Manufacturing · Profile from Manufacturing Research Companion: Companies, Strategic Moves, and Technical Studies
Thyssenkrupp
The Essen, Germany industrial group formed by the 1999 merger of Thyssen and Krupp, two Ruhr steel dynasties, that tried to become a global steelmaker by building a slab plant in Brazil and a finishing mill at Calvert, Alabama — then wrote them down (~€12bn, Companies table, verify) and sold Calvert in 2014 to ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel. It is the clearest case in this knowledge base of capital poured into the wrong plants, and of a conglomerate selling its best asset to survive: activist pressure (Cevian, Elliott) and a failed Tata Steel merger preceded the sale of its elevator business to Advent and Cinven (€17.2bn enterprise value, closed 31 Jul 2020, PE KB) — a business KONE agreed in Apr 2026 to buy at €29.4bn. Since then it has floated its hydrogen-electrolyser unit (thyssenkrupp nucera, 2023) and 49% of its warship builder TKMS (listed 20 Oct 2025), sold and bought back 20% of its steel unit from Daniel Křetínský's EP Group (returned Oct 2025), paused sale talks with Jindal Steel International (May 2026), agreed with IG Metall to cut or outsource 11,000 of ~27,000 steel jobs by 2030, and is building a ~€3bn direct-reduction plant at Duisburg backed by ~€2bn of federal and North Rhine-Westphalia aid — whose hydrogen conditions it renegotiated in 2026 so it can start on natural gas.
At a glance
- Founded
- Krupp (Essen, 1811) and Thyssen (Duisburg, 1891); merged as ThyssenKrupp AG in 1999 (Companies table; founding years from memory, verify)
- Headquarters
- Essen, Germany
- Ownership / structure
- Listed (Frankfurt); the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation the largest shareholder (~21%, from memory, verify); Cevian a large holder from 2013 (from memory, verify current stake)
- Leadership (2026)
- Miguel López, CEO (from 2023, from memory, verify); quoted on the TKMS listing (Oct 2025, reported)
- Segments
- Steel Europe (thyssenkrupp Steel Europe, Duisburg); Materials Services (distribution, incl. North America); Automotive Technology; Decarbon Technologies (incl. ~majority of thyssenkrupp nucera, from memory, verify); Marine Systems (TKMS, 51% after Oct 2025) (segment names from memory, verify)
- Scale
- Steel Europe ~27,000 jobs before the 2025 restructuring agreement (reported); group sales, earnings and headcount for FY2024/25 and FY2025/26 were not checked in C13 (verify)
- US footprint
- Materials Services distribution in North America and automotive components plants (from memory, verify); the Calvert, Alabama mill it built was sold in 2014 and is now ArcelorMittal Calvert (100% since Jun 2025)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Thyssen–Krupp merger (1999); Steel Americas — Brazil and Alabama — and the write-downs (2007–17); Hiesinger's exit and activist pressure (2018); the elevator sale (2020); the nucera IPO (2023); the subsidised Duisburg DRI plant (2023–26); the EP Group steel JV and its unwinding (2024–25); the Jindal bid and steel job cuts (2025–26); the TKMS spin-off (2025)
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1999
Thyssen Krupp Merger
Acquisition or merger — merger of equals after a withdrawn hostile bid
2012
Steel Americas Brazil and Alabama Write Down
New plant (two greenfield plants) / restructuring and divestment (failure)
2018
Hiesinger Exit and Activist Pressure
Governance crisis / strategy pivot — CEO and chairman resignations, activist campaign, steel JV blocked by regulators (failure)
2020
Elevator Sale
Divestment — corporate carve-out sold to private equity after a dual-track IPO/sale process
2023
Duisburg Hydrogen DRI Subsidy
Government award or subsidy / new process (direct reduction replacing a blast furnace) / technology bet on hydrogen
2023
Nucera Hydrogen IPO
Spin-off or IPO — partial listing of a technology subsidiary; technology bet on green hydrogen
2024
EP Group Steel JV and Its Unwinding
Joint venture (planned 50:50) / partial divestment — reversed
2025
Jindal Bid and Steel Job Cuts
Divestment attempt (sale of the steel unit) / restructuring and labour agreement (capacity and job cuts)
2025
TKMS Spin Off
Spin-off or IPO — distribution of a 49% minority stake to thyssenkrupp shareholders and listing