Continental AG

Continental was founded in 1871 as a rubber manufacturer, Continental-Caoutchouc und Gutta-Percha Compagnie. In 1892, Continental began development and production of pneumatic bicycle tires, which was a major success for the brand. In 1904, Continental became the first company in the world to manufacture grooved vehicle tires. Another major product Continental invented was a detachable wheel tire that was made for touring vehicles (1905). From about 1910, synthetic rubber started to play a major role in car tire production, and one of its earliest proponents was chemist Albert Gerlach (1858–1918), member of the executive board. In the late 1920s, Continental merged with several other major rubber industry companies to form the largest rubber company in Germany called Continental Gummi-Werke AG.

Nazi era

When the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, all members of the board of management as well as the authorized signatories and directors of the second management level were obliged to join the Nazi Party, the works council was purged of "opponents of the regime," and all Jewish members of the supervisory board were forced to resign. As early as the end of 1933, the executive board said Continental was now "a Christian and purely German company".

As with many other German companies during World War II, Continental used slave labor provided by the Nazi Party in their factories in the 1940s at Hannover-Stöcken, Hannover-Limmer, Hannover-Ahlem, and others, all offshoots of the Neuengamme concentration camp.

Post-war

In close collaboration with Daimler-Benz and Porsche, Continental repeated its prewar successes on the race track in the 1950s. Racing in cars fitted with Continental tires, drivers such as Karl Kling, Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio won the 1952 Carrera Panamericana and the French, British, Dutch and Italian Grand Prix.

In 1967, Continental opened the Contidrom tire testing facility.

The takeover of the European tire operations of Uniroyal, Inc., USA, gave Continental a wider base in Europe in 1979. The acquisition of the North American tire manufacturer General Tire, Inc. made Continental a global company.

In 2001, Continental acquired a controlling interest in Temic, DaimlerChrysler's automotive-electronics business, which is now part of Continental Automotive Systems. The company also purchased German automotive rubber and plastics company Phoenix AG in 2004, and the automotive electronics unit of Motorola in 2006. Continental acquired Siemens VDO from Siemens in 2007. Also in 2007, the company began to construct a plant in Costa Rica to produce powertrain components for North America. The plant was to open in two phases and ultimately employ 550 workers.

In 2008, Continental appeared overextended with its integration of VDO and had since lost almost half of its market capitalisation when it found itself to be the hostile takeover target of the family-owned Schaeffler. By 2009, Schaeffler successfully installed the head of its motor division at the helm of Continental.

Schaeffler takeover

When Continental decided to purchase ITT Industries' brake and chassis business for US$1.93 billion in 1998, the head of ITT's brake division, Juergen M. Geissinger, was hired as the CEO of the family-owned bearing and auto parts manufacturer Schaeffler Group.

Ten years later, Geissinger returned to Continental with mother-and-son owners Maria-Elisabeth and Georg Schaeffler and a consortium of banks, to buy control of the company. Continental appeared to have overextended itself with the acquisition of Siemens' VDO automotive unit in 2007 for €11.4 billion and had lost almost half of its market capitalisation since.

In August 2008 and after a protracted standoff, Continental agreed to be taken over by the Schaeffler Group in a deal that valued the company at approximately €12 billion. Schaeffler in return agreed to limit its position to less than 50% for a period of four years and support Continental's ongoing strategy. This arrangement was overseen by former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. Continental's CEO Manfred Wennemer, who had opposed Schaeffler's offer, resigned and was succeeded by Karl-Thomas Neumann on 1 September 2008. Less than one year later, Schaeffler's CEO Juergen Geissinger succeeded in installing his longtime confidant (and former leader and later head of ITT Teves/Continental Brake and Chassis Division) Elmar Degenhart, the head of his automotive division, as the new chief executive of Continental, ousting Neumann. At Continental's 2013 annual shareholder meeting, Schaeffler gave notice that it will terminate its mutual investment agreement with Continental in May 2014, on which Elmar Degenhart commented, "Notice of termination of the investment agreement is understandable from the vantage point of Schaeffler, our anchor shareholder. We are confident that the two companies will continue their very good and goal-oriented cooperation on into the future."

Acquisition of Veyance Technologies, Inc.

Continental AG has acquired the American rubber company Veyance Technologies, Inc. based in Fairlawn, Ohio. Veyance will be integrated into the company's ContiTech division, and will serve as the regional home office for ContiTech in North America.