Vi-Jon Laboratories
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Consumer goods |
| Founded | 1908 |
| Founder | John B. Brunner |
| Headquarters | 8800 Page Ave. St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. 63114 |
Key people | Gerald G. Bowe, CEO; Randy Veal, CFO; Tim Williams, COO[1] |
| Products | personal care products |
| Brands | Germ-X |
| Website | www |
Vi-Jon Laboratories is an American health and beauty care company that produces both private label and brand name products.[2] Headquartered in the St. Louis suburb of Overland, they operate five manufacturing and distribution centers in Missouri and Tennessee. The company's products are supplied nationwide to retailers such as Kroger, Target, and Walgreens.
In the United States, the company markets a line of hand sanitizers under its flagship brand Germ-X, as well as a line of isopropyl alcohol products under the brand Swan.[3][4] Both products have become widely sold during the COVID-19 pandemic.
History
[edit]Vi-Jon was founded as Peroxide Specialty Company in 1908 by John B. Brunner. Vi-Jon was acquired by investment firm Berkshire Partners in 2006.[5]
In 2006 Procter & Gamble filed a lawsuit against Vi-Jon alleging that Vi-Jon copied the look of Crest Pro-Health mouth wash; the parties settled a few months later, with Vi-Jon agreeing to withdraw its product from the market, to not use bottle designs that are confusingly similar to those of P&G, to not make "compare to Crest Pro-Health" or gingivitis efficacy claims without specific testing to support these claims, and to pay P&G.[6]
In August 2014, Berkshire announced its intention to sell Vi-Jon.[7] As of September 2020, the company became 100% employee-owned.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ "Vi-Jon, Inc.: CEO and Executives - Businessweek". Archived from the original on July 27, 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ "Vi-Jon: Our Products". Retrieved 11 December 2020.
- ^ "Vi-Jon Laboratories and Cumberland Swan Join Forces with Berkshire Partners". Berkshire Partners. July 19, 2006. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
- ^ "Vi-Jon: Branded Products". Retrieved 11 December 2020.
- ^ "dun & bradstreet: Vi-Jon, LLC". Dun & Bradstreet. Archived from the original on 2020-12-11. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
- ^ Coombs, W. Timothy (2014). Ongoing Crisis Communication: Planning, Managing, and Responding. SAGE Publications. p. 37. ISBN 9781483322674.
- ^ Rizzo, Lillian; Tan, Gillian (August 1, 2014). "Personal-Care Products Maker Vi-Jon Is Up for Sale". WSJ. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
- ^ "Vi-Jon, LLC Is Now A 100% Employee-owned Company". Retrieved 11 December 2020.