Goodyear Plans to Leave South Africa
Goodyear Tire & Rubber said Wednesday that it is withdrawing from South Africa, partly because U.S. sanctions against the racially segregated country have made it hard to do business.
“While we will regret leaving South Africa after providing jobs and livelihood there for 42 years, it is becoming increasingly difficult for American companies to obtain adequate returns on investments there,” said Tom H. Barrett, chairman, president and chief executive of Goodyear.
Goodyear is selling its tire and general products subsidiary in Uitenhage to Consol Ltd. for $65 million, the South African company said. Goodyear did not specify the terms.
Consol is an industrial subsidiary of the South African financial, industrial and mining group Anglovall Ltd. The sale is subject to various governmental approvals.
Separately, Dun & Bradstreet announced that it had completed the divestiture of its remaining operations in South Africa, a medical publishing operation that has been sold to Times Media of South Africa and a marketing group that was sold to a group of managers who formerly owned it. Sales prices were not disclosed.
The U.S. sanctions that hurt Goodyear included a double U.S. tax on South African earnings, Barrett said. Besides the sanctions, Goodyear’s profit suffered from continued devaluation of South Africa’s currency, he said.
John Sharp, president of the 2,500-member Akron branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, said he hoped that other companies followed Goodyear in pulling out of South Africa.
“We think Goodyear has shown leadership in taking that stand. We appreciate it, and we’ll be letting them know that,” he said.
John Perduyn, a spokesman at Goodyear’s Akron headquarters, said the sale would end Goodyear’s involvement in South Africa.
Goodyear described Anglovall as “a responsible group that has demonstrated concern for human rights in the workplace and has expressed intent to retain the current work force of 2,400 people,” most of whom are nonwhite.
