Clorox is the best-known brand of bleach in the U.S., whose near-century of success is the basis of Oakland, California-based Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX).

The name is a combination of the words "chlorine" and "sodium hydroxide," which together form the active ingredient of Clorox.

History

The product and the company date to May 3, 1913, when five entrepreneurs invested $100 apiece to set up the first commercial-scale liquid bleach factory in the United States, on the east side of San Francisco Bay. The firm was first called the Electro-Alkaline Company. In 1916, it developed a weaker version for household, rather than commercial, use, and sales took off.

The company went public in 1921, changing its name to Clorox. "Butch," an animated Clorox liquid bleach bottle, was used in advertising and became well known, even surviving the 1940 transition from rubber-stoppered bottles to ones with screw-on caps.

In 1957, Clorox was bought by Proctor & Gamble, a purchase challenged by the Federal Trade Commission, which feared it would stifle competition in the household-products market. The FTC won, and in 1969 Clorox was again made independent.

Brands

The Clorox Company now owns a number of other well-known household and professional brands across a wide variety of products, among them

• Brita water filtration system
• Glad storage bags and containers
• Hidden Valley and K.C. Masterpiece salad dressings and sauces
• Kingsford charcoal
• Pine-Sol cleaning products
• Prestone and STP automotive products

External links

• The Clorox Company
• Clorox (consumer products portal)