Albemarle

On the evening of February 11, 1887, five businessmen met in Richmond, Virginia, to consider forming a paper company, and the Albemarle Paper Manufacturing Company was born that night.⁠[1]

In 1962 the Albemarle Paper Manufacturing Company acquired Ethyl in what was then the largest leveraged buyout on record.⁠[1]

Bromine operations began in Magnolia, Arkansas, in 1969, and in 1976 the company sold its remaining paper manufacturing to focus on specialty chemicals.⁠[2]

Albemarle Corporation was incorporated in Virginia in 1993.⁠[3]

Ethyl completed the spin-off at the close of business on February 28, 1994, distributing one share of Albemarle common stock for every two Ethyl shares; the businesses transferred included olefins and derivatives, bromine chemicals and specialty chemicals.⁠[4]

In 2008 Albemarle moved its headquarters from Richmond, Virginia, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.⁠[2]

On July 15, 2014, Albemarle and Rockwood Holdings announced a cash-and-stock merger valued at approximately $6.2 billion, under which each Rockwood share would be exchanged for $50.65 in cash and 0.4803 of an Albemarle share. The combined company was to hold market-leading positions in lithium, catalysts, bromine and surface treatment.⁠[5]

Albemarle completed its acquisition of Rockwood Holdings on January 12, 2015. President and CEO Luke Kissam said the two companies would “join forces to create a premier specialty chemicals company.”⁠[6]

The acquisition made Albemarle a leading integrated, low-cost global producer of lithium and one of the largest producers of surface treatments and coatings for metal processing. Its lithium resources included evaporation ponds at the Salar de Atacama in Chile, brine at Silver Peak, Nevada, and a 49% interest in Windfield Holdings, owner of the Greenbushes lithium mine in Western Australia.⁠[7]

The same year, with the Rockwood acquisition, Albemarle moved its headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina.⁠[2]

On February 1, 2016, Albemarle completed the sale of its minerals-based flame retardants and specialty chemicals business, and on December 14 it completed the sale of the Chemetall Surface Treatment business to BASF, receiving about $3.1 billion net of purchase price adjustments.⁠[3]

Albemarle had announced on June 17, 2016, that it would sell the Chemetall Surface Treatment business to BASF in a cash transaction valued at about $3.2 billion. Kissam said the sale reflected the company’s “continued commitment to maximizing shareholder value.”⁠[8]

On June 23, 2016, S&P Dow Jones IndicesS&P Dow Jones IndicesS&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) is a global index provider that compiles and licenses benchmark indices including the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It was formed in 2012 by combining McGraw-Hill’s S&P index business with the Dow Jones Indexes business held by a joint venture of CME Group and Dow Jones, and it is now the index business division of S&P Global, which holds about 73% of the interest.Open the full entry announced that S&P MidCap 400 constituent Albemarle would replace TECO Energy in the S&P 500S&P 500The S&P 500 is a U.S. large-cap equity index compiled by S&P Dow Jones Indices. It includes 500 leading companies, covers about 80% of available market capitalization and is described by S&P DJI as “widely regarded as the best single gauge of large-cap U.S. equities.”Open the full entry after the close of trading on June 30, in the Materials sector.⁠[9]

On April 20, 2020, Albemarle elected J. Kent Masters chairman, president and CEO, effective immediately, as Luke Kissam retired from those roles for health reasons. Masters had joined Albemarle’s board in 2015 and was previously CEO of Foster Wheeler and a Rockwood Holdings director from 2007 to 2015.⁠[10]

On September 28, 2023, the Justice Department said Albemarle would pay more than $218 million to resolve a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigation. Between 2009 and 2017, Albemarle bribed government officials in Vietnam, Indonesia and India. Under a three-year non-prosecution agreement it paid a criminal penalty of about $98.2 million and administrative forfeiture of about $98.5 million.⁠[11]

The Securities and Exchange Commission found that Albemarle violated the anti-bribery, recordkeeping and internal accounting controls provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 in selling refinery catalysts to state-owned refineries. Albemarle agreed to cease and desist and to pay more than $81.8 million in disgorgement and more than $21.7 million in prejudgment interest.⁠[12]

In April 2025 Albemarle concluded the non-prosecution agreement with the Justice Department before the end of its term.⁠[13]

In October 2023 Albemarle withdrew its A$6.6 billion, A$3-a-share proposal for Australian lithium developer Liontown Resources, saying the deal had grown more complex and that proceeding “is not in Albemarle’s best interests.”⁠[14]

Amid falling lithium prices, Albemarle said on July 31, 2024, that it would halt construction of a third processing line at its Kemerton lithium hydroxide plant in Western Australia, cancel a planned fourth line, idle one existing line and cut the Kemerton workforce by 40%, taking an after-tax charge of about $215 million for asset write-offs.⁠[15]

As of December 31, 2025, Albemarle had three reportable segments, Energy Storage (lithium), Specialties (bromine and specialized lithium) and Ketjen (catalysts), and about 7,800 employees.⁠[13]

On February 11, 2026, Albemarle posted fiscal 2025 net sales of $5.14 billion, down from $5.38 billion in 2024, and a net loss attributable to the company of $510.6 million, compared with a $1.18 billion loss in 2024.⁠[16]

On March 2, 2026, Albemarle completed the sale of a controlling stake in Ketjen’s refining catalyst business to affiliates of KPS Capital Partners, keeping a minority stake and 100% of the Performance Catalyst Solutions business. Together with the sale of its 50% interest in the Eurecat joint venture, the transactions brought combined pre-tax proceeds of $670 million.⁠[17]