some shares in one or more companies whose origins could be traced in part back to Studebaker. Studebaker-Worthington was purchased by McGraw-Edison, which was later purchased by Cooper Industries. A couple of years ago, Cooper was purchased by Eaton Corporation. At various times, parts of those companies were spun off into separate, stand-alone companies (eg, Studebaker-Worthington Leasing, STP), sold to others (Onan), or closed entirely (Montreal Locomotive Works). Other companies were purchased and added to the mix. There's no way to ID the remaining Stude piece of all these companies. Studebaker quit making cars in 1966. Except from a stock perspective, that's when the Studebaker DNA disappeared.

Skip, I agree on all counts, but would like to remind folks that SASCO remained a division of Studebaker Worthington until 1972, so while there wasn't much left of the auto division post '66, there was a small, tiny trace. I have a 1970 annual report, and this division is not mentioned, though we of course know it still existed. My guess is that the revenue generated was so small it didn't even warrant a mention in the annual report, and the company was really trying to move on.

[Scott]

The problem with this discussion is that it assumes that there remains a kernel of business somewhere that still has the Studebaker DNA in it. Because of all the subsequent mergers, that is no longer true, except in the sense that if you owned a substantial number of Studebaker shares in 1966, and had never sold them, you would still own some shares in one or more companies whose origins could be traced in part back to Studebaker. Studebaker-Worthington was purchased by McGraw-Edison, which was later purchased by Cooper Industries. A couple of years ago, Cooper was purchased by Eaton Corporation. At various times, parts of those companies were spun off into separate, stand-alone companies (eg, Studebaker-Worthington Leasing, STP), sold to others (Onan), or closed entirely (Montreal Locomotive Works). Other companies were purchased and added to the mix. There's no way to ID the remaining Stude piece of all these companies. Studebaker quit making cars in 1966. Except from a stock perspective, that's when the Studebaker DNA disappeared.

Geez, Skip. Don't rain on my parade or anything. I'm interested in the corporate afterlife of Studebaker as proof it never went out of the business world. You might make a legitimate claim that 2008 was the end because of the name change, and to me that's worth knowing.

[Skip Lackie]

Geez, Skip. Don't rain on my parade or anything. I'm interested in the corporate afterlife of Studebaker as proof it never went out of the business world. You might make a legitimate claim that 2008 was the end because of the name change, and to me that's worth knowing.

Sorry Scott -- but I don't believe Studebaker-Worthington Leasing Co had any real connection to the Studebaker Corporation except for the name. I don't have access to my S-W Corp annual reports right now, but my recollection is that the leasing company was a separate entity that was purchased and renamed by the S-W Corp around 1970. It was later spun off and purchased by its management team when McGraw-Edison bought S-W Corp. If this recollection is not correct, I hope someone will correct me.

[Skip Lackie]

Skip, I agree on all counts, but would like to remind folks that SASCO remained a division of Studebaker Worthington until 1972, so while there wasn't much left of the auto division post '66, there was a small, tiny trace. I have a 1970 annual report, and this division is not mentioned, though we of course know it still existed. My guess is that the revenue generated was so small it didn't even warrant a mention in the annual report, and the company was really trying to move on.

Eric-
Thanks for the correction/addendum; you're absolutely right -- I shoulda mentioned the SASCO parts depot operation. My oversight is particularly embarrassing because (thanks to John Poulos) I was able to spend a few blissful days digging through their parts bins the year after Avanti Parts Corp purchased the SASCO inventory. This purchase included Studebaker building 69 and SASCO's six remaining employees. These employees were continued at SASCO because they had the highest seniority at Studebaker, and had a combined service of a zillion years or so. There was a picture of them in TW many years ago. Both SASCO and Avanti Parts Corp were headed up by John Duncan, a very nice guy who had been the head of Studebaker's fleet sales department.

[8E45E]

Sorry Scott -- but I don't believe Studebaker-Worthington Leasing Co had any real connection to the Studebaker Corporation except for the name.

As per Fred Fox's "Literature In Review" columns in the April, 1981, and December, 1981 Turning Wheels:





Craig