Ethyl Corporation

Ethyl Corporation is an American chemical company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, originally founded in 1923 as a joint venture between General Motors and Standard Oil of New Jersey (Esso). The company was established to produce and market tetraethyl lead (TEL), an antiknock gasoline additive developed by Thomas Midgley Jr. and Charles Kettering at General Motors. Initially, DuPont operated the manufacturing facilities due to neither parent company having chemical plant experience. In 1962, Ethyl Corporation underwent a remarkable corporate transformation when Albemarle Paper Manufacturing Company borrowed $200 million to acquire Ethyl Corporation, a company thirteen times its size, in what journalists described as 'Jonah swallowing the whale.' Albemarle then renamed itself Ethyl Corporation. For decades, Ethyl Corporation was the world's leading producer of tetraethyl lead, which was blended with gasoline as 'Ethyl Fluid' containing lead scavengers and distinctive dyes. However, with the environmental recognition of lead's toxicity and the passage of the Clean Air Act requiring unleaded gasoline, the company diversified significantly during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1993, Ethyl ceased manufacturing lead anti-knock compounds by closing its Canadian plant and began marketing additives from Associated Octel Company Limited. In 2004, Ethyl Corporation restructured to become a subsidiary of NewMarket Corporation (NYSE: NEU), which now serves as the parent holding company. Today, through NewMarket Corporation, Ethyl operates as part of a diversified petroleum additives business with global operations across North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific, employing approximately 2,060 people worldwide with annual revenues exceeding $2 billion.