Bridgestone is the result of the merger of two renowned companies: The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, founded in August 1900 in Akron, Ohio by Harvey Firestone; and the Bridgestone Tire Company Ltd., founded in 1931 in Japan by Shojiro Ishibashi. When Bridgestone Corporation purchased Firestone in 1988 for $2.6 billion, the companies’ combined operations were transformed into the world’s largest tire and rubber company.
In 1992, Bridgestone/Firestone moved its headquarters from Akron, Ohio to Nashville, Tennessee, in an effort to integrate with Bridgestone’s existing operations in the United States.
Today, Bridgestone Americas (BSAM) is an international group of enterprises with 52 production facilities and more than 50,000 employees in North and South America.