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Wednesday, August 27, 2008

"Ikon, Unisource have similar growth plans" - 1997

Has it really been 11 years?

I ran across this article today, "
Ikon, Unisource have similar growth plans" from the Philadelphia Business Journal - by Bob Brooke

"When Alco Standard Corp. of Valley Forge split in two to form Ikon Office Solutions Inc. and Unisource Worldwide Inc. on New Year's Eve, the move culminated a long-planned move to give its two main business units much needed freedom.

And in some respects, the spinoff can be seen as simply a civilized business transaction between two gentlemen -- Ikon Chief Executive Officer John Stuart and Ray Mundt, Unisource's CEO.

For years, the giant company, built on office copiers and paper, had been replicating itself through hundreds of acquisitions across the country. Alco began to take shape in the 1960s when Tinkham Veale, a wealthy Cleveland investor, assembled dozens of firms that included companies in fertilizer, machinery, electronics, coal and ice cream. In 1984, Alco sold off its manufacturing companies and focused on distribution, including its paper business, Paper Corporation of America. "

Stuart, having worked for Ricoh Corp., IBM and Royal Business Machines, joined the company in 1985 to restructure its office-products division...
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The article is a trip. A trip down memory lane. This one line stumbled me up,



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