About Company
Levi Strauss & Co. is a US-based garments manufacturer popular across the world for the brand name Levi’s of denim jeans.
Levi Strauss, a German migrant set up the company in May 1853. He did it while shifting to San Francisco, CA from Buttenheim, Bavaria, for launching a west coast division of the textiles trade of his brother in New York. At the time of its inception, the name of the company was David Stern & Levi Strauss.
Despite the registration of the establishment is in Delaware, the business head office is situated in Levi’s Plaza, San Francisco, CA.
The stocks of Levi Strauss & Co. are publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol LEVI and it is a Class A stock.
Brands under Levi Strauss & Co
- Dockers
- Levi’s
- Signature by Levi Strauss & Co.
- Denizen
Business Structure and Personnel
Levi Strauss & Co. is a global establishment structured into three geographical segments:
- Levi Strauss Americas (LSA), has its head office in San Francisco, CA
- Levi Strauss Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa (LSAMA), located in Singapore
- Levi Strauss Europe (LSE), located in Brussels
The organization recruits a workforce of around 16,000 individuals across the world.
Levi Strauss bequeathed the organization to his kinsmen, the children of David Stern, on his demise in 1902. The daughter of the fourth son of David Stern, Sigmund Stern, tied her knots with Walter A. Haas. In 1928, Haas was nominated president, and the firm stayed under the proprietorship of the Stern-Haas clan till the time it first went public in 1971.
In 1985, nonetheless, the Haas clan retook proprietorship of the firm, turning it to private once more for the following thirty-four years.
In 2019 February, Levi Strauss & Co. registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an IPO (initial public offering), to be bought and sold on the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) with the ticker symbol LEVI.
For the 2nd occasion in its chronicles, Levi Strauss became public on 21st March 2019 at a rate of US $17 for each share.
Levi Strauss & Co is also famous for endorsing reformist movements. The company is one of the oldest privately-held organizations to aid LGBTQ campaigns. At the time of the 2016 United States presidential election campaign, Levi Strauss & Co contributed $1 million to advocate for migration and LGBTQ privileges. The Chief Executive Officer of Levi Strauss, Chip Bergh brought out an opposite the editorial in 2018 in Fortune magazine, expressing his opinions versus firearms violence.
During the first one or two months of the coronavirus pandemic situation, Levi Strauss & Company witnessed a 62% drop in sales and registered a loss of US $364 million. Business management reacted by laying off seven hundred desk jobs in the anticipation of economizing $100 million as expenditures.
Present Product Line
Till 2019, most of the products of the company were manufactured abroad in various developing nations like Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and India owing to the availability of affordable resources and employment.
Certain trends in the “Levi’s Vintage Clothing” and “Levi’s Premium” lines are, nonetheless, manufactured in the US.
Levi Strauss & Co. not only manufactures jeans, but also comprehensive lines of jackets, shirts, innerwear, pullovers, spectacles, socks, footwear, add-ons, kilts, apparel, and leather items.
All trousers and jeans are grouped according to fitting— slim, skinny, bootcut, straight, relaxed, taper, “big & tall”, and flare —recognized by brand marked 3-digit figures.
The archetypal and forward-looking blueprint of Levi Strauss, the 501, is there in the market with modes for both genders. The remaining designs of the 500 set are tailored for gents, and the 800, 700, 400, and 300 sets are tailored for ladies.
Levi Strauss & Co. Management
Chip Bergh
Chip Bergh is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President of the company. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Levi Strauss & Co.
Levi Strauss & Co. ranks among the leading branded garment manufacturers in the world and is a behemoth in jeanswear. Levi Strauss tailors and sells leisurewear, jeans, and associated accouterments for gents, ladies, and kids under the brands Dockers®, Levi’s®, Signature by Levi Strauss & Co.™, as well as Denizen®. Their merchandise is marketed in over 110 nations across the world via a blend of retail chains, online portals, departmental outlets, and a worldwide trail of around three thousand retail outlets and store-in-stores.
Before commencing his career with Levi Strauss and Company in 2011 September, Bergh had an extensive stint of 28 years with P&G (Procter & Gamble).
Bergh maturated in the domain of brand management and he worked in a plethora of management roles with a growing extent of complication and opportunity.
