ServiceMaster
 | |
| Public | |
| Traded as | NYSE: SERV |
| Industry | Service |
| Founded | Downers Grove, Illinois, USA 1929, incorporated 1947 |
| Headquarters | Memphis, Tennessee, USA |
Number of locations | More than 7,000 company-owned, franchised and licensed locations |
Key people |
|
Number of employees | 13,000 (2014) |
| Slogan | "America's Service Brands for Home and Business" |
| Website | http://www.servicemaster.com |
ServiceMaster Global Holdings, Inc. is a public Fortune 1000 company that provides residential and commercial services. Its headquarters are located in Memphis, Tennessee after moving there from Downers Grove, Illinois in early 2007.[1] Brands operated by ServiceMaster include: Terminix, American Home Shield, Furniture Medic, AmeriSpec, ServiceMaster Clean, and Merry Maids. The core services of the company include termite and pest control, home warranties, disaster response and restoration, janitorial service, professional home cleaning, furniture repair, and home inspections.
ServiceMaster has more than 7,000 company-owned and franchise locations around the world. It has 13,000 corporate employees and a franchise network that independently employs over 33,000 additional people.
On June 25, 2014, ServiceMaster Global Holdings, Inc., the parent of The ServiceMaster Company, LLC, [2] announced that it had priced an initial public offering of 35,900,000 shares of common stock at $17.00 per share. The shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on June 25, 2013 under the ticker symbol SERV. The Company continues to be majority owned by private equity firms Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, StepStone Group and Ridgemont Equity Partners, and JP Morgan Chase Funding.
History
[3] ServiceMaster was founded by Marion E. Wade, a minor league baseball player, as a moth-proofing company in Chicago, Illinois. It was incorporated in 1947 and expanded to franchised carpet cleaning in 1952. Its movement into business services makes it a large outsourcing company.
In the 1980s, the company experienced further expansion of the consumer segment of the business. During this time, ServiceMaster built on its original franchise business to form a network of branch and franchise-based service companies – including Terminix, TruGreen and Merry Maids – and other category-leading commercial and residential service brands, including American Home Shield. In 2001, ServiceMaster divested its management services businesses to focus more on its residential and commercial business. ServiceMaster continuously trains all its employees to OSHA, IICRC, and CSCU standards.[4][5]
In July 2007, a group of equity sponsors led by Clayton, Dubilier and Rice, Inc. (CD&R) acquired ServiceMaster and took the company private. In the same year, the company moved its headquarters from Downers Grove, Ill., to Memphis, Tenn., to better enable the corporate staff to work with all of its business units. Robert J. Gillette was appointed chief executive officer in June 2013.
As of January 1, 2014, TruGreen is no longer a brand of ServiceMaster, opting instead to remain a privately held company.
Brands
- ServiceMaster Restore (established 2013): Disaster Restoration
- ServiceMaster Clean (established 1952): Janitorial and Carpet Cleaning
- Terminix (founded 1927, acquired 1986): pest control
- American Home Shield (founded 1971, acquired 1989): home warranty [6]
- Furniture Medic (acquired 1996): furniture repair
- AmeriSpec (acquired 1996): home inspection
- Merry Maids (acquired 1988): maid services
- TruGreen (acquired 1990, split 2014; merged in with Scotts Miricle-Gro's Scott's Lawn Care Service): lawn care[7]
- ChemLawn (acquired 1992), lawn care[8]
- Rescue Industries and American Residential Services, now known as ARS/Rescue Rooter (RI acquired acquired in 1998; ARS acquired and merged with RI 1999; sold 2006)
Buyout
In March 2007, ServiceMaster accepted a $5.5 billion buyout offer from the New York-based private-equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. CD&R is a nearly 30-year-old, private equity firm with a history of buying and selling companies. Its purchases have included Kinko's, which it sold to FedEx in 2004 for $2.4 billion, and the Hertz rental car business, which it bought with two other firms for $15 billion in 2005.
American Home Shield
American Home Shield, though its wholly owned subsidiaries, currently services more than 2 million customers across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The company administers home warranties for major home systems and appliances and works through a network of over 11,000 independent home-service contractors -- the largest in the country. In 2013 American Home Shield received HomeWarrantyReviews.com's 'Best in Service' Award.[9]
On July 24, 2007 a lawsuit was filed against American Home Shield alleging that "American Home Shield engaged in a pattern and practice of failing to fulfill its contractual obligation to its customers". In February 2008 American Home Shield announced a proposed settlement.[10]
References
- ↑ "The ServiceMaster Company Investor Relations". Corporate-ir.net. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
- ↑ "ServiceMaster Global Holdings, Inc. Completes Its Initial Public Offering". ServiceMaster Global Holdings, Inc.
- ↑ "ServiceMaster". Corporate.servicemaster.com. Retrieved 2012-07-07.
- ↑ https://www.osha.gov/
- ↑ http://www.iicrc.org/
- ↑ "About AHS". American Home Shield.
- ↑ "History - TruGreen". The TruGreen Companies LLC.
- ↑ "History - ServiceMaster". FundingUniverse.
- ↑ "American Home Shield News". American Home Shield. 2014-01. Check date values in:
|date=(help) - ↑ "American Home Shield Lawsuit". Homewarrantyreviews.com. Retrieved 2014-03-07.
External links
- ServiceMaster website
- Company Timeline
- ServiceMaster goes private with buyout
- SEC Filings
- Investor Home