Viad Corporation

Viad is a Phoenix based conglomerate with a variety of brands offering entertainment and travel resources. The business had a market capitalization of over $1.2 billion when I visited in 9/2018. They trade on the NYSE with the symbol: VVI.

The entertainment segment organizes live events. The travel section includes resort destination including several resorts near Glacier National Park in Montana.

Corporate History

The company started as a bus line and grew into a major conglomerate which provide health and beauty services, food processing and more. The bus continues as Greyhound Lines.

Advertisement: You can buy discount Greyhound bus tickets at BusBud (I might get a small commission on sales through this link).

• 1914: Swedish immigrant Carl Eric Wickman started a bus line with a seven passengar car with service between Hibbing and Alice, Minnesota.
• 1918: At the end of WWI, Wickman owned 18 buses and made a profit of $40,000.
• 1922: Wickman teamed up with Orville Caesar who owned the Superior White Bus Lines.

1926: Wickman purchased the , which offered transcontinental service, and Pickwick Lines.

• 1926: Eric Wickman and Orville Caesar created Motor Transit Corporation to consolidate bus routes.
• 193?: The company changed its name to The Greyhound Corporation as a drive saw a reflection of his bus that looked like a greyhound dog.
• 1953: Greyhound acquired of the Tennessee Coach Company's
• 1954: company created the Greyhound Financial Corporation to fund its growing busline.
• 1964: Greyhound acquired Horne's Restaurant

  History of Horne's Restaurant

  • 193?: Bob Horne operated a motel called Horne's Beauty Rest Cabins near Jacksonville, Florida.
  • 1948: Bob Horne opened a store on the highway that sold treats.
  • 1950: The company raised $2 million selling 250 shares creating Horne's Enterprises. They then added a grill to their growing stores. They created several Horne's Motor Lodge and Restaurant facilities.
  • 1953: the company incorporated in Florida as Horne's of Bayard, Inc..
  • 1964: The Greyhound Corporation purchased nearly all the chain's stock from Bob Horne for $14,000,000. The company had 55 locations in 15 state.
• 1964: Greyhound acquired Prophet Foods which was a caterer for large institutions.
• 1965: Greyhound acquired Travelers Express which was created in Minneapolis in 1940. It became the largest cash transfer system.
• 1965: Greyhound acquired General Fire and Casualty.
• 1967 Greyhound acquired Aircraft Services International which provided ground handling and janitorial services.
• 1969, Greyhound sold Horne's to Formco, who owned the Stand N' Snack chain and several motels.
  • The chain expanded into Canada and became Horne's International Inc.
  • 1980: Key Energy Enterprises acquired six Horne's locations in Florida.
  • 1981: Atlantic National Bank took over the rest of the company.
• Lehman Brothers made $80 million loan to Greyhound.
• 1970: Greyhound acquired the meat packing firm Armour Food Company
which also owned Dial Soap.
• 1971: company moved Armour-Dial's headquarters to Phoenix.
• 1978, Greyhound sold Armour Pharmaceuticals to Revlon.
• 1981: the company acquired Glacier Park Lodge in Montana.
• 1983: Greyhound drivers went on strike while the division was losing money.
• 1983: Greyhound sold Armour Foods to to Conagra (keeping Dial and Armour Star Foods).
• 1985: Greyhound acquired Purex Industries Inc. which made laundry soap and Brillo Pads from Gibbons Green for $264 million which it added to Dial.
• 1987: Greyhound sold its bus division to a Dallas based investment group which took on the line Grayhound Line.
  • 1987: Greyhound acquired Continental Trailways then other buses in the Trailways Lines network.
  • 1990: The Union launched a second strike.
  • 1991: The CEO was forced out and Greyhound declared bankruptcy.
  • 1997:-Laidlaw Inc., based in Burlington, Ontario, acquired Greyhound Canada Transportation ULC for US$72 million.
  • 1999: Laidlaw International, Inc. of Naperville, Ill acquired Greyhound for about $470M.

    History of Laidlaw

    Laidlaw was a transportation company known for operating school buses across North America.

    • 1924 Robert Laidlaw founded Laidlaw Transit in Hagersville, Ontario and grew to run school buses for districts throughout North America.
    • 1997: Laidlaw acquired Dallas-based EmCare which provided physician practice management services for emergency departments, etc.
    • 1997: Laidlaw acquired American Medical Response, which operated ambulances, for $1.12 billion.
    • 1998: Laidlaw ran a hostile take over of Safety-Kleen, which recycled used oil.
    • 2001: Laidlaw filed chapter 11.
    • 2002: Laidlaw re-emerged from bankruptcy with an IPO.
    • 2004: Laidlaw sold EmCare and American Medical Response to Onex for $980 million.
    • 2007: FirstGroup, out of Scotland, purchased Laidlaw International for $3.6 billion.
• 1991: Greyhound Dial Corporation no longer owned buses; So it changed its name to The Dial Corp
• 1992: Company sold GFC Financial Corporation which became FINOVA. (FINOVA declared bankruptcy in 2001 and dissolved in 2009.)
• 1996: The company split. It spun off Dial Corporation and kept its travel and leisure services with the name Viad.
  • 2004: The German conglomerate Henkel acquired Dial and its subsidiaries.
• 1998: Viad acquired MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc. for $287 million which they added to Travelers Express

  History of MoneyGram

  MoneyGram is a system for sending payments.

  • 1988: MoneyGram was created by American Express. It was a subdivision of Integrated Payment Systems Inc. which was a subdivision of First Data.
  • American Express spun off First Data. First Data sought to merge with First Financial which owned Western Union. The FTC required that it sell Integrated Payment Systems.
  • 1996: Integrated Payment Systems renamed itself MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc. and had an IPO.
• 2004: Viad renamed Travelers Express as MoneyGram International Inc. and spun it off as a private company.
• 2011: Viad acquired St. Mary Lodge & Resort.
• 2011: Viad acquired Denali Backcountry Lodge.
• 2011: Viad acquired Grouse Mountain Lodge.
• 2012: Viad acquired Banff International Hotel.
• 2014: Viad acquired N200 Limited which offers event registration and data intelligence.
• 2014: Viad acquired West Glacier Motel & Cabins and the Apgar Village Lodge.
• 2016: Viad CIRI Alaska Tourism Corporation.
• 2016: Viad acquired ON Event Services, LLC. which offers audio-visual production services for live events in the United States.