AECOM

1910–1990

AECOM traces its origins to Kentucky-based Ashland Oil & Refining Company, which in turn grew out of Swiss Drilling Company, founded in Oklahoma in 1910 by J. Fred Miles. He gained control of some 200,000 acres and formed Swiss Oil Company in Lexington. In 1924, Miles launched a refining operation called Ashland Refining Company, headed by Paul Blazer. While the parent company struggled, leading to the ouster of Miles, Ashland prospered under Blazer's leadership, and in 1936, he was named chief executive officer of the reorganized company, Ashland Oil & Refining Company. In 1966, Ashland acquired Warren Brothers and became involved in highway construction and construction materials. The company was able to take advantage of refinery byproducts to produce asphalt. Ashland grew into one of the nation's major road-construction firms, and laid a foundation for AECOM. Through a series of acquisitions and technological developments, Ashland grew to include chemical, petrochemical, highway construction, and construction materials firms within its realm, laying the groundwork for a management buyout of Ashland Technology in 1985.

In the 1970s, Ashland Oil & Refining became Ashland Oil, Inc. Five years later the company consolidated its construction assets into a construction division and also formed a coal company subsidiary, indicative of a changing focus at Ashland. Although it generated more than $1 billion a year in sales, Ashland was a small player in the oil industry at a time when the cost of exploration was prohibitively expensive. By 1980, Ashland sold its production assets, and a year later was reorganized as a modified holding company. A new corporate strategy was implemented as Ashland now focused on refining and marketing and sought to grow its non-refining businesses.

In 1984, Ashland acquired Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall (DMJM), an architectural firm located in Los Angeles, California. Originally focused on military architecture projects, after World War II it had become one of the first integrated engineering and architectural firms in the western United States. The acquisition of DMJM also included its president, Richard G. Newman. In 1985, DMJM became part of a new subsidiary, Ashland Technology Corporation. Two years later Newman was named its new chief executive and president.

When Ashland chose to return to its core petroleum refining business in the late 1980s, Newman recommended an employee buyback proposal, resulting in the spin-off of Ashland Technology and the creation of AECOM (Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Operations, and Management) in 1990. The company went on to acquire a number of engineering, design and planning firms including urbanism/sustainability practice EDAW, consultancy firm Economic Research Associates (ERA), environmental firms ENSR and The RETEC Group, architectural firm Ellerbe Becket and construction consultants Davis Langdon.

2000–present

In 2000, AECOM acquired Metcalf and Eddy, a water and wastewater engineering firm based in Massachusetts and London-based Guy Maunsell International, expanding the firm's reach in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong/China, Australia and the Middle East. In 2003, AECOM developed an award-winning landscape plan for Jinji Lake in Suzhou Industrial Park; the lake was developed from a shallow and marshy pond into one of the largest lake front parks in China.

In September 2004, it acquired the Canadian company, UMA Engineering Ltd. ENSR and EDAW joined AECOM in 2005.

AECOM went public during May 2007 with an initial public offering on the NYSE, netting $468.3 million. In January 2008, AECOM acquired The Services Group, Inc., a provider of consulting services to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and other multi-lateral donor organizations. In July 2008, AECOM purchased Earth Tech Inc., a consulting and engineering firm, from Tyco International for $510 million. On July 14, 2010, AECOM announced its acquisition of Tishman Construction Corp., a leading provider of construction management services in the United States, whose projects include both the building of the original Twin Towers in New York City in 1973 and One World Trade Center (Freedom Tower) in the aftermath of 9/11. On July 13, 2014, AECOM announced its acquisition of URS Corporation, an engineering, construction, and technical services firm for US$56.31 per share in cash and stock, pegging the enterprise value of URS at approximately $6 billion. Effective July 10, 2014, it acquired ACE International Consultants SL, a Madrid-based provider of consulting services. In July 2014, it acquired Hunt Construction Group, adding to AECOM's construction services business. In July 2017, AECOM acquired Shimmick Construction Company. Officials at the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District blamed the acquisition for delaying construction of a safety barrier at the bridge by 2 years.

In 2018, AECOM along with 91 additional Fortune 500 companies had "paid an effective federal tax rate of 0% or less" as a result of Donald Trump's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

AECOM provides Archaeology, Architecture & Design, Urban Planning, Landscape Architecture, Asset Management, Construction, Cost Management, Decommissioning & Closure, Economics, Engineering, Environmental Services, International Development, IT & Cyber Security, Operations & Maintenance, Planning & Consulting, Program Management/Construction Management, Risk Management & Resilience and Technical Services.