Société Bic is a company based in Clichy

Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine

-Administration:The canton covers a part of the commune; the other is in the northern part of Levallois-Perret-Twinnings: Heidenheim, Germany, since 1959 Sankt Pölten, Austria, since 1968 Santo Tirso, Portugal, since 1991 Rubí, Spain, since 2005 Southwark, United Kingdom, since 2005Clichy has also...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, founded in 1945, by Baron Marcel Bich

Marcel Bich

Marcel Bich was the co-founder of Bic, the world's leading producer of ballpoint pens.-History:In 1945, Bich and his partner, Edouard Buffard, bought an empty factory near Paris, France...

 known for making disposable

Disposable

A disposable is a product designed for cheapness and short-term convenience rather than medium to long-term durability, with most products only intended for single use. The term is also sometimes used for products that may last several months to distinguish from similar products that last...

 products including lighter

Lighter

A lighter is a portable device used to generate a flame. It consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable fluid or pressurized liquid gas, a means of ignition, and some provision for extinguishing the flame.- History :...

s, magnet

Magnet

A magnet is a material or object that produces a magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is responsible for the most notable property of a magnet: a force that pulls on other ferromagnetic materials, such as iron, and attracts or repels other magnets.A permanent magnet is an object...

s, ballpoint pen

Ballpoint pen

A ballpoint pen is a writing instrument with an internal ink reservoir and a sphere for a point. The internal chamber is filled with a viscous ink that is dispensed at its tip during use by the rolling action of a small sphere...

s, shaving

Shaving

Shaving is the removal of hair, by using a razor or any other kind of bladed implement, to slice it down to the level of the skin. Shaving is most commonly practiced by men to remove their facial hair and by women to remove their leg and underarm hair...

 razor

Razor

A razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of unwanted body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, disposable razors and electric razors....

s and watersports products. It competes in most markets against Faber-Castell

Faber-Castell

Faber-Castell is one of the world's largest manufacturers of pens, pencils, other office supplies and art supplies, as well as high-end writing instruments and luxury leather goods...

, Global Gillette

Global Gillette

Gillette is a brand of Procter & Gamble currently used for safety razors, among other personal care products. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was one of several brands originally owned by The Gillette Company, a leading global supplier of products under various brands, which was...

, Newell Rubbermaid

Newell Rubbermaid

Newell Rubbermaid is a global marketer of consumer and commercial products including such well-known brands as Rubbermaid food storage, home organization, and refuse container products; Sharpie, PaperMate, Parker and Waterman writing instruments; Calphalon gourmet cookware; Goody beauty and...

 and Schwan-Stabilo. The Bic pen, more correctly the Bic Cristal

Bic Cristal

The Bic Cristal is an inexpensive disposable ballpoint pen mass-produced and sold by Société Bic of Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, France.-Background:...

, was the company's first product and 50 years later is still synonymous with the name Bic.

Ownership

The company went public in 1958 with a reverse merger into the older Waterman Pen Company

Waterman pens

The Waterman pen company is a major manufacturer of fountain pens. Established in 1884 in New York City by Lewis Edson Waterman, it is one of the few remaining first-generation fountain pen companies, as Waterman S.A.. It is currently owned by Newell Rubbermaid.- History :The initial years of...

 of Seymour, Connecticut

Seymour, Connecticut

Seymour is a town located in western New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. The town was named for Governor Thomas H. Seymour. The population was 15,454 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...

, in the United States, and later sold off the older operation. The Bich family owns about 40 percent of Bic stock and controls 55% of its voting power.

In June 2010 Bic sold its funeral products division to Prairie Capital, a Chicago based private equity firm.

United States subsidiary

After buying the Waterman Pen Company in Seymour, Connecticut in 1958, Bic needed a larger space for its U.S. headquarters and manufacturing operation, so the headquarters was moved to nearby Milford, Connecticut

Milford, Connecticut

Milford is a coastal city in southwestern New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located between Bridgeport and New Haven. The population was 52,759 at the 2010 census...

, where it remained on a road eventually renamed "Bic Drive" until 2008, when the headquarters moved to Shelton, Connecticut

Shelton, Connecticut

Shelton is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 39,559 at the 2010 census.-Origins:Shelton was settled by the English as part of the town of Stratford, Connecticut, in 1639...

. A lighter factory remains on the Milford site.

The company's U.S. subsidiary, BIC Corporation, accounts for more than half of the worldwide company's sales. Both Bruno Bich, the current chairman of the board, who rose through the ranks in the U.S. organization, and Mario Guevara, the current chief executive officer, worked in the American subsidiary for several years.

Sponsorship

Bic sponsored a professional cycling team in the 1960s and 70s, led by Tour de France

Tour de France

The Tour de France is an annual bicycle race held in France and nearby countries. First staged in 1903, the race covers more than and lasts three weeks. As the best known and most prestigious of cycling's three "Grand Tours", the Tour de France attracts riders and teams from around the world. The...

 winners Jacques Anquetil

Jacques Anquetil

Jacques Anquetil was a French road racing cyclist and the first cyclist to win the Tour de France five times, in 1957 and from 1961 to 1964...

 and Luis Ocaña

Luis Ocaña

Jesús Luis Ocaña Pernía was a Spanish road bicycle racer who won the Tour de France in 1973 and the Vuelta a España in 1970.- Early professional career :...

.
Bic also sponsored the Alain Prost led Prost Grand Prix

Prost Grand Prix

Prost Grand Prix was a Formula One racing team managed by former world champion Alain Prost. The team participated in five seasons from 1997 to 2001.-Purchase of Ligier:...

team in Formula One from 1997 to 2000.

External links

• BIC World - Company website
• Société BIC Company Profile - Yahoo! Finance
• BICSurf
• BIC watersports
• BIC Everyday website for students, teachers and parents
• BIC Graphic USA