John W. Teets is one of the most influential American businessmen of the 20th century. He has left an incredible legacy of entrepreneurial excellence and stellar leadership. John W Teets is known for his incredible contributions to Greyhound and Dial. He is an absolute legend in Arizona and a legend in other parts of America as well. In this post, we will find out more about John W. Teets and his contributions. Let’s get started.

John W. Teets: All You Need To Know

Who is John W. Teets?

 John W. Teets left a huge impact on the American economy. As a self made businessman, John W. Teets went on to become the CEO of one of America’s biggest companies. Under his leadership, Dial and Greyhound were ably led as $5 billion conglomerates with 48,000 employees. John W Teets helped turn them into the world’s leading consumer goods and service companies.  

How was John W. Teets unique?

John W. Teets recognized the value of readjustment and reinvention for a company’s survival. John W. Teets was known for being a very hands on CEO who was always interested in the bottom line. 

How did John W. Teets start his professional career?

John W. Teets’ first foray into the world of business was as an entrepreneur. He was a partner of a Chicago Entertainment complex in his 20s itself. The complex featured 16 shops, an ice-skating rink, and a 300-seat restaurant. However, this was just a stepping stone toward a stellar career in the corporate world. He made his most important career move in 1963 when he joined the Greyhound Corporation. Straightaway, he started working towards helping develop restaurants in Greyhound’s Post House subsidiary which ran at New York World’s Fair every year. Two years later, he was already the president of two food service providers, Post Houses, and Horne’s Enterprises. John W. Teets holds the honour of being the youngest COO of a Greyhound subsidiary.

Thankfully, it wasn’t a case of peaking too early for him as he climbed the corporate ladder and eventually became the president and CEO of the Greyhound Food Management group.

How did John W. Teets influence his companies?

Under his leadership, Greyhound’s food services grew by more than 60 percent for four years. Since his work was so stellar, Greyhound also assigned him the responsibility of group vice president of services in 1980. His responsibilities in this role entailed overseeing units involved in aircraft ground services, cruise ship gift shops, airport duty-free shops, and their service businesses. 

The same year, John W. Teets was also inducted into Greyhound Corporations’ board of directors as a Vice-Chairman. Just one year later, John W. Teets became Greyhound Corporations’ Chief Executive Officer and in 1982, he even became the chairman of the board.\

Under his leadership, Greyhound Corporation became extremely streamlined, manageable, and profitable. Investors started investing even more in the firm. In 1983, John W. Teets made a blockbuster deal by selling Armor meatpacking company for a colossal sum of $2 billion to ConAgra. However, he managed to retain the consumer products business. That arm was eventually renamed Dial Consumer Products Group. Dial Corp was further divided into the Dial Corporation and the Viad Corp in 1996. Both companies were traded publicly independently. Dial Corp was worth $1.6 billion while Viad Corp was worth $2.5 billion. Viad Corp mainly consisted of the services segment of Dial Corp (convention service, airline catering, financial payment services, and travel and leisure businesses). 

John W. Teets’s plan of restructuring Dial Corp was a resounding success as the company’s stock outperformed the S&P 500 by a whopping 50 percent for five years straight. Such was the company’s market proliferation that it is estimated that eight out of 10 American homes eventually owned something made by Dial Corp. The company’s products were sold in international markets (78 different countries) as well. 

What does Greyhound do?

For years the symbol of the galloping greyhound has been synonymous with long-distance bus transportation in North America. Their existence has been reflected in numerous films and several songs by renowned composers and performers, such as Billy Joel and Barbara Streisand, mention them. Such notoriety is backed by a fascinating story, full of initiative, effort, and sacrifice, as in the inherited legends of the conquest of the American Wild West.

Like so many things in the United States, the extraordinary enterprise is the fruit of the ingenuity of an immigrant, a young Swede named Carl Eric Wickman, whose longing for his homeland made him settle in Hibbing, Minnesota, where he worked as a miner. In his desire to improve himself, he acquired the representation of Hupmobile cars, from which the genesis of the transport company was born, by using one that he could not sell to transport miners on a round trip to the nearby “Alice” tavern. After World War I, and some juggling of buying and selling stocks, the business was going from strength to strength: it was time to expand. For this, it is associated with its competitor, a taxi service between Hibbing and Duluth. By 1915 the Mesaba Transport Company was also incorporated, with five cars.

