U.S. Business: In a Single Stroke

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When Ling-Temco-Vought President Clyde Skeen appeared in Wilson & Co.'s Chicago executive suite last December, Wilson President Roscoe G. Haynie mused: "I know he didn't come up here to price a set of golf clubs." Acting as emissary for Ling-Temco Headman James Joseph Ling, who controls 16.6% of the Dallas-based company, Skeen announced that L-T-V thought Wilson & Co. a good investment, planned to offer tenders for one-third of its stock.

Ready for the Big Time. Recognized as the nation's leading sporting goods producer, Wilson—1966 sales: more than $990 million—is also a major meat packer and producer of chemicals and Pharmaceuticals with a strong management team. Still, there was little Haynie could do to stop Ling—even after he realized the extent of the Texan's designs on his company. In a matter of days, before Haynie could summon his board of directors, Ling-Temco-Vought had corralled a sizable chunk of Wilson's stock by offering holders $62.50 per share, 25% over the Dec. 20 New York Stock Exchange closing. By Jan. 5, L-T-V held 53%, thus making Wilson a member of the family.

For Chief Executive Ling, 44, the Wilson deal was the zenith of a sensational rise that began in an electrical shop in 1946. With $3,000 in capital and a battered pickup truck, Ling contracted to lay wires in buildings springing up in prosperous Dallas. He learned finance, went public, issuing 800,000 shares in his little company—keeping half for himself—at $2.25. Next came his first acquisition: an electronic-vibration-equipment maker, for which he paid $19,000 cash and assumed the company's debts of $66,000. After a series of small takeovers, Ling was ready for the big time. Between 1959 and 1965, he acquired the Altec Companies, Temco Electronics & Missiles, Chance Vought, and Okonite.

The result of this empire building showed up late last month when Ling-Temco-Vought reported record sales of $468 million (up 39% from 1965) and record net income of $13.7 million (up 129%). With Wilson in the family, Ling-Temco-Vought will be able to diversify from its Government contracts—which include the A-7A Corsair, a vertical-takeoff-and-landing plane, and the Lance battlefield missile.

Respect for the Record. Ling spends his leisure time at his $2,000,000 home (for which he borrowed $750,000), which is appointed with $500,000 worth of furnishings and objets d'art.

To raise money for the Wilson acquisition, he went to London—with a chip on his shoulder. Sure that he would be scorned as an American—and a Texan, at that—he told representatives of N. M. Rothschild's famed financial house: "I insist that the track record of Ling-Temco-Vought demands respect. Judge this corporation on that record, and I couldn't care less whether I'm personally liked." Rothschild's got the point. Together with Wall Street's Lehman Bros., the British financiers raised the money for Ling to swing the Wilson deal.

Thus, in a single stroke, Ling-Temco-Vought changed the whole mix of its business. Before, it had sold 70% of its products to the Federal Government, and 30% on the civilian market. With Wilson, it will now be 70% civilian, and 30% Government.