Source: Ben Thompson / Getty
GARY, Ind. — US Steel, a large employer of Hoosiers in northern Indiana, has agreed to sell itself to a Japanese steel-making company in a huge deal.
Nippon Steel is buying US Steel for $14.1 billion.
Though the company is based in Pittsburgh, its largest steel manufacturing plant is in Gary. It also has facilities in East Chicago and Portage. Last year US Steel employed 15,000 people nationwide.
US Steel has been around for 122 years ever since it was bought from Andrew Carnegie by J.P. Morgan and Charles Schwab in 1901. The company has faced decades of decline in both steel output and stock market value.
Part of the problem, according to some industry experts, is that US Steel has been trying to stay competitive in the steel market with outdated technology. In some cases, the company is still using 1940’s technology to make steel.
The company reached peak employment in the 1940s and it reached peak output in the 1950s.
