The story
The Doosan Group was founded in 1896. The company began as the Park Seung Jik Store in 1896 in Baeogai (now Jongno 4-ga, Seoul).
In 1991, tons of phenol leaked from a Doosan Electro-Materials plant into the Nakdong River, giving its water a stench. Environmental inspectors and the plant's managers were imprisoned.
Doosan has developed into a multinational conglomerate. The company's acquisitions include Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction in 2001, Koryeo Industrial Development in 2004 and Doosan Infracore (formerly Daewoo Heavy Industries & Machinery in 1967) in 2005.
In 2006, Doosan acquired the boiler engineering company Mitsui Babcock UK (renamed Doosan Babcock) and Kvaerner IMGB, the largest casting and forging company in Romania. In 2007, Doosan acquired the construction machinery company Bobcat USA. After the absorption of Bobcat USA into Doosan Infracore, the Doosan Group became the world's seventh largest supplier of construction machinery. Doosan currently has 41,400 employees in 38 countries. In 2011, Doosan renewed its licensing agreement with Wärtsilä-Sulzer for the construction of large marine propulsion engines, for which it is one of the world leaders. On 1 January 2018, Doosan and Doosan Bobcat were separated into independent companies. In July 2021, Doosan Infracore was acquired by Hyundai Heavy Industries, which paid approximately $722.45 million for a 30% controlling stake in the company. Doosan Infracore is planned to become a subsidiary of the newly created Hyundai Genuine group. As of 2023, Doosan has rebranded as Develon.
From Wikipedia’s article on Doosan Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4