By 1922 Wickman turned his life around and sold his share in the business and moved to Duluth. He then used the money obtained to buy shares in the main bus lines of the time, until he was associated with Orville Swan Caesar, of Superior White, and merged as Motor Transit Corporation. From here begins a series of financial operations in which Wickman and his associates end up with the considerable figure of a quarter of a million dollars. This happened around 1928 and by then there were already several lines absorbed or associated with Wickman, so it was decided to start a standardization process to identify and differentiate them, something that would make a difference once and for all. In this way, the drivers would wear a military-style uniform, cap, and belt. 

In turn, Wickman consented to the owners of the absorbed local lines to continue managing them and as the system worked very well, this allowed travelers to make transfers between local lines by paying a single ticket. Each one of the lines received a percentage of the total collection, the main Company absorbed the costs of maintenance, workshops, insurance, publicity, taxes, and the purchase of new buses. Wickman and his partners made agreements with Goodyear and Firestone for the purchase of tires, and with Texaco and Standard Oil for the purchase of fuel and lubricants, thus obtaining special prices. This allowed travelers to transfer between local lines by paying a single ticket. Each one of the lines received a percentage of the total collection, the main Company absorbed the costs of maintenance, workshops, insurance, publicity, taxes, and the purchase of new buses. 

Wickman and his partners made agreements with Goodyear and Firestone for the purchase of tires, and with Texaco and Standard Oil for the purchase of fuel and lubricants, thus obtaining special prices.

As with so many famous things – like the phrase OK or the Jeep brand – many fans prefer another version of the story, something like: “A passerby exclaimed in admiration when he saw one of the company’s new buses driving by, which was as smooth as the running of a Greyhound (Greyhound)“. These are undoubtedly stories that season the legend, but the important thing is that the name “Greyhound” and the logo of the greyhound dog appeared to stay. Its importance for highway transportation in the United States is historical, and extremely important today as well.

How did John W. Teets contribute to the community?

Aside from being very successful at business, John W. Teets was also a very active member of the community who contributed a lot towards its development. While he was at the helm of Dial Corp, the company contributed over $36 million to various charities. John W. Teets was also famous for helping in funding the Phoenix Suns NBA team and keeping them in the city. 

What is the history of Greyhound?

Many have been the films and songs that have reflected in them the fascinating history and full of effort and initiative, with which this company called Greyhound was created, in charge of carrying out long-distance journeys on the roads of the United States for years. 

Who founded Greyhound? 

Curiously, this company is the result of the ingenuity of an immigrant in the United States, Carl Eric Wickman, a young Swede who began working as a miner in Hibbing, Minnesota. This young man aspired to a better job, so he decided to acquire the representation of Hupmobile automobiles, at which time he did not know that his life would give a radical change. Curiously, one of these cars that he represented could not sell, so this young entrepreneur began to use it to transport miners on a round trip to the nearby “Alice” tavern. 

After doing this job for a while and juggling buying and selling shares, business was beginning to go very well for Carl, so he decided to go one step further and expand by partnering with his competitor, a taxi service between Hibbing and Duluth. By 1915 the Mesaba Transport Company was also incorporated, with five cars. In 1922 Wickman turned his life around and sold his share in the business and moved to Duluth, at which point he decided to acquire shares in the main bus lines with the money received, until he became associated with Orville Swan Caesar, of the Superior White, and merged as Motor Transit Corporation. 

How did the name Greyhound come to be?

Wickman demonstrated that he was very skillful in carrying out financial operations, in which Wickman and his associates ended up having, around 1928, a considerable figure of a quarter of a million dollars. For those years, there were already several lines absorbed or associated with Wickman, so it was decided to start a standardization process to identify and differentiate them, something that would make a difference once and for all. Each of the lines received a percentage of the total collection, the main company absorbed the costs of maintenance, workshops, insurance, advertising, taxes, and the purchase of new buses. 

Wickman and his partners made agreements with Goodyear and Firestone for the purchase of tires, and with Texaco and Standard Oil for the purchase of fuel and lubricants, thus obtaining special prices.

The name Greyhound would come when during 1928 and 1929 the “Northland”, one of the associated lines, subsidiarily added several lines called “GREYHOUND” in their names, such as: “Northland Greyhound Lines”, “Southland Greyhound Lines”, “Pickwick Greyhound Lines ” and the “Richmond Greyhound Corporation”.

By 1930, so many affiliates were using the name “Greyhound” that the companies officially took the name “Greyhound Lines”, which, along with the galloping greyhound dog logo, was here to stay and forever embodied the importance of road transportation in the United States. Today its radius of action extends to the entire North American continent.