The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, which Harvey Firestone formed in Akron, Ohio in August 1900, and the Bridgestone Tire Company Ltd. which Shojiro Ishibashi started in Japan in 1931.

Bridgestone Corporation purchased Firestone Tire in 1974 for $2.6 billion, transforming the companies’ combined operations into the world’s largest tire and rubber company. The operations in the Americas were renamed Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc. and became the largest subsidiary of Bridgestone. As part of its integration with Bridgestone’s existing U.S. operations, Bridgestone/Firestone moved its headquarters from Akron to Nashville in 1992.

Today, this subsidiary, now named Bridgestone Americas (BSAM), consists of an international family of enterprises with 52 production facilities and more than 50,000 employees throughout the Americas.