One GBC Plaza, Northbrook 60062, 708-272-3700
Founded: 1947
Fiscal year-end: Dec. 31
Chief executive: Rudolph Grua, 62, elected 1984
1990 cash compensation: $399,719
Shares owned: 71,289 of 13.4 million common shares
Employees: 3,207; 840 in Illinois
Foreign sales: 38 percent of $303.7 million total
May 1, 1991 value of $1,000 in company stock:
Purchased May 1, 1990: $794
Purchased May 1, 1986: $3,692
From the ubiquitous metal-ring binders used by schoolkids to the ubiquitous plastic-ring binders found on office reports, most people flip by General Binding`s products at one time or another.
Indeed, General Binding is in every driver`s pocket in Illinois. The company supplied the secretary of state`s office with more than 2 million plastic laminate packages for enclosing driver`s licenses.
The company, which also makes paper shredders, operates 16 manufacturing facilities, including 10 abroad, as well as four regional warehouses and numerous sales and service offices.
General Binding has been aggressively buying up its competition: In 1989 it purchased Loose Leaf Metals Co. and in 1990 it bought Velobind Inc., a California manufacturer of office binding systems. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the Velobind purchase.
