This article is about the utility holding company broken up by the SEC in 1946. For other entities similarly named, see North American (disambiguation).
In 1889, the New Jersey legislature passed legislation to facilitate the control of other companies by another corporation.[3] This was part of a bid to entice trusts to convert into holding companies and move to New Jersey. It persuaded the Oregon company Oregon and Transcontinental to re-incorporate as a holding company in New Jersey and became the North American Company.[3]
When the Dow Jones Industrial Average was created on May 26, 1896, North American's stock was one of the 12 component stocks,[4] but it was replaced on August 26 by U.S. Cordage. On October 1, 1928, when the number of stocks comprising the DJIA was increased to 30, North American was re-added to the list but was replaced by Johns-Manville in 1930.
By 1940, North American was a US$2.3 billion holding company that directly and indirectly ran 80 companies.
It had 10 major direct subsidiaries, in eight of which it owned at least 79%. The 10 included:
Capital Transit: Formed on December 1, 1933, in Washington, D.C., from the merger of the Washington Railway and Electric Company and Capital Traction streetcar companies and the Washington Rapid Transit bus company. North American owned it through its WRECo holding company subsidiary, which in turn was the holding company for the merged lines, owning 50% of Capital Transit.[13]
The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 passed with the intent of breaking up interstate electric holding companies by limiting company operations to a single state, thus subjecting them to effective state regulation. The North American Company fought the legislation in court, and the company was not broken up by the Securities and Exchange Commission until their loss before the Supreme court in North American Co. v. SEC on April 1, 1946.[5]
^Standard & Poor's Stock Guide, formerly NYSE: CVX, then merged with Toledo Edison (formerly NYSE: TED) to form holding company Centerior Energy (formerly NYSE: CX), then merged with Ohio Edison Company (formerly NYSE: OEC) to form holding company FirstEnergy CorporationNYSE: FE
^Standard & Poor's Stock Guide, formerly NYSE: DTE, then moved to holding company DTE Energy, same ticker
^Standard & Poor's Stock Guide, formerly NYSE: WPC, then moved to holding company Wisconsin Energy Corp. (formerly NYSE: WEC), then merged with Northern States Power (formerly NYSE: NSP) to form holding company Primergy Corp.
^March, Charles E. (August 1934). "The Local Transportation Problem in the District of Columbia". The Journal of Land and Public Utilities Economics. 10 (3). University of Wisconsin Press: 275–290. doi:10.2307/3139173. JSTOR3139173.
^Standard & Poor's Stock Guide, NYSE: CIN, then moved to holding company Cinergy Corp., same ticker
^Laclede Gas Company, 1857-2007; Standard & Poor's Stock Guide, (NYSE: LG) became a wholly owned subsidiary of The Laclede Group, Inc., same ticker. Along with North American, the Laclede Gas Light Company was also one of the original 12 stocks in the Dow Industrial Average.