Signs of Change
Drivers heading south on Route 8 Wednesday likely noticed a change to a few signs on the road to the west, past AK Steel.
Signs that used to lead drivers to the AK Steel entrance, with AK Steel prominently displayed, now read Cliffs to represent the company's new owner, Cleveland-Cliffs in Cleveland.
As of Wednesday, the sign on the building that said Butler Works now has a Cliffs banner. The letters AK also have been removed from the water tower on the property.
In early March, the company announced that AK Steel's name would be changed to reflect its new Ohio-based owners, despite earlier assurances that the name would not change.
When Cleveland-Cliffs, the country's largest producer of iron ore pellets, acquired AK Steel, the company said in a news release that AK Steel would retain its branding. But in the company's year-end report, it noted that AK Steel and another company, ArcelorMittal USA, are being “vertically integrated” into Cleveland-Cliffs.
A Cleveland-Cliffs spokesperson did not return a request for comment on the logistics of the signage changes or if there are any other changes planned.
A news release earlier this year said the new company will produce “high-value iron ore and steel solutions to customers primarily across North America.”
The purchase of AK Steel was announced in December 2019, and Cleveland-Cliffs acquired AK Steel for $1.1 billion in issued and outstanding shares of AK Steel stock in mid-March 2020. AK Steel's Butler plant employs about 1,400 hourly and salaried workers and has 1,469 retirees and 562 surviving spouses.
Mergers and acquisitions are part of AK Steel's history. AK Steel acquired Armco in 1999. Armco acquired the Columbia Steel Wheel plant in Butler County and became known as Armco's “Butler Works.”
Cleveland-Cliffs employs about 25,000 people across its mining, steel and downstream manufacturing operations in the United States and Canada.
The deals made Cleveland-Cliffs the largest flat-rolled steel producer in North America, according to the company.
The corporation notes that Lourenco Goncalves has been chairman, president and CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs since August 2014.
According to its website, Cleveland-Cliffs and its wholly-owned subsidiary, AK Steel, have an extensive history of being innovators in the iron and steel industry. Cliffs celebrated its 170th year as a company in 2017.