Chip’s final assignment before becoming an employee of Levi Strauss & Co. was group president for worldwide male grooming. Bergh was the oldest Procter & Gamble worker designated to the trade of Gillette after Procter & Gamble took over Gillette at $57 billion in 2005.
Bergh spearheaded the merger and then operated the Gillette Blades and Razors trade together with all the men’s grooming brands of Procter & Gamble (The Art of Shaving, Old Spice, and Gillette). Before that, Bergh headed the whole operations of Procter & Gamble in Australasia, Southeast Asia, and India.
Bergh has been in the leadership role for various top-rated brands throughout his professional life such as the formation and introduction of Swiffer that was the most accomplished fresh brand of Procter & Gamble over the past thirty years, the U-turn and expansion of Old Spice over and above Jif Peanut Butter, Folgers Coffee, and Gillette.
Chip has resided and functioned in Asia, the United States, as well as Europe. He has operated big worldwide trades and brand names.
In 2017 July, Bergh was nominated as the non-executive chairman of the BoD of HP Incorporated (Public: HPQ), a prominent personal systems and printing firm. Chip has worked as an HP BoD lead independent director since 2017 March and also as a member of the board since the split-up of the firm in 2015. Bergh had earlier worked on the BoD for the Economic Development Board of Singapore and VF Corporation.
In 2019 April, Bergh’s name appeared among the names of the World’s Greatest Leaders published by Fortune Magazine. Bergh was ranked at #16 and is extensively distinguished for his role in value-oriented management.
Harmit Singh
Harmit Singh serves as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Executive Vice President of the company.
Singh has the responsibility for handling the company’s information technology, treasury, worldwide trade services, and strategic procurement activities across the world.
This incorporates:
- Strategic planning and business growth
- Financial strategy and evaluation
- Taxation
- Accounting and checks
- Treasury
- Enterprise risk management (ERM)
- Investor relations
- Internal audit
Singh is a veteran finance manager bearing over three decades of experience in propelling expansion for worldwide consumer products. For the entire duration of his professional life, Singh has been associated with organizations that offer services to customers in domains like dining, hospitality, commercial, and travel and tourism sectors.
In 2013 January, before getting employment with Levi Strauss & Co., Singh acted as the CFO of Hyatt Hotels Corp. He fruitfully set up a worldwide framework there, made the organization public, ramped up a robust balance sheet, and propelled expansion through aiding wealth distribution for mergers and investitures.
Before joining Hyatt Hotels Corp, Singh worked in diverse worldwide leadership positions with the biggest diner chain in the world, Yum! Brand foods, including Chief Financial Officer of Yum Restaurants International and Chief Financial Officer of Pizza Hut United States. At the beginning of Singh’s career, he was employed with Price Waterhouse and Amex India in India as well.
Singh has a B.Com degree from Delhi University (Shri Ram College of Commerce) and is also a CA (chartered accountant) from India.
Stephen C. Neal
Stephen C. Neal is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Levi Strauss & Co and he has been serving in this position since 2011 September. Earlier, he was functioning as a director of the company since 2007.
Earlier, Neal served as the Chairperson of Cooley LLP, a firm of lawyers. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of the same firm from 2001 till 1st January 2008.
Over and above his wide-ranging familiarity as a trial attorney on a wide variety of business matters, Stephen has acted on behalf of and counseled several special groups of boards, board of directors, and specific directors on business administration and other law affairs.
In 1995, before getting employed with Cooley LLP, Stephen served as a collaborator of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, another legal firm. He serves as an NVIDIA Corporation director. Stephen fetches to the BoD profound understanding and wide experience in business administration together with his viewpoints garnered from counseling various firms during his professional life.
The viewpoint of Levi Strauss & Co.
The company believes in becoming a force for an optimistic shift in communities across the world. It is dedicated to investing a part of its yearly revenue into its communities again. Levi Strauss has a heritage of upholding the campaigns it is concerned about and endows its workforce to perform the same. Their product contributions also assist the requirements of communities throughout the world during times of urgency.
Levi Strauss & Co Stock Performance
On August 27, 2021, LEVI ended trading with NYSE at $26.87 at 4:00 pm.
Levi Strauss & Co. Financials (Q2 ending May 31, 2021)
(All values are in Million the US $ unless otherwise stated)
Disclaimer: This article is specifically for educational and exploration objectives and you should not look at it to be a bit of investment advice. It is always rational to discuss with your investment advisor when you are pondering over any type of investment.
