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December 5, 2007
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Textron’s Lewis B. Campbell celebrated the company’s 60th anniversary as a New York Stock Exchange-listed company by ringing the closing bell Wednesday, December 5. |
With a Textron banner as a backdrop and members of Textron’s senior management team around him, Lewis B. Campbell stood on the balcony overlooking the New York Stock Exchange trading room floor Wednesday (December 5) and rang the closing bell to signal the end of the trading day.
Campbell, Textron’s chairman, president and CEO, and the NYSE were celebrating a major milestone in Textron’s history: the 60th year of its listing on the Exchange. But it was not the only milestone that Textron would mark. At the end of the trading day, Textron’s share price closed at $72.24 – an all-time high value when adjusted for its recent stock split.
It was a day to mark Textron’s success as one of the first multi-industry companies and to look ahead at the exciting opportunities for the company. As Campbell pointed out to business analysts who gathered for a small reception in the NYSE Board Room following the bell-ringing event, Textron’s management team and the 40,000 men and women who make up Textron deserve the credit for the company’s Transformation.
Beginning in 2001, Campbell said, the management team had the vision and the courage to change the company’s strategy, focusing on what it would take to lead Textron towards its goal of being the premier multi-industry company. He cited its ongoing efforts to develop a value-added network of common processes – “fixing everything on the factory floor and in the offices” – as a critical element in Textron’s success.
Having businesses that add value to the company has also been an important reason for Textron’s strong growth. “What’s the right mix of businesses for Textron to have for the long-term, not just the short-term?” Campbell said.
At the reception, Noreen M. Culhane, the executive vice president of NYSE’s Global Corporate Client Group, congratulated Campbell on Textron’s success and for its strong relationship with the Exchange. With 60 consecutive years of being listed on the Exchange, Textron joins an elite group of companies that have achieved this distinction.
She noted that this is the third time that Campbell had rung the closing bell. He also rang the bell to commemorate Textron’s 50th and 55th anniversaries of its listing on the Exchange.
“Textron has been a wonderfully-listed company for 60 years,” Culhane said. “That’s a tribute to the men and women who are part of Textron today and who have been with the company over the past 60 years,” she said.
Culhane presented Campbell with a ceremonial wooden gavel and a medallion that marked the 60th anniversary. “It’s a way to say thank you and it’s a reminder of the partnership that we’ve enjoyed for the past 60 years and, hopefully, for the next 60 years,” she said.
It was hard to miss Textron’s 60th anniversary celebration at the Exchange. A blue Textron banner was hanging proudly and prominently across the exterior of the historic Exchange building.
A smaller Textron banner was displayed on the back wall of the balcony above the Exchange’s noisy trading room floor. As the large digital clock in the cavernous room crowded with traders and computers screens displaying stock figures and charts clicked 4:00 p.m., Campbell rang the closing bell and then banged the wooden gavel three times to applause. The bell ringing was televised live on CNBC.
Before Campbell rang the closing bell, he was interviewed live on Bloomberg Television from a studio overlooking the Exchange floor. “The Textron story is very strong right now,” he said. “Our growth potential is outstanding.”
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