Air Products

Leonard Parker Pool founded Air Products in Detroit in 1940 on the idea of producing industrial gases on site. In 1941 it leased its first oxygen generator to a small Detroit steel company.⁠[1]

During the Second World War it turned to mobile generators and moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1944; after the war it set up near Allentown and in the 1950s began building a new home in Trexlertown.⁠[2]

After the launch of Sputnik in 1957, Air Products won the competition to make a new rocket propellant.⁠[1]

In 1962, with sales above $100 million, Air Products stock was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange; that year it also acquired the Houdry Process Company and its subsidiary, the Catalytic Construction Company.⁠[3]

It acquired Escambia Chemical in 1969, won a NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the U.S. federal agency responsible for the civilian space program, aeronautics research and space science. Established by law in 1958 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., it has run programs including Mercury, the Apollo Moon landings, the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station and Artemis.Open the full entry space shuttle liquid hydrogen contract in the 1970s and became a Fortune 500 company by 1978. Later acquisitions included Stearns-Roger (1980s), Permea (1990s) and BOC Gazy’s industrial gas business (2000s).⁠[2]

In May 2007 the board elected John E. McGlade to succeed John P. Jones III as chief executive officer effective October 1, 2007. Jones remained chairman for a transition period ending March 31, 2008.⁠[4]

On February 11, 2010, Air Products, through a subsidiary, commenced a cash tender offer for all outstanding shares of Airgas, Inc. After the Delaware Court of Chancery upheld Airgas’s poison pill in February 2011, Air Products withdrew its $70-per-share all-cash offer on February 15, 2011. McGlade said, “we have decided to withdraw our offer and move on.”⁠[5]

In September 2010 Brazil’s competition authority CADE found that industrial gas companies had engaged in customer allocation, bid rigging and price fixing dating back to at least 1998, imposing fines totaling 2.9 billion reais, including 226 million reais on Air Products Brasil.⁠[6]

Air Products denied the allegations and appealed to the Brazilian courts in October 2010. On May 6, 2014, the appeal was granted and the fine against Air Products Brasil Ltda. was dismissed, but CADE appealed that ruling, and the matter remained pending as of the fiscal 2024 Form 10-K. The 10-K states the fine as R$179.2 million and records no provision, judging an adverse judgment not probable.⁠[7]

In 2012 Air Products acquired a controlling stake in INDURA, then South America’s largest independent industrial gas company, and in 2013 it acquired EPCO Carbon Dioxide Products, Inc.⁠[3]

On June 18, 2014, the company announced that Seifi Ghasemi, chairman and chief executive of Rockwood Holdings, would become Air Products’ chairman, president and chief executive officer effective July 1. McGlade served through June 30 and then retired.⁠[8]

On October 3, 2016, Air Products announced that it had completed the separation of its Electronics Materials Division as Versum Materials, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, distributing one Versum share for every two Air Products shares.⁠[9]

On January 3, 2017, Air Products completed the sale of its Performance Materials Division to Evonik Industries AG for $3.8 billion in cash.⁠[10]

On July 7, 2020, Air Products, ACWA Power and NEOM agreed to build a $5 billion green hydrogen-based ammonia facility in NEOM, Saudi Arabia, equally owned by the three, to produce 1.2 million tons of green ammonia a year, with Air Products as exclusive off-taker and onstream scheduled for 2025.⁠[11]

In 2021 Air Products completed construction of its new global headquarters.⁠[1]

On October 14, 2021, Air Products announced a $4.5 billion blue hydrogen clean energy complex near Burnside in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, planned to produce more than 750 million standard cubic feet per day of blue hydrogen, capture about 95 percent of its carbon dioxide and permanently sequester more than five million metric tons a year, with operation expected in 2026.⁠[12]

On September 30, 2024, Air Products completed the sale of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) process technology and equipment business to Honeywell for $1.81 billion in cash.⁠[13]

At the annual meeting whose results were announced on January 23, 2025, activist investor Mantle Ridge’s nominees Paul Hilal, Dennis Reilley and Andrew Evans were elected to the board, and Seifi Ghasemi lost his board seat while remaining chief executive for the time being.⁠[14]

On February 4, 2025, the board appointed Eduardo F. Menezes chief executive officer effective February 7, also joining the board, as Ghasemi left the company after more than ten years; Wayne T. Smith was named board chairman and Dennis H. Reilley vice chairman.⁠[15]

Menezes had been Linde plcLindeLinde plc is an industrial gas and engineering company created by the 2018 merger of Praxair and Linde AG. It is formed under the laws of Ireland, with principal executive offices in Woking, United Kingdom.Open the full entry’s executive vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and was Mantle Ridge’s proposed replacement CEO; the company had earlier criticized the choice on the grounds that he had never been a public company CEO.⁠[16]

On February 24, 2025, Air Products announced its exit from three U.S. projects: it terminated its agreement for a World Energy sustainable aviation fuel expansion in Paramount, California, cancelled a planned green liquid hydrogen facility in Massena, New York, and terminated a carbon monoxide production project in Texas, with a pre-tax charge expected not to exceed $3.1 billion.⁠[17]

In fiscal 2025, ended September 30, 2025, Air Products’ sales were $12.0 billion, down one percent from the prior year; net loss attributable to Air Products was $394.5 million, and adjusted EPS was $12.03.⁠[18]

The company reports five segments and does business in about 50 countries and regions outside the United States. As of September 30, 2025, it had approximately 21,300 employees.⁠[19]

On June 30, 2026, Air Products announced that it would not proceed with the Louisiana Clean Energy Complex because expected returns did not meet its criteria, and that it would record pre-tax charges not expected to exceed $2.9 billion in its fiscal 2026 third quarter. It also said it was finalizing a marketing and distribution agreement with Yara for renewable ammonia from the NEOM Green Hydrogen Project.⁠[20]

In the fiscal 2026 third quarter, ended June 30, 2026, sales rose five percent to $3.2 billion; net loss attributable to Air Products was $1,440.8 million and adjusted EPS was $3.47. The company had finalized the Yara agreement and raised full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $13.39–$13.49.⁠[21]