{{Short description|American investment company}} {{About|the U.S. investment company|the fictional private military corporation|Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare|other companies|Atlas (disambiguation)}} {{Infobox company |name = Atlas Corporation |founded = 1928<br/>United States |hq_location = United States }} The '''Atlas Corporation''' is an American investment firm that was formed in 1928.
==History== {{expand section|content on the corporations history between the late 1940s and 2025|date=July 2025}}
Atlas corporation was formed in 1928, in a merger of the United Corporation, an investment firm started in 1923 with $40,000, with Atlas Utilities and Investors Ltd. The corporation specialized in capital formation and management. In 1929, Atlas was a $12,550,000 investment trust.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090303232447/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,885869,00.html "Odlum Makes a Deal"], ''Time'', April 1, 1940. Retrieved September 1, 2008.</ref> The company was able to shrewdly weather the Wall Street crash of 1929, and continue to grow through the 1930s and 1940s. The corporation was founded by Floyd Odlum and his brother-in-law Boyd Hatch.
With Floyd Odlum as president and Boyd Hatch as vice-president, Atlas invested, managed or controlled numerous industries, including Greyhound Lines, Bonwit Teller (acquired 1934) and Franklin Simon & Co. (acquired 1936) ladies' apparel stores, Madison Square Garden, and various mines, utility companies, aviation related businesses, and banks.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://history.utah.gov/board_of_state_history/documents/NR0607B.pdf |title=Hatch's Camp |access-date=June 3, 2021 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060712152221/http://history.utah.gov/board_of_state_history/documents/NR0607B.pdf |archive-date=2006-07-12}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100628042908/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,935179,00.html "Odlum's Busy Week"]. ''Time''. June 14, 1954. Retrieved September 1, 2008.</ref><ref>Pattillo, Donald M. (2001) ''Pushing the Envelope: The American Aircraft Industry'', (University of Michigan Press), {{ISBN|0-472-10869-7}}.</ref> After Atlas Corporation acquired the Bonwit Teller ladies' apparel stores, Floyd Odlum convinced his wife, Hortense Odlum, to become involved in the store's operations. She became the first female president of a major department store chain when she became president of Bonwit Teller in 1934.<ref>Odlum, Hortense McQuarrie, (1980) ''A Woman's Place: The Autobiography of Hortense Odlum'', Ayer Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0-405-12850-9}}.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20081215094949/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,848657,00.html "Storekeeping Atlas"]. ''Time''. October 12, 1936. Retrieved September 1, 2008).</ref><ref>[http://aolsvc.timeforkids.kol.aol.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,847205,00.html "Lady from Atlas"]. ''Time''. October 22, 1934. Retrieved September 1, 2008.{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
Atlas acquired aircraft manufacturer and budding aerospace contractor Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation (later Convair) from AVCO in 1947. The Atlas Missile program gained the name of the Atlas Corporation in 1951,<ref name="neufeld1990">{{cite report|title=The Development of Ballistic Missiles in the United States Air Force 1945-1960|author1=Jacob Neufeld|date=1990|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA439957.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312191613/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA439957.pdf |archive-date=2023-03-12 |url-status=live|website=dtic.mil|access-date=March 12, 2023}}</ref>{{rp|70}} <ref>{{cite book|last1=Launius |first1=Roger D. |last2=Jenkins |first2= Dennis R. |date=2015 |title= To Reach the High Frontier: A History of U.S. Launch Vehicles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hKYeBgAAQBAJ&q=The+Atlas+Missile+program+was+named+after+the+Atlas+Corporation |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |page=100 |isbn=9780813148076}}</ref> which went on to become both America’s first ICBM and used in the Mercury missions to send astronauts into orbit.
In 1948, Howard Hughes acquired controlling interest in RKO Pictures from Atlas.<ref>Barlett, Donald L. and James B. Steele, (2004). ''Howard Hughes: His Life & Madness'', W. W. Norton & Company, {{ISBN|978-0-393-32602-4}}.</ref><ref name="Noah">{{cite book |last1=Dietrich |first1=Noah |last2=Thomas |first2=Bob |title=Howard, The Amazing Mr. Hughes |date=1972 |publisher=Fawcett Publications, Inc. |location=Greenwich |page=235}}</ref>
Today, the company has ownership in natural resources investments.
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Atlas Corporation}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Financial services companies established in 1928 Category:Investment companies of the United States Category:Holding companies of the United States Category:Holding companies established in 1928 Category:American companies established in 1928