Nucor

Nucor traces its origins to the REO Motor Company, founded in 1905 by Ransom E. Olds, who had earlier founded Olds Motor Works and started REO after a dispute with stockholders.⁠[1]

In 1962 Nuclear Corporation bought Vulcraft, a manufacturer of steel joists, where F. Kenneth “Ken” Iverson (1925–2002) worked. Iverson rose to president in 1965; he pushed decision-making down to front-line workers, with only five layers of management between them and the CEO.⁠[2]

In 1966 the company moved its headquarters from Phoenix, Arizona, to Charlotte, North Carolina, and Iverson proposed entering steelmaking and started profit sharing. In 1971 the board approved the name Nucor, and in 1972 the company was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange as NUE.⁠[3]

In August 1966 Iverson asked the board to approve an electric arc furnace mill to supply angles and rounds to the Vulcraft joist divisions in Florence and Norfolk; the board approved a capital request of $3,667,500. The mill was completed in 1969 in Darlington, South Carolina, originally operating as Eastern Carolina Steel.⁠[4]

Dave Aycock, Iverson and Sam Siegel led the company’s transformation into a steelmaker built on recycling rather than blast furnaces; as of June 2025, the recycling-based process begun at Darlington accounted for more than 70 percent of U.S. steel production.⁠[5]

John Correnti began his career at U.S. Steel, moved to Nucor in 1980 and rose to CEO. In the mid-1990s he was instrumental in bringing a $500 million Nucor mill to Berkeley County, South Carolina.⁠[6]

After Ken Iverson retired as chairman, David Aycock took over that post on January 1, 1999. In June 1999 chief executive John Correnti resigned after a long-simmering dispute among top management, including over getting into nonsteel businesses; Aycock succeeded him as CEO until a successor was chosen.⁠[7]

Aycock assumed the responsibilities of president and CEO during the 1999–2000 transition and retired from the board in 2001.⁠[5]

In 2000 Dan DiMicco was named president and CEO of Nucor.⁠[3]

John J. Ferriola became a director in 2011, CEO in 2013 and chairman in 2014.⁠[8]

On December 19, 2000, the U.S. Justice Department announced an environmental settlement with Nucor covering 14 facilities in seven states over alleged violations of the Clean Air Act and other federal laws. Nucor agreed to install an estimated $85 million of nitrogen-oxide controls, pay a $9 million civil penalty and spend $4 million on monitoring and community projects.⁠[9]

In February 2018 a federal judge approved a $22.5 million settlement of a class action alleging racial discrimination at Nucor’s steel mill in Huger, South Carolina. The class covered about 150 workers employed between December 1999 and April 2011, after 17 years of litigation; Nucor denied the allegations.⁠[10]

On September 6, 2019, Nucor announced that Ferriola, 67, would retire as chairman and CEO on December 31, 2019; the board elected Leon J. Topalian, 51, as president and chief operating officer effective September 5, to succeed Ferriola as CEO on January 1, 2020.⁠[11]

Topalian had worked at Nucor since 1996, including as general manager of Nucor-Yamato Steel in Blytheville, and was an executive vice president from 2017 to 2019.⁠[8]

On December 13, 2019, Nucor announced Topalian’s election to the board and John H. Walker’s election as non-executive chairman.⁠[12]

On January 12, 2022, the West Virginia governor’s office announced that Nucor had chosen Mason County for a sheet steel mill with an investment of more than $2.7 billion and capacity of up to 3 million tons a year, expected to create about 800 manufacturing jobs and to be operational by 2024.⁠[13]

On December 19, 2024, the governor’s office announced an additional $800 million investment by Nucor in the Apple Grove mill, bringing its total commitment to $3.5 billion; the West Virginia Economic Development Authority approved $75 million for infrastructure such as port enhancements and water treatment, with operations expected in the second half of 2026.⁠[14]

By August 2026 Nucor had begun commissioning the melt shop of the $4 billion sheet mill, striking the first arc on its new electric arc furnace, and planned to complete commissioning by year-end.⁠[15]

On December 1, 2025, Nucor’s board raised the regular quarterly cash dividend to $0.56 per share, its 211th consecutive quarterly cash dividend. Nucor has increased its base dividend every year since it began paying dividends in 1973, for 53 consecutive years.⁠[16]

Nucor is a Delaware corporation incorporated in 1958 that reports in three segments: steel mills, steel products and raw materials. It uses scrap steel as its primary raw material and recycled about 20 million gross tons in 2025. It employs about 33,000 teammates, about 200 of them at its Charlotte headquarters.⁠[17]

For 2025, Nucor had net sales of $32.494 billion, up 6% from $30.734 billion in 2024, and net earnings attributable to stockholders of $1.744 billion, or $7.52 per diluted share, compared with $2.027 billion, or $8.46, in 2024.⁠[18]

In the third quarter of 2026 Nucor had net sales of $11.25 billion and net earnings attributable to stockholders of $1.32 billion, or $5.80 per diluted share.⁠[19]