BASF

This article is about the German company. For the French-owned company spun off from the BASF magnetic tape division, see EMTEC. For other uses, see BASF (disambiguation).

BASF SE
Company typePublic (Societas Europaea)
ISINDE000BASF111
IndustryChemicals
PredecessorKnoll AG Chemische Fabriken
Zuckerfabrik Körbisdorf
Herbol Edit this on Wikidata
Founded6 April 1865; 159 years ago (6 April 1865) (as Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik); Mannheim, Baden, Germany
FounderFriedrich Engelhorn
HeadquartersLudwigshafen, Germany
Key people
ProductsChemicals, plastics, performance chemicals, catalysts, coatings, crop technology, crude oil and natural gas exploration and production
RevenueDecrease €68.9 billion (2023)[1]
Decrease €2.24 billion (2023)[1]
Increase €225 million (2023)[1]
Total assetsDecrease €77.4 billion (2023)[1]
Total equityDecrease €36.6 billion (2023)[1]
Number of employees
Increase 111,991 (end 2023)[1]
SubsidiariesWintershall, Nunhems, TrinamiX, Cognis, BTC Europe, Chemster, Siegfried PharmaChemikalien Minden, Verenium Corporation, Isobionics, Succinity, Pinturas Thermicas del Norte
Websitebasf.com

BASF SE (German pronunciation: [beːaːɛsˈʔɛf] ⓘ), an initialism of its original name Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik (German for 'Baden Aniline and Soda Factory'), is a German multinational company and the largest chemical producer in the world.[2][3][4] Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

BASF comprises subsidiaries and joint ventures in more than 80 countries, operating six integrated production sites and 390 other production sites across Europe, Asia, Australia, the Americas and Africa.[5] BASF has customers in over 190 countries and supplies products to a wide variety of industries. Despite its size and global presence, BASF has received relatively little public attention since it abandoned the manufacture and sale of BASF-branded consumer electronics products in the 1990s.[6]

The company began as a dye manufacturer in 1865. Fritz Haber worked with Carl Bosch, one of its employees, to invent the Haber-Bosch process by 1912, after which the company grew rapidly. In 1925, the company merged with several other German chemical companies to become the chemicals conglomerate IG Farben. IG Farben would go on to play a major role in the economy of Nazi Germany. It extensively employed forced and slave labor during the Nazi period, and produced the notorious Zyklon B chemical used in The Holocaust. IG Farben was disestablished by the Allies in 1945. BASF was reconstituted from the remnants of IG Farben in 1952. It was part of the German economic miracle, and has since expanded considerably. It has received modern criticism for its poor environmental record.[citation needed]

At the end of 2019, the company employed 117,628 people, with over 54,000 in Germany.[7] In 2019, BASF posted sales of €59.3 billion and income from operations before special items of about €4.5 billion. Between 1990 and 2005, the company invested €5.6 billion in Asia, specifically in sites near Nanjing, Shanghai and Jiangmen in China and Mangalore in India.[8] BASF is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and Zurich Stock Exchange. The company delisted its ADR from the New York Stock Exchange in September 2007.[9] The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.[10][11]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "BASF 10 year summary" (PDF). BASF. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  2. ^ "BASF Headquarters". BASF. Archived from the original on 2 June 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  3. ^ "Who Are The World's Largest Chemical Producing Companies?". World Atlas. Archived from the original on 25 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  4. ^ "Largest chemical companies worldwide based on revenue in 2017 (in billion U.S. dollars)". Statista. Archived from the original on 25 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  5. ^ https://www.basf.com/group/corporate/en/about-basf/profile/index BASF website [permanent dead link‍]
  6. ^ "How gas rationing at Germany's BASF plant could plunge Europe into crisis". the Guardian. 15 September 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  7. ^ "Annual Report 2019" (PDF). Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  8. ^ "Time savings at BASF". vjoon. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  9. ^ "UPDATE 2-Germany's BASF says to delist from NYSE". Reuters. 30 July 2007. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  10. ^ "Börse Frankfurt (Frankfurt Stock Exchange): Stock market quotes, charts and news". Archived from the original on 8 February 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  11. ^ "European shares drop after weak BASF and Novartis updates". Reuters. Archived from the original on 25 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.