Earlier today, Japan’s Nippon Steel announced its plans to purchase Pittsburgh-based United States Steel Corporation (U.S. Steel) for $14.1 billion. U.S. Steel—once the largest company in the world—has long maintained a significant presence in Alabama through its real estate holdings and its steel plants in Fairfield.

Read on to see what this means for Birmingham.

About U.S. Steel

In 1901—122 years ago—U.S. Steel was created by J.P. Morgan through the merger of Andrew Carnegie’s Carnegie Steel, Elbert H. Gary’s Federal Steel and William Henry Moore’s National Steel. Over the following decades, U.S. Steel grew to be the largest company in the world—at one point making 67% of all steel manufactured in the United States and becoming the world’s first company to be valued at more than $1 billion.

However, the company’s size has diminished over the years—falling from the world’s eighth-largest steel producer in 2008 to the world’s 24th-largest in 2022.

U.S. Steel purchased by Nippon Steel

Earlier today, U.S. Steel agreed to sell itself to Nippon Steel, a Japanese company that was one of U.S. Steel’s largest competitors. According to Nippon Steel, the acquisition of U.S. Steel will bring its total annual crude steel capacity to 86 million tons and will help the company meet the growing demand for high-grade, automotive and electrical steel.

Nippon Steel’s offer was preceded by offers from two U.S.-based competitors—a $7.3 billion offer from Cleveland-Cliffs and a $10 billion offer from Esmark. The acquisition of U.S. Steel will propel Nippon Steel’s status to the second-largest steel company in the world, just behind China Baowu Steel Group Corp., Ltd.

What does this mean for Birmingham?

For over a century, U.S. Steel has had a formidable presence in Alabama—in fact, U.S. Steel was once the largest employer in Birmingham. In 1907, the Pittsburgh steel manufacturer acquired a controlling interest in the Birmingham-based Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company (TCI). Through TCI, U.S. Steel owned the Ensley Works steel plant and constructed the Fairfield Works steel plant, which opened a new, $412M Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) in 2020.

Currently, U.S. Steel operates 2 locations in the Birmingham area:

Fairfield Tubular Operations
Fairfield Works

In addition, U.S. Steel Real Estate—a division of U.S. Steel—is a major land-owner in Jefferson County, involved in public and private development partnerships such as The Preserve, Trace Crossings, Ross Bridge and more.

Although U.S. Steel has new owners, the company will remain headquartered in Pittsburgh. In addition, Nippon Steel announced its plans to honor all agreements in place with the United Steelworkers Union and other employees.

What do you think of the acquisition of U.S. Steel by Nippon Steel? Tag us @bhamnow to let us know